GROW brings future of agri-food sector one step closer

Healthy snacks made from forgotten vegetables, brownies and falafel made from regionally produced lupine, a machine that doses the amount of antibiotics for livestock. This year's event was also GROW was full of innovative agrofood projects. The students with the most striking ideas were put in the spotlight during the online GROW event.

Limburg agri-food students have been pitching their innovative concept ideas and opinions to the business community by means of a video pitch via the online GROW platform. Besides the fact that the students were able to come into contact with their potential employers of tomorrow, they also had a chance to win prizes. of tomorrow, they also had a chance to win great prizes. The winners of the jury and public awards were announced today during the online GROW event.

For the jury awards, the concept ideas and projects were divided into three categories: Food, Sustainability and Technology. For each category, the professional jury chose a winner based on six criteria: innovation, feasibility, added value for the market, profiling, presentation and clear image of the final product.

Healthy snack of forgotten vegetables

In the Food category, the Vintage Veggie Snackers walked away with the prize. Alissa Schrijnemaekers, Roos Caanen, Esther Schouwenaar and Elise Pelgrim from Maastricht University developed this healthy cracker based on forgotten homegrown vegetables. Besides the fact that this product offers a healthy alternative for a snack, every aspect of its production is sustainability in mind.

In particular, the use of relatively unknown vegetables produced by local farmers appealed to the jury. 'It was really a surprise. We as a jury have not seen this product before seen before. This snacker you want to taste,' the jury members substantiated their choice.

Brownies and falafel with regional lupine

Lyloe Oberndorff of Gilde Opleidingen/Vista College is the winner of the jury prize in the jury prize in the Sustainability category. She used regionally produced lupine in various Lyloe Oberndorff used regionally produced lupin in various dishes such as brownies and falafel. Lupin is a new ingredient from the region. The processing of regional lupin instead of the soybean from distant countries is an absolute added value for a further increase in sustainability. It is great to see that the young generation of chefs is already The jury praised her idea.

Automatic dosing of medicines for cattle

In the category Technology, Jan Megens of CITAVERDE College Horst was awarded. He invented He came up with an automatic medicine doser, which ensures that exactly the right amount of antibiotics antibiotics is added to the drinking water of livestock. By preventing overdosage, the use of antibiotics is reduced, thus reducing resistance. of antibiotics, making resistance less likely to occur.

'A practical idea that Jan has worked out well and which fits in with current developments in the framework of health and sustainability. With this idea Jan shows that he wants to be innovative", the jury members told The members of the jury said about this project.

Improving soil quality with Bokashi

The winner of the public award was chosen by the visitors of the GROW platform. They could online to vote for their favorite project. HAS students Bram Mourits, Ivana Schönhage, Juliette Schot and Tom Grootjans received the most votes and walked away the public prize. Commissioned by the municipality of Beekdaelen, these students researched the effects of Bokashi (fermented organic matter) and GFT- compost for arable farmers. They have investigated if weeds arise when the soil is treated with treatment of the soil with Bokashi. With these results the students want to contribute contribute to a better quality of soil in the municipality.

The awards

The four prices consist of a cash prize of 300 euros and a day at a special entrepreneur, who in consultation with the entrepreneur, who is chosen in consultation with the prize winner. All projects can be found on the online GROW platform: www.growlimburg.nl. The full broadcast is here to watch back.

Frans van Leijden Award 2021

Another special and unique award that was presented was the Frans van Leijden Award. HAS University of Applied Sciences was proud to present this first ever Frans van Leijden Award to Youri Timmermans, a business administration and agri-food business student from HAS University of Applied Sciences in Venlo. Youri has come up with a solution to prevent emissions of crop protection products. He wants to make this technique available worldwide. The award was presented yesterday, one and a half years after the death of Frans van Leijden, as a tribute to him.

GROW is an initiative of the Province of Limburg, Brightlands Campus Greenport Venlo, LIOF, LLTB and the Limburg knowledge institutions: HAS Hogeschool, CITAVERDE College, Gilde Opleidingen/Vista College, Fontys Hogeschool Venlo, University Maastricht and Foodlab Limburg.