Research project Everyone on board to close the Calendula chain: from grower to processor and end user

General introduction

Can we help scale up calendula cultivation by continuing to work on all the chain links involved? In the operational group GOGO4IT, a follow-up project after the research project GOGO2.0, that is the central question. This niche crop can be sold via various bioeconomy sectors, ranging from food, cosmetics, textiles to pharmaceuticals (for the flowers) and applications in the green economy (for the seeds). Cultivation of calendula under Flemish conditions has been optimized after 10 years of pioneering. Scaling up is not yet happening due to a lack of (developed) local outlets.

Research approach

The research partners are making targeted efforts to complete the production chain(s) around calendula. The plan is to 1) connect all chain partners, 2) optimize both varieties and the various processing steps (triage, pressing), 3) arrive at a good (legal) cooperation structure, both for the supplying growers and for the chain organization, and 4) look for more market opportunities for the residual flows.

Relevance/Valorization

By professionalizing and expanding the missing links along the entire chain, we expect to increase the chance that this promising crop will get into the cultivation plan of Flemish farmers. The previous project GOGO2.0 succeeded in finding a market for the seeds. Pressing them into interesting bio-based oils was one possible route. The valorization of the flowers requires further development. Since the start of this calendula research, Flemish pioneer growers remain very active and are driven to further exploit the accumulated cultivation knowledge in a booming economic sector, as revealed by this operational group.

Financing

Agentschap Landbouw & Zeevisserij