2025 has been a year of steady progress for VALPRO Path, marked by collaboration across Europe, growing visibility, and concrete advances in sustainable plant-protein value chains. Throughout the year, the project continued to connect research, innovation, and practice, ensuring that insights generated within the consortium translate into real-world impact for farmers, industry, policymakers, and consumers.
A Consortium That Grew Stronger by Adding the Right Piece
One of the key developments this year was the strengthening of the VALPRO Path consortium itself. The project welcomed Wide Open Agriculture Germany, Europe’s only industrial-scale producer of lupin protein isolates, bringing over a decade of expertise in sustainable plant-based ingredients. Their contribution has reinforced the project’s work on lupin processing, side-stream valorisation, and sustainability across the value chain, adding further depth to VALPRO Path’s technical and industrial capacity.
Taking the Conversation Where It Matters: Farms, Fairs and Public Stages
Engagement and knowledge exchange have been central to VALPRO Path’s activities in 2025. Project partners were present at a wide range of agricultural, innovation, and industry events across Europe, including Fieragricola TECH, the National Tillage Conference organised by Teagasc, events hosted by Agricolus S.r.l. in Italy, the International Agricultural Fair in Novi Sad, and the Teagasc Crops & Technology Open Day in Ireland. These events provided valuable opportunities to engage directly with farmers, researchers, policymakers, and the wider public, showcase project results, and discuss the future of sustainable protein crops. In Ireland, VALPRO Path was presented to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Marine, highlighting innovative plant-protein products and reinforcing the project’s relevance at national and European level.
When the Consortium Met Face to Face: Aligning Vision in Turin
Collaboration within the consortium was further strengthened during the Annual General Meeting in Turin, where partners came together to align on progress and next steps. Discussions covered agronomic challenges, nutritional insights, innovative technologies, market trends, and sustainability pathways for crops such as chickpeas, faba beans, lupins, peanuts, and peas. Workshops helped consolidate shared learning and explore policy implications, while a visit to the facilities of partner Molino Peila offered a practical demonstration of how pulses can be transformed into high-value ingredients and products.
Scaling Sustainable Plant-Protein Solutions
Across its Innovation Production Systems, VALPRO Path demonstrates how sustainable plant-protein value chains can be strengthened from field to fork. The project goes beyond developing business cases by delivering innovative, practical solutions that turn agronomic research into real-world impact. These include on-farm processing of lentils and chickpeas into fresh, plant-based burgers that shorten supply chains and increase farm income, as well as approaches for processing peanuts directly on European farms, creating added value for farmers while identifying innovative uses for by-products.
Further innovative solutions include a smart varietal selection tool that helps farmers choose the right crops for the right place and market; intercropping systems that improve yield stability while enabling the production of high-protein flours for novel bakery products; nutrient tracking and sustainability assessment tools that follow protein crops through processing to optimise value, reduce inefficiencies, and support transparent decision-making; and advanced processing, packaging, and product development solutions, including legume-based pasta and hermetic bagging systems that improve quality, shelf life, and traceability.
Together, these innovative solutions show how VALPRO Path is translating scientific knowledge into scalable, economically viable pathways that support farmers, processors, and food manufacturers, while accelerating Europe’s transition towards more sustainable, plant-based food systems.
Turning Data into Direction: Research That Supports Real Decisions
2025 also saw significant progress in research and innovation outputs. VALPRO Path published new research addressing key challenges in sustainable agri-food:
- Interpretable Machine Learning for Legume Yield Prediction Using Satellite Remote Sensing Data
- Ecodesign of a Legume-Based Vegan Burger: A Holistic Case Study Focusing on Ingredient Sourcing and Packaging Material
- Pedoclimatic, knowledge and management factors drive European soybean and faba bean yields
These publications contribute valuable evidence to support more resilient, efficient, and sustainable protein crop value chains.
Opening the Doors: Making Knowledge Easier to Access
Dissemination and outreach remained a strong focus throughout the year. The VALPRO Path website was refreshed to offer clearer insights into the project’s business cases, innovations, and sustainability goals, while highlighting the Knowledge Point Hub as a central platform for collaboration and stakeholder engagement. Media coverage expanded across European agri-food and sustainability outlets, including features in platforms such as Vegconomist, GFI Europe, Vocal Media, GlobalNewswire, and more, as well as strengthened collaboration with WikiFarmer, helping to extend the project’s reach beyond the research community.
Engaging Audiences Through Podcasts, Webinars and Blogs
Audio, video, and written content played an important role in sharing knowledge and sparking dialogue. Throughout 2025, VALPRO Path released a rich programme of podcasts, webinars, and blog posts, featuring voices from agriculture, food innovation, and sustainability. Topics included:
Podcasts:
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- VALPRO PATH PODCAST- EP#8 – Pathways to Green: Exploring Fava Beverages & Sustainability
- VALPRO PATH PODCAST- EP#9 – Growing Smarter with “All-in-one Farm Information Management System”
- VALPRO PATH PODCAST- EP#10 – Future of Alternative Proteins with Dr John Deely (ComMEATted project)
- VALPRO PATH PODCAST- EP#11 – Smart Supply Chains & Plant Proteins: Dr Aoife O’Gorman Talks Protein-I
- VALPRO PATH PODCAST- EP#12 – Developing Markets for Minor Protein Crops
- VALPRO PATH PODCAST- EP#13 – Consumers’ Expectations Regarding Plant-based Food
- VALPRO Path Webinar #4: How Can Nutrient Tracking Inform Consumer Food Choices?
- VALPRO Path Webinar #5: Plant-Based Transition Pathways in Europe – Planning for the Future
- No beans left behind: The Circular Economy in VALPRO Path
- Protein Psychology: Why We Still Think Plants Aren’t Enough
- Bean There, Done That: Why Plant Proteins Are Taking Over Our Plates
- How farmB and VALPRO Path Simplify Emission Reporting for Protein Crop Farmers
Webinars:
Blog posts:
These activities supported open discussion and knowledge exchange across the entire value chain.
Building European Synergies for Greater Impact
The project also continued to build strategic synergies with other European projects , including collaboration with the Wageningen Alternative Protein Project and Excel4Pro. These connections strengthen VALPRO Path’s European network and support shared goals in education, research, and innovation for plant-based proteins. Looking ahead, preparations are underway for a joint dissemination conference with the GIANT LEAPS project, which will bring together science, innovation, and policy to accelerate the protein transition at European level.
Looking Ahead: Turning Progress into Lasting Impact
Overall, 2025 has been a year of meaningful progress for VALPRO Path. By combining strong partnerships, high-quality research, active stakeholder engagement, and effective communication, the project has continued to move closer to its goal of delivering practical, sustainable solutions for Europe’s plant-protein sector. As VALPRO Path enters its final phase, the momentum built this year provides a solid foundation to ensure that its outcomes deliver lasting impact in practice.
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