NewFoodSystems innovation programme receives millions in government funds
Published by John Williams,
Editorial Assistant
World Fertilizer,
The German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding the NewFoodSystems innovation initiative with a total of up to €20 million over a period of five years. K+S has successfully contributed to the formulation of a proposal with its innovation activities and is one of several German industrial partners.
The aim of the NewFoodSystems project is to contribute to sustainable nutrition and future human health. The project focuses on scientific and technical solutions for new foods and production processes.
"The sustainable and resource-saving nutrition of the world's population is one of the major challenges in the coming decades," says Alexa Hergenröther, CEO of Operating Unit Europe+. "We want to make a decisive contribution to the development of innovative solutions in the food sector with our know-how and our infrastructure and we are looking forward to working together in this important future programme."
K+S will focus on the Controlled Environment Cultivation (CEC) innovation activities. The focus here will be on the cultivation of organisms such as plants and algae in closed and therefore controllable systems. CEC offers the possibility of producing new plant products in premium qualities, irrespective of weather conditions and with several harvests per year, almost without the use of pesticides, and this by recovering water and nutrients from residue and waste materials. New protein sources for the food and feed industry as well as for the production of other high-quality ingredients such as special fatty acids, carotenoids and other dyes, aroma components and dietary fibers are also developed here.
The K+S innovation park currently under construction at the former Sigmundshall potash site (near Hanover) will play an important role within the framework of the innovation initiative and support the various projects in their implementation. K+S has been operating a test facility for the cultivation of macroalgae there since August 2018. The company is also conducting research in the field of aquaponics with an experimental station at the company's headquarters in Kassel.
Read the article online at: https://www.worldfertilizer.com/project-news/29042019/newfoodsystems-innovation-programme-receives-millions-in-government-funds/
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