High Value Nature grazing in NATURA 2000 areas for meat product quality improvement and innovation in product distribution at the GR-BG cross-border area - BorderGraze
Acronym |
BorderGraze |
| Project Number – MIS | 5089171 |
| Priority axis | 1 - A Competitive and Innovative Cross-Border Area |
| Investment priorities | 3d - Supporting the capacity of SMEs to grow in regional, national and international markets, and to engage in innovation processes |
| Intervention fields |
064. Research and innovation processes in SMEs (including voucher schemes, process, design, service and social innovation) |
| Call | 5th CALL FOR PROPOSALS |
| Lead Beneficiary | OMIKRON Environmental Consultants SA |
| Beneficiaries |
IVAN KERYANOV BIO TRADE 93 Ltd |
| Start Date | Dec 11, 2020 |
| End Date | Dec 10, 2023 |
| Budget | 468.210,00 € |
| ERDF Contribution | 258.686,03 € |
| National Contribution | 45.650,48 € |
| Website | https://bordergraze.com/ |
High Nature Value (HNV) livestock grazing is a tool for the conservation of grassland and open bush ecosystems as well as for the prevention of their transformation into closed bush and/ or forest areas. Thus, it is an internationally recognized and applied management practice in areas of high environmental value such as NATURA 2000 sites and other protected areas. At the same time, HNV livestock grazing is an invigoration catalyst for local economy which can produce high quality products with added ecological value. The proposed project aims in creating an innovative framework for the sustainable management of HNV grazing and pasture lands at the cross-border area. The business challenge of the proposed project targets on revealing the potential to monetize the environmental value of HNV meat products and increase their profitability for the two beneficiary companies. Thus, BorderGraze puts emphasis on the enhancement of the added value as well as on innovative marketing of meat products from HNV grazing systems and areas. The investment is expected to benefit both beneficiary companies by increasing their competitiveness on a cross-border level and their access on new crossborder markets mainly by increasing their sales and their products/ services added value through innovative supply and marketing chains. In a nutshell the investment and its associated innovation is expected to help the beneficiaries achieve better prices and lower costs due to joint marketing efforts and access to pro-environmental (“green”) business markets which rely on good quality natural resources.
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OMIKRON Environmental Consultants SAOmikron_Project Results_Presentation (EN)
D.3.1 - Development of cross-border High Nature Value protocols for identification, classification and environmental evaluation of pastures at NATURA 2000 area
The study responds to the need to proper assess the environmental value and threats on grazing lands, in order to propose adapted measures for sustainable grazing (HNV grazing practices) in the BorderGraze business plan. In particular, the study offers an innovant methodology for the identification and classification of HNV, potential HNV and non HNV grazing lands in the BorderGraze study area, that could be applied in other areas as well. The main problems tackled in this deliverable are:
- What are the European and National legal frameworks and available tools for the environmental management of grazing lands (ISO and forest management plans, NATURA 2000 network, Common Agricultural Policy, etc.)?
- What are the existing methodologies for the identification of HNV farmlands are presented and how they can be used for the identification of HNV grazing lands?
- The understanding of the environmental challenges of the study area, including the use of landscape analysis, tools and procedures and spatial data from EC databases for: a) Physiography and demography, b) Land use/cover change data, c) Landscape metrics, d) Study of the effect of pastoral activities, e) Areas of specific environmental concern and their protection status.
D.3.2 Thematic grazing e-maps for the cross-border NATURA 2000 areas
D.3.3 - Development of practical measures for the sustainable management of High Nature Value pastures at Natura 2000 areas of the cross-border region
Considering the environmental assessment of grazing lands carried out in D.3.1., in this study a grazing management plan is developed for the study area, consisting of measures spatially defined and adapted to each grazing land type and the environmental risks involved: this will be useful for the maintenance and restoration of the designated grazing areas. This study is needed and essential for the sustainable development of the HNV grazing lands in the cross-border area, for farmers using grazing lands of the area (degradation of grazing lands has been demonstrated through interviews to farmers) as well as for environmental matters. The main tools developed are:
- Practical measures for grazing lands management, by spatial units and type of threat
- Estimation of costs, difficulty of application and specific requirement for each practical measure proposed
- Supplementary measures according to priority species of the area
- Monitoring and reviewing protocol, including indicators and where and when to monitor
D.3.4 Development of practical guidelines on High Nature Value grazing, meat farmers and producers’ association building and cross-border commercialization strategies
This study responds to 2 methodological needs prior to the implementation of the business plan: (i) need to get an overview of the framework in which management of HNV grazing lands should be considered, from the point of view of stake-holders of the meat sector (producers, manufacturers, end users/consumers) and (ii) need to set expert knowledge-based theoretical basis and guidelines proposals for the implementation of the action plan and the commercialization of the HNV meat products. The main problems tackled are:
- What are the existing institutional/conceptual tools for the management of grazing lands at the European and National level for Greece and Bulgaria (specific CAP support, legislation on grazing lands and grazing in protected areas, concept of HNV farmland)?
- The understanding of the challenges of the study area in terms of demography and economic activities, environmental value (protected areas and other biodiversity features), pressures linked to grazing applied on areas of high biodiversity, livestock and grazing lands. It includes stake-holders consultation (agricultural cooperatives or producers’ groups, individual farmers and Management body of protected area) to identify the main problems/pressures faced by grazing lands of high biodiversity value, local farming practices with respect to grazing, actions taken in the area with respect to grazing lands management and opportunities for valuing HNV grazing through certifications processes and HNV meat products.
- What are the conditions required to successfully implement the business plan (HNV grazing practices and commercialisation/networking aspects), and the subsequent goals to achieve. According to the goals defined the deliverable proposes indicators to monitor and review the effectiveness of the action plan, their collection mode and the frequency of monitoring. The deliverable also tackles the question of contingency plans and overall timeframe of the action plan.
- Analysis linked to the commercialisation of HNV meat products and networking strategies, including SWOΤ, theoretical guidelines for the marketing mix, the networking strategies and the strategies for products differentiation.
D.4.2. Development of an analytic cross-border business methodology for the exploitation of the HNV products’ market potential
D.4.3 Development and dissemination of cross-border digital marketplace for direct selling and distribution of High Value Nature meat products
This document describes the overall functionality of the marketplace and it’s divided in two parts:
- The first part is the proposed design and architecture which provides roadmap for the development of the Marketplace and the questions concerning the user experience or the user behavior that may arise during the development phase.
- The second part is the description of the actual Marketplace functionalities that were implemented and are ready to be used by the Producers and the end-users (customers). It can be used as a user’s manual for each target audience. It is presented in the Annex I and Annex II of the document respectively.
IVAN KERYANOV BIO TRADE 93 Ltd
Transport vehicles and equipment
(freezing cold room -20oC and cold room 0-4oC with attached antechamber for pre-cooling 5oC - to effectively keep the new "green" meat products in appropriate condition before transportation)
BorderGraze_Flyer (EN.GR.BG)
Marketing Research & Promotion Strategy