The LIFE Seedcapital project was started in 2013. The project aimed at increasing sustainability at farm level by extracting rapeseed oil to replace diesel fuel in agricultural machinery. Also, using the residual cake as feed results in lower methane emissions from the livestock because the cake has a higher fat content.

How the Innovation Came About

Neiker, the Basque agricultural research institute, was looking for a farmer to test their rapeseed system. At the same, a shepherd, who produces sheep cheese in the Designation of Origin Idiazabal, was looking for locally produced alternatives for soya to feed his herd.

“Many years ago we decided not to use soya to feed our sheep and three years ago the idea of the rapeseed came out, which allows us to use local feed, adding value to the cheese” (the shepherd)

Neiker and the shepherd knew each other from before, so they teamed up. This led to the beginning of rapeseed production and processing at the shepherd’s farm. The rapeseed press cake is used for feeding the sheep and the rapeseed oil is utilised as biodiesel for the machinery of the shepherd.

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This resulted in the creation of a circular economy at farm level which in Spanish is called “uso integral”.

The Collaboration Was Successful

Thanks to their collaboration it was possible:

  • to obtain an alternative feed source to soya that works well in the climatic conditions of the area, that produces quality feed for sheep and reduces costs
  • to obtain biodiesel oil as fuel for tractors
  • to demonstrate that the consumption of biofuels can be increased by about 20-40 per cent without major problems in farm machinery, and
  • to reduce the enteric methane production of about 13 per cent without impacting the producer’s income level.

Read more about the Spanish Cross Visit.