Presentation webinars were recently held for three of the Galician pilot projects in which FEUGA participates: ALGATERRA, BIOPROINSECT and GREENCASTANEA. These webinars, which brought more than 250 people, served to publicize the projects among all agents in the sector and the interested public

The BIOPROINSECT project webinar was held on June 21, and it was a success of participation. BIOPROINSECT seeks to develop an innovative process that allows increasing the added value of the products obtained from insect farming. FEUGA was the entity in charge of opening the event, with a general presentation of the project. Next, Galinsect announced not only the reasons that led to the emergence of this initiative, but also the activities and first results achieved to date. In addition, Galinsect emphasized the advantages of insect farms compared to other traditional farms, in terms of production yields or environmental impact. Finally, the BiotecnIA group from the University of Vigo focused on presenting the most technical part, unpacking the processes that have made it possible to obtain, separately, highly digestible proteins, chitin derivatives and polyunsaturated fatty acids from the mealworm.

The webinar is available on FEUGA's YouTube channel, and you can watch it here:

For its part, the GREENCASTANEA project is focused on the forestry and mycological sector. Its objective is the production of Galician PGI chestnut varieties through in vitro culture, and mycorrhized with B. edulis. The project presentation webinar, which brought together more than 60 people, was attended by several of the members of the initiative (Hifas Foresta, the Agrobiotech For Health Group of the University of Vigo and FEUGA), who announced the project among the attendees: objectives, activities that are being developed, and preliminary results achieved.

In addition, GREENCASTANEA also has the participation of IXP Castaña de Galicia and the company Soutos Sativa from Lugo.

As in the previous case, the webinar is available on the FEUGA YouTube channel:

In the case of the ALGATERRA pilot project, the presentation webinar was held on July 28. The objective of is to create synergies between the sea and agriculture through the use of seaweed from Galicia as new agricultural inputs. The project is also strongly committed to the circular economy, since the algae used for this purpose will be discarded from the food industry. Through the interventions of representatives of the different partners of the project, attendees were able to discover all the activities and results obtained to date in ALGATERRA, whose work began in 2021.

ALGATERRA is comprised by Portomuiños, FEUGA, the University of Santiago de Compostela, the Biological Mission of Galicia, Terra de Asorei, Riveiro Ecológicos and Horta da Lousa. In case you missed it or want to watch it again, here is the webinar link:

These three projects are financed by the call for aid to support pilot projects, development of new products, practices, processes, and technologies in the field of agroforestry, 75% co-financed by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), in the framework of the Rural Development Program (PDR) of Galicia 2014-2020. The Consellería do Medio Rural is the body of the Galician Administration that is responsible for proposing and executing the general guidelines in the rural area and encompasses the powers in agriculture, livestock, rural development and regional planning, rural structures, agri-food industries and forestry, mountains and prevention and defense of forest fires.

GREENCASTANEA. Total budget: €187,774.91; Total grant: €150,000.00.

BIOPROINSECT. Total budget: €181,468.56; Total grant: €145,174.85.

ALGATERA. Total budget: €182,964.40; Total grant: €146,371.52.