Farmers take part either as direct project consortium members (40%) or indirectly by supplying biomass, testing products or joining advisory boards (60%), with involvement concentrated in flagship, near-commercial-scale projects. Examples include a Spanish biorefinery turning a former tobacco plant into a producer of plant extracts from rosemary and olive by-products, and a French facility converting sugar beet pulp into bio-based molecules for flavourings and pharmaceuticals, which has created 80 direct and 200 indirect local jobs.

CBE JU launched a dedicated working group on primary producers in 2025, now drawing up a three-year action plan to raise awareness, strengthen farmer-industry cooperation and develop workable business models.

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