The PRIMARY project is opening applications for financial support to validate and adapt innovative approaches to transforming underutilised agricultural feedstocks into valuable products. The Open Call will fund 6-9 consortia with grants of up to €150,000 to pilot processing technologies and business models in their regions. Projects should:
- Validate processes and business model blueprints developed within PRIMARY project and provide improvements as well as promote and test their replicability and scalability potential to other regions in Europe.
- Develop new value chains for local underutilised agricultural feedstocks and demonstrate their economic feasibility.
- Enhance project’s Stakeholder Platform through the network of the selected consortia and foster knowledge transfer between primary production sectors and SMEs.
PRIMARY is a Horizon Europe project developing local upcycling solutions using underutilised agricultural feedstocks. The 12-partner consortium spans Finland, Greece, and Estonia, working to create new business opportunities for farmers and cooperatives in rural areas.
PRIMARY is developing four business model blueprints for processing agricultural feedstocks including grass, greenhouse byproducts, cotton residues, and olive tree prunings. The Open Call offers regional actors the chance to adapt these models to their local contexts, demonstrating how underutilised agricultural materials can create new revenue streams for rural communities.
Successful applicants will work within the PRIMARY framework to pilot innovative bioeconomy processes, contributing to wider deployment of circular economy solutions across Europe.
Who can apply
The call targets consortia of 2-3 partners working in sustainable agricultural valorisation. Eligible applicants include farmers, cooperatives, SMEs, start-ups, NGOs, universities, and public bodies. Selected projects will receive funding to test, adapt, and demonstrate PRIMARY’s processing solutions and business model blueprints under real rural conditions. Consortia must consist of at least one technical partner (process operator, partner testing/applying/validating the technology/process), and at least one partner from the public (e.g. public body, university) or the private sector (e.g. primary producers, Cooperatives, start-ups, SMEs, NGOs). Applicants may only apply as part of one consortium.
The PRIMARY Open Call is open to legal entities from countries eligible for Horizon Europe funding: this includes the UK. Applicants should be start-ups, SMEs, public institutions (this includes academia and RTOs), cooperative associations, or civil society organisations.
Eligible technology and geographical areas
The proposal should incorporate at least one (≥1) of the defined PRIMARY processing concepts, which include methods such as biorefinery, submerged fermentation, solid-state fermentation, fibre-forming technology, pelletizing or pyrolysis/gasification of agricultural residues.
The proposals should use at least one (≥1) underutilised agricultural residue either one of the PRIMARY feedstocks or similar ones, including crop residues (cotton stalks, cereal straw), pruning biomass (olive, vineyard), greenhouse by-products (stems/leaves), or grass/silage.
The PRIMARY processing concepts and feedstocks are listed in the Business Model template which can be accessed here (see page 37 of the PDF for the relevant details).
The proposal must include the development and validation of a business model (farmcentric, cooperative-based or SME-based) in accordance with the Circular Business Model Canvas Framework provided in the PRIMARY Open Call Business Model Template above.
Activities should be implemented in rural European regions that are not already involved in the project. The regions that are not eligible include:
- Finland: Ostrobothnia, Häme, Savo
- Greece: Karditsa, Heraklion, Lykovrysi/Regional Unit of North Athens