LANDFOOD
Food systems are responsible for up to 37 per cent of man-made greenhouse gas emissions. The main contributions come from soil mobilisation, fertilisers, pesticides, irrigation and food chains. In 2018, the European Union imported around 102,000 tonnes of gluten-free cereals, pulses and oilseeds. While cereal production generates around 200 kg CO2 eq/tonne, the wild forests that produce nuts are responsible for sequestering carbon in their wood and soil.
Acorns have a long history of use worldwide in human nutrition, folk medicine, animal feed and tanning. In general, acorns are rich in starch (~50%), have 2-5% protein (gluten-free) and fats (2-30%), mainly oleic, palmitic and linoleic acids. About 36% of Portuguese forests are endemic Quercinae forests, which produce acorns. In particular, the Alentejo cork oak forest is a major producer of acorns, producing 250,000 tonnes per year. However, the incipient value chain, cultural constraints and the high tannin content of some species mean that this is largely wasted.
LandFood project aims to establish a value chain for 'landas' - the local name for tannin-rich acorns - in order to establish the montado as an economic engine for the region. To this end, a regional network of stakeholders is being created, which already has a supply area of 20,000 hectares. A pilot line is being set up to extract tannins to produce edible acorn granules for the agri-food industry. In addition, the organic fraction generated during the process has been shown to have a calorific value of 16 MJ/Kg, equivalent to average wood, and is therefore of interest for use as biomass to feed the processing line to produce carbon neutral gluten-free foods.
Funding: "la Caixa" Foundation
Type of Funding: PROMOVE 2020 - Innovative Pilot Projects
Application Code: PV20-00050
Project Title: LandFood
Duration: 36 months
Start: 04 January 2021
End: 29 December 2023
Coordination: LandraTech
Consortium: LandraTech, Polytechnic Institute of Bragança, VALORIZA - Polytechnic Institute of Portalegre
Status: Completed