Grass is for cows, grass is for playing soccer on, grass you have in the garden. True, but you can do much more with grass. More sustainability, more protein, more biodiversity, more earnings, less emissions.
As naturally as grass grows in our typical Dutch landscapes, so great are the opportunities to do more with that sea of green. Grassa knows this, and is working hard to make the potential a reality. The company, which was born a decade and a half ago in Groningen, developed a circularity concept that turns grass into a crop with benefits for everyone.
Joep de Vries, business developer Agrifood at NOM, has been following these developments for quite some time. 'Grass is essentially a forgotten crop. We look at it as if it is only important in livestock farming, for milk production. But actually, we should look at it as if it were arable farming. Grass has much more value.'
Grassa devised a natural process of pressing, heating and filtering that processes grass into high-quality products. Proteins, for example, suitable for human consumption. This makes grass an alternative to the much less climate-friendly soy. And these proteins are desperately needed now that we are expected to eat less meat.
Grass is essentially a forgotten crop. We look at it as if it only matters in animal husbandry, for milk production. Grass has much more value.
Joep de Vries, NOM
Emissions sharply down
Joep: 'The great thing is that studies from Wageningen University show that cows continue to give just as much milk if they eat the grass from which those valuable substances have been extracted for us. So that way you deal much more efficiently with the nutritional value in the grass.'
The benefits go further. By feeding that so-called unlaid grass, cows reduce ammonia and phosphate emissions. According to Grassa, this is as much as thirty percent. This is because the protein extracted from it creates waste products that produce emissions.
'You have to look at it this way: normal grass leaves the cow as waste, resulting in emissions,' Joep explains. 'The decorticated grass, from which valuable substances have been extracted, produces less faeces, while the cow does get exactly what it needs. The extracted part contains precisely the substances that are important for monogastric animals such as humans.
Pilot Fascinating
This naturally attracts the attention of the agribusiness sector, as was evident this spring in Leeuwarden. There NOM gave the workshop Omdenkenken met Gras at the Dairy Campus. It attracted farmers, grass drying companies, researchers, entrepreneurs and cooperatives. All were curious about the possibilities that grass has to offer. And certainly also about the promised earnings model.
For Joep de Vries, there is no doubt that that model is there. 'But we have to start demonstrating that to get as many entrepreneurs in the sector on board as possible. That is why we are also joining Fascinating, which is all about adding value to vegetable proteins. We hope to get the green light for a pilot soon. Evidence is just essential.'
Whereas in the Netherlands the extra value of grass is still relatively unnoticed, it is already being experimented with more across borders. In Denmark, for example, grass has long been treated as a crop of value, the green gold, if you will. High time to follow that example in the Netherlands, Grassa and the NOM think. The time is also ripe, argues Joep. 'We are in the middle of an agricultural revolution, in which emissions are important. Grass can become a new source of income that is actually better for the climate and nature. Grass binds CO2 and it is also a very good rotation crop to keep the soil healthy.'
