The opportunities associated with the growing of plant protein crops in Ireland continue to develop at an exponential rate.
For example, recent years have seen a more than doubling of the area dedicated to the production of beans in this country.
The current protein aid payment has been a key driver in this context.
But according to Teagasc’s Dr. Ewen Mullins, the current protein landscape in Europe is not fit for purpose.
Plant protein
Dr. Mullins made these comments on a recent edition of the Teagasc Tillage Edge podcast. Mullins is heading-up Ireland’s commitment to the VALPRO Path project.
This is an EU-funded initiative, designed to identify premium supply opportunities for the plant protein sector.
“We don’t have premium supply chains for farmers,” Mullins said.
“Yet we have food processing businesses striving very hard to source consistent supplies of plant protein.
“At the same time we know that farmers across Europe can produce excellent yields of high-quality protein crops.
“It really is a case now of bringing growers and processers together. VALPRO is about developing real systems with real farmers.
“Companies will develop the required business models. Farmers will then be able to produce the required levels of biomass and, hopefully, be able to carry out a degree of primary processing,” he added.
“This then delivers added value to the grower. This is all about maximising the value of every bit of product that comes off the field.”
New opportunities
Mullins went on to point out that such an approach will also lead to the development of new opportunities for food processing businesses to source raw materials at farm level.
Local sourcing also leads into the whole narrative surrounding authenticity and provenance, while also reducing the environmental footprint of the foods that are finally consumed.
A number of Europe’s largest food companies are already committed to VALPRO. They are already looking to source new base ingredients for inclusion within their processing operations.
“These businesses are fully aware of the consumer drive for diversification of food sources,” Mullins said.
“They are also aware of the need to tag on to their products a full sustainability storyline.
“This basically means that when consumers go to a product, they have the option of scanning a bar code with their phones.
“This will automatically direct then to a source of information relating to the product they have selected.
“This information will include a full listing of the ingredients. But more importantly, it will also reference the source of these constituents and how they were grown.
“It’s all about delivering a full footprint of how individual food products are made. And this will be a very important component of the VALPRO project.”