On February 18, 2025, the ALFA project’s Belgian Hub, led by White Research, successfully hosted its fifth capacity-building seminar at Koeweidehof, a livestock farm/venue in Merchtem, Vlaams-Brabant. This event brought together Flemish stakeholders from the biogas and livestock farming value chains for a day of insightful presentations, discussions, networking, and a farm visit.
The seminar gathered 25 external participants, including farmers, researchers, and representatives from industry-leading organisations. Biolectric, Inagro, Biogas-E, and the (EBA) contributed their expertise to the event with scientific presentations and practical insights. Despite the cold weather, the sunny Flemish countryside provided an ideal background for productive interactions.
Discussions were lively, with farmers particularly engaged, asking numerous questions and extending conversations beyond the scheduled time. While the focus was not solely on ALFA, the broader topics of biogas uptake and upgrade, challenges, and policy developments in Belgium and Flanders took center stage.
Key highlights from the seminar
- Expert presentations & regional insights
The morning sessions featured three expert presentations:
- Inagro provided insights from the Value4Farm project, showcasing sustainable local value chains integrating food production and renewable energy.
- Biogas-E presented findings from the Flemish case study under the SEMPRE-BIO project, highlighting farm-based biogas production with CHP units and biomethane upgrades.
- White Research (WR) shared key takeaways from ALFA, emphasising the project’s goals, research findings, and the upcoming second round of support services.
- On-site farm visit & biogas technology demonstration
Participants toured Koeweidehof’s biogas plant, gaining first-hand knowledge of its operations. The farm manager detailed the plant’s daily functions, benefits, and challenges. Representatives from Biolectric were also present, answering any questions on their anaerobic digestion technology, starting practical discussions on small-scale biogas technology adoption in livestock farms.
- Policy roundtable & market insights
The afternoon sessions shifted towards policy and market dynamics:
- Biolectric introduced the advantages of anaerobic digestion technology for small farms and discussed current market insights and business models.
- EBA shared findings from its latest biogas report, offering insights into European market trends and policy developments, with a focus on the current state of biogas and biomethane production in Belgium.
- A Policy roundtable, moderated by WR, engaged experts from the biogas and biomethane industries, as well as independent researchers in a discussion on regulatory gaps, support mechanisms, and recommendations for improving small-scale biogas adoption in Flanders and beyond.
Key takeaways & next steps
- Farmers demonstrated strong interest in biogas adoption, but require further support, particularly in financing and regulatory guidance.
- Regional policy alignment and incentive structures were key discussion points, with stakeholders contributing valuable recommendations.
- The ALFA project’s second round of service provision will soon take off, providing livestock farmers and other stakeholders in the agricultural biogas value chain with business and technical support services tailored to their needs.
Acknowledgments
A big thank you to all participants, speakers, and co-organisers for making this seminar a success!
