Irelands first on-farm demonstration plant integrating grass biorefining and anaerobic digestion has officially opened at the Shinagh Estates Demonstration Farm, Co. Cork.
Opening the facility, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Martin Heydon TD said: “Today is another significant milestone for the Irish bioeconomy with the opening of the €3 million integrated grass biorefining and anaerobic digestion demonstration plant here as part of the Farm Zero C project on Shinagh Estate’s dairy farm in Co. Cork.”
Minister Heydon continued:
“This is Ireland’s first on-farm demonstration facility at scale. The facility will process fresh grass to produce a range of products including high-protein animal feed, a grass fibre fraction that can be used for applications in packaging and livestock feed, bioenergy and biofertiliser, and with the potential for new human food ingredients in time. Instead of just using grass for one purpose, animal feed, this facility will show at a pre-commercial level how we can make further use of our grass and open up new business models and income streams for our grassland farmers.”
Ireland produces some of the highest yields of grass in the world, supported by a temperate climate, good quality soils and expert grassland-management. Currently, grass has one primary use – as a feed for livestock. However, research and innovation have developed technologies for green biorefining that allows grass to be processed into a range of new, high-value products, without adversely affecting its primary use as an animal feed source.
‘Green Biorefining‘ separates fresh grass into a fibre-rich press cake for livestock feed, and a juice stream from which protein and other biobased ingredients can be recovered. What remains can then be directed to anaerobic digestion to produce renewable energy and nutrient-rich material with potential for use as biobased fertiliser, subject to quality, agronomic and regulatory requirements.
The demonstration plant will act as a testing and learning platform. Its purpose is to generate operating evidence, validate feed and biobased products and business models, support farmer and industry engagement, and reduce the risk involved in wider deployment. The facility will also be used by Rural BioReFarmeries, a project coordinated by Munster Technological University and supported with approximately €7.35 million in EU funding through CBE JU, to assess the model’s potential for replication across European grassland regions.
Minister of State with responsibility for Food Promotion, New Markets, Research and Development Noel Grealish TD, said:
“Research and innovation underpins the development of the bioeconomy. It is an area my Department has invested more than €40 million over the last decade, including in the area of grass biorefining. This in turn has allowed for the establishment of the new demonstration facility being opened today and will be built on further by the €3 million ‘Grass4Value’ project that I announced earlier this year. Together, these projects will be instrumental in supporting the use of grass and legumes to produce feed, potential ingredients for food applications, subject to further development and regulatory assessment, renewable energy and biobased fertilisers.”
Commenting on the launch, Munster Technological University and BiOrbic’s James Gaffey said:
“The launch of this new state-of-the-art green biorefinery and anaerobic digestion plant, one of the largest facilities of its kind in the world, is a key development given the importance of grassland to our rural economy and farmers. This places Ireland firmly as a leading player in this emerging innovation space. These facilities will help us to unlock the full potential of our grasslands bringing significant national and regional benefits. The location of these new facilities at Farm Zero C at Shinagh Estates in collaboration with BiOrbic and Carbery Group, provides a unique on-farm environment for translating research into real world impact, and is aligned with the farm’s strong track record for sustainable innovation. The development builds on almost a decade of collaborative research between Munster Technological University, University College Dublin, Carbery Group and other public and private partners nationally advancing this area along with Irish-EU research collaborations such as Biorefinery Glas and the CBE JU-funded Rural BioReFarmeries.”
Also at the launch, Jason Hawkins, CEO of Carbery Group said:
“For Carbery Group, today’s launch represents an important next step in Farm Zero C’s mission to demonstrate that climate ambition and commercial viability can progress together. As a farmer owned business, we are focused on solutions that work in practice and can create lasting value for farm families. This facility applies the circular approach Carbery has followed for generations, together with our experience of anaerobic digestion at Ballineen, to the farm itself. By using grass as more than a single output resource, it will explore how the same biomass can provide animal feed, protein ingredients, renewable energy and recoverable nutrients. Crucially, this is a demonstration facility. It will enable the partners to assess performance, product quality, environmental and climate impacts, costs, regulatory requirements and viable business models under real farming conditions. That evidence will be essential before wider investment and deployment. Hosting this work at Shinagh ensures that farmer experience remains central as we identify solutions that are practical, scalable and capable of strengthening the resilience of dairy farming in West Cork and beyond.”
Attendees at the launch were also addressed by Virginia Puzzolo, Head of Programme at Circular Biobased Europe Joint Undertaking: “This facility shows how European funding and national investment can work together to bring bio-based innovation to demonstration scale. Through the CBE JU-funded Rural BioReFarmeries project, partners are testing a small-scale, farmer-centred green biorefinery model under real farming conditions and assessing its potential for replication in other European grassland regions. Grass is a widely available but underused resource in Europe. Demonstrating its potential as a source of protein and other bio-based products can contribute to reducing the EU’s protein deficit while strengthening the EU’s strategic autonomy. This approach can also support rural economies and more efficient resource use, contributing to a more competitive, resilient and circular European bioeconomy.”
The activities that will take place at this facility align with several ambitions and actions in the new EU Protein Action Plan and EU Livestock Strategy. The Protein Action Plan, for example, recommends Member States to reduce dependence on imported protein, including making better use of grass by extracting protein for monogastric animals such as pigs and poultry. The Livestock Strategy also highlights how grass and associated co-products can contribute to achieving greater resilience, strategic autonomy and sustainability of the EU protein system. The range of products and services that grass biorefining could deliver will also contribute to reducing exposure to volatile international markets and energy costs, while developing new, diversified economic opportunities for grassland farmers.
