Case Studies

Menterra

27/06/2006

Menterra is a 3 year, £2.6M multi partner agricultural innovation project led by Gwynedd Council. It is sponsored by WAG and Objective 1 funding.

BIC have been involved as a commercial partner from the outset, initially to assess the market potential of growing alternative crops which offer further added value processing.

As a truly unique initiative, it aims to change attitudes by demonstrating real diversification opportunities through experimental trialling and processing. A strong element of technology transfer ensures that the agricultural community benefits from R&D and focus marketing support.

Crops cultivated through MENTERRA include naked oats, linseed, naked barley, camelina, crambe. Blueberries, chokeberries and sea buckthorn are the three crop berries that were introduced in 2005 within the project. Work has also begun to find ways of increasing omega-3 fatty acid content in lambs.

Within the MENTERRA project, BIC is responsible for new product development, market assessments, consumer awareness and knowledge transfer into sustainable specialist agricultural products.