Rural BioReFarmeries (RBRF) is a new EU initiative co-funded by the Circular Bio-based Europe Joint Undertaking (CBE JU) and the Bio-based Industries Consortium.
On 10-11 December 2024, Rural BioReFarmeries marked the official start of its 4-year journey with the celebration of the project’s kick-off meeting, hosted at Munster Technological University’s campus in Cork. Project Coordinator James Gaffey, and his team from MTU’s Circular Bioeconomy Research Group (CIRCBIO), welcomed over 50 representatives of the 19 partner institutions involved in this EU-wide initiative.
The Consortium spent 2 full days unpicking all the tasks, expectations, goals, potential challenges and initial ideas to help us achieve our mission — to forge a robust circular and farm-centred bioeconomy in Europe, powered by green biorefineries. As well as having representation from all the partners, representing 8 different EU countries, the meeting also received high-level support from the European Commission and the Irish government, thanks to the presence of Project Officer Luisa Mascia from CBE JU, and Patrick Barrett and Karl Walsh from Ireland’s Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine.
“Only by bringing together an interdisciplinary consortium of experts, industry representatives and primary producers we can truly push the boundary of what we can do with the grasslands and green biorefineries in Europe; I look forward to bringing new innovations that can help create new opportunities for farmers.”
— James Gaffey, Project Coordinator.
As a CBE JU-funded Innovation Action, Rural BioReFarmeries brings together an interdisciplinary group of experts across scientific disciplines alongside primary producers, combining regional knowledge from all over Europe, including: Ireland, Denmark, The Netherlands, Estonia, Greece, Poland, Bulgaria and Italy. In the next 4 years working together, the RBRF Consortium will collaborate across 8 Work Packages to support the EU’s bioeconomy by demonstrating a small-scale, farmer-centric and circular green biorefinery model that can be adopted and replicated across Europe’s rural grassland areas.
Stay up-to date with the Rural BioReFarmeries journey: