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Turning farm waste into new income streams: Europe's primary producers get a stake in the bioeconomy as participants in CBE JU-funded projects, concludes an article published in the Bio-based and Applied Economics magazine.
For generations, the by-products of Europe's farms, forests and fisheries - straw, pulp, manure, offcuts and shells - were simply waste, discarded, incinerated or, at best, partially reused in low-value products. Today, those same residues become valuable raw material for a new industry shifting Europe from fossil-based to bio-based production and consumption. By diversifying income sources and more sustainable farming solutions, the bio-based sector is turning farmers, foresters and fishers from suppliers of biomass into active partners in Europe's circular bioeconomy.
This shift is at the heart of the CBE JU. Since 2022, the partnership has channelled roughly €130 million into the integration of primary producers in bio-based value chains, with 84 organisations from the agricultural, forestry and aquatic sectors engaged in its projects.
Primary producers are the backbone of the bio-based economy. Without their knowledge, resources and commitment, circular value chains cannot thrive. CBE JU’s working group on primary producers is bringing farmers, foresters, fishers and aquaculture producers to the table, to make sure they get a share in the benefits of Europe’s green transition.
Nicoló Giacomuzzi-Moore, CBE JU Executive Director
From biomass supplier to business partner
Farmers occupy a unique position in the bio-based economy: they supply the residues and by-products that biorefineries convert into higher-value materials, and they are often the end-users of what comes out the other side, from bio-based fertilisers and biostimulants to biodegradable equipment used in the field. Done well, this dual role can open new revenue streams while cutting the sector's reliance on fossil-based inputs. Local supply chains also reduce farmers’ exposure to potential economic shocks related to fossil imports, such as the recent global fertilisers crisis.
Individual farmers frequently find it easier to engage with bioeconomy through cooperatives than alone. Collective engagement might lead to a multiplier effect, boosting the added value beyond what any single entity could achieve alone.
Getting there has not been straightforward. Many primary producers remain unaware of what circular bio-based innovations can offer them, and those who are aware are often wary of disrupting business models that have worked for decades. Building a new supply chain can take years, and technical language can be a barrier.
To tackle this, CBE JU launched a working group on primary producers in June 2025, bringing together close to 80 organisations representing farming, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture across Europe. The group is now drawing up a three-year action plan, running to 2029, focused on raising awareness of the opportunities in the bio-based sector, strengthening cooperation between farmers and industry, and developing business models that are workable on the ground.
The numbers behind the shift
The scale of farmer involvement is already measurable. Of the 84 primary sector organisations engaged in CBE JU projects since 2022, 61 are representing farmers, counting for almost three-quarters of primary producer participation. This reflects the fact that agricultural residues make up the largest share of feedstock used across the CBE JU project portfolio.
Farmers take part in the CBE JU-funded projects in two main ways. Around 40% are direct beneficiaries, formally part of a project consortium and its funding. The remaining 60% participate indirectly by supplying biomass under contract, testing end-products, or sitting on project advisory boards. Many farmers prefer this route, as it lets them benefit from new partnerships and technology without taking on the administrative load of formal project participation.
Involvement is heaviest in the CBE JU's higher-value innovation and flagship projects, which account for 60% of primary producer participation, against 25% in earlier-stage research projects and 15% in coordination and support actions. The pattern makes sense: flagship projects, in particular, are designed to run at near-commercial scale and rely on a steady, local supply of biomass, putting farmers at the centre of the operation.
Rural biorefineries, rural jobs
Nowhere is the link between farm and factory clearer than in flagship biorefineries. These first-of-a-kind facilities built close to their biomass sources are designed to prove that circular bio-based production can work at industrial scale.
In rural Extremadura, Spain, the SUSTAINEXT flagship project is converting a former tobacco-growing plant into a digitalised, solar-powered biorefinery producing plant extracts and functional ingredients from rosemary, camomile and lemon verbena, alongside side streams from olives, cardoons and pomegranates. The project is designed to be zero-waste and circular by design, and its model should be straightforward to replicate elsewhere in Europe.
Rooted in a rural town in Extremadura, this project shows that green innovation can and must be driven from rural areas, positioning NATAC and SUSTAINEXT as a new innovation and technology hub that creates quality jobs, opens new opportunities for farmers and helps transform the region socially, economically and industrially.
José María Pinilla, Head of Innovation at NATAC and SUSTAINEXT Project Coordinator
In Carling-Saint-Avold, France, the AFTERBIOCHEM flagship project is working with a large farming sector. The EU is the world's biggest sugar beet producer, supporting around 140,000 growers and 27,000 direct processing jobs. The project has built the first biorefinery to transform sugar beet pulp and other non-food residues into bio-based molecules used in flavourings, fragrances, hygiene products, pharmaceuticals and polymers. It adds a new, higher-value outlet for sugar beet producers, while keeping the process flexible enough to run on alternative feedstocks in future. The project has created 80 direct and 200 indirect local jobs.
Other CBE JU-funded projects are working on similar objectives at a local scale. BRILIAN is helping farmers build cooperative business models around agricultural by-products. ROBOCOOP-EU is developing regional systems to use waste from grape, olive and stone fruit growing across Spain, Italy and Greece. MANUREFINERY is converting livestock manure into bio-based animal feed and fertiliser at sites in Romania, Slovenia and Spain, cutting the environmental footprint of livestock farming while giving farmers an additional source of income.
A model still finding its feet
CBE JU's analysis points to some recurring ingredients in successful projects:
- Consortia that involve every link in the value chain, from biomass producer to end-user.
- A strong role for SMEs, which account for around a third of all project participants and a third of the total CBE JU funding. They coordinate one in four CBE JU-funded projects.
- Close involvement of universities and research centres, which make up a quarter of all project participants.
The bigger test is what happens after the project is completed. Several projects inherited from the CBE JU's predecessor, the Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking (BBI JU) (2014-2020), such as AFTERBIOCHEM, have already shown lasting impact on rural economies. The current generation of projects, still in its first four calls, is only beginning to generate comparable evidence. The cooperation now being built between primary producers and the industry will be key to a fair, durable share of the profits from these new value chains.
