The OK-Net EcoFeed project has had its first meeting and kick-off in Berkshire, England. The aim of the project is to achieve the 100 percent organic and regionally produced feed for pigs and poultry in Europe.
An important part of raising organic animals is that the feed is produced on or near the farm. It can be difficult to achieve because feed production and livestock farming are concentrated to different regions. The feed must often be imported from places far away from the farms and many times organic feed with the right protein composition is not available.
EPOK co-ordinates the Swedish part of the project. A group of organic pig producers in Skåne and their advisor Ingela Löfquist, a local feed company, and the SLU researcher Magdalena Åkerfeldt (who also works at EPOK) form one of the "Innovation Groups" in the project. An important part of these groups is to share and find and test new solutions for feeding with organic and regionally produced feed. In the project, the exchange of knowledge and experience between the "Innovation groups" in the different countries will also be an important part.
Read more about the project at the Organic Research Center's website.
The project is part of Horizon2020, which finances networks where researchers and farmers can meet different themes, so-called "thematic networks", as well as projects that gather several actors around a problem called multi-actor projects. Read more about EIP-Agri thematic networks here.
E-mail: epok@slu.se