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Innovative societies Water-smart societies Climate-neutral societies 

Interreg makes
a difference!

Explore how people in the Baltic Sea region have been benefitting
from our projects.


#MadeWithInterreg solutions for

Healthy and sustainable food

From ensuring that healthy and sustainable food lands on the tables to making the local food businesses thrive.

What are we doing?

For over two decades, Interreg projects have been working as if there were no borders on a steady growth of local food sector, boosting its competitiveness and strength on a global markets. Giving voice to local producers and opening the doors to new markets was one of the ways forward. The focus on efficiency has always been teamed up with sustainability and circularity, giving more power to those practices, which are safe to the human health and the environment. 

Examples of #MadeWithInterreg solutions:
  • a sustainable network of fruit-growing companies for knowledge and technology exchange
  • a platform with over 500 quality and authentication methods for non-timber forest products
  • farm to school programme models
  • framework for sustainable public procurement
  • reduced food waste
  • models to upcycle food
  • models to recycle waste
  • change in food delivery systems from single-use to multiple-use crockery and packaging
  • amended legal frameworks boosting aquaculture

What we’ve achieved so far

In the early 2000s, Interreg projects worked on enhancing the competitiveness of local food industry and food suppliers in the region. Not only did they help innovate processes in the food production, but also boosted local and regional food chains from a farmer to a consumer, and improved access to new markets.

A growing importance of healthy and sustainable food brought first concepts of eco-regions into life. Moreover, Interreg paved a way for ecological recycling agriculture, which recycles nutrients through a balanced diverse crop rotation. 20 information centres educated farmers, children, policy makers and others how to reduce the environmental impact of the food sector. Diet for a Clean Baltic changed food habits in municipalities around the Baltic Sea, e.g. at schools and social institutions in Swedish Södertälje municipality. Interreg achievements firmly resonated through the Sustainable Food Systems Program of the United Nations.

In the years 2014-2020, by reaching out to 4,000 SMEs and 330 food networks, Interreg strengthened food distribution among small food producers, farmers, food processors, stores, restaurants and others. An open demo-farm network of fruit-growing companies in Latvia, Lithuania and Poland trained over 500 enterprises, and established an exchange among fruit-growers within and across the countries. Reviewed and optimised authentication and quality methods for berries and berry-based food products opened up new markets for local producers. Experimenting with macroalgae cultivation untapped the potential of aquaculture. Finally, Interreg projects built a path for more sustainable public catering services across the region.

Ongoing projects

The ongoing projects bring food systems in the Baltic Sea region to a new circular level. They ensure better access to sustainable, organic food meals while reducing food waste and upcycling food or reusing waste as organic compost. As in many cases change starts at the procurement level, projects set standards for sustainable procurement for schools, daycare, hospitals and other public institutions.

Increased sustainability of food systems goes hand in hand with building resilience of local food producers, e.g. by helping them diversify or enter e-commerce services. Additional opportunities are related to aquaculture, e.g. fish and shrimp farming on land bringing affordable and healthy food. The overall food security in the region is also developing through improved access to planting material of local potato cultivars.

Last by not least, food packaging is placed high on the agenda: projects focus on reducing single-use food packaging in food delivery and catering systems.

Explore project solutions in more detail:

StratKIT

Innovative Strategies for Public Catering: Sustainability Toolkit across Baltic Sea Region
The StratKIT project built a path for more sustainable public catering services by addressing relevant procurement strategies in the Baltic Sea region.
Read more about the project

NovelBaltic

Market driven authentic Non-Timber Forest Products from the Baltic region - focus on wild and semi cultivated species with business potential
NovelBaltic helps small and medium-sized enterprises to improve the market uptake of non-timber forest products from the Baltic Sea region.
Read more about the project

InnoFruit

Advancement of non-technological innovation performance and innovation capacity in fruit growing and processing sector in selected Baltic Sea Region countries
The project InnoFruit created a sustainable network of fruit-growing companies to make them more successful and competitive across the Baltic Sea region markets thanks to the exchange of innovative solutions.
Read more about the project

Baltic Sea Food

Baltic Sea Food
The Interreg project Baltic Sea Food developed a new business model for business-to-business (B2B) distribution in the local food sector and helped small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas to improve business performance.
Read more about the project

GRASS

Growing Algae Sustainably in the Baltic Sea
GRASS helped ministries, regional administrations and municipalities as well as businesses understand benefits of macroalgae cultivation as a new blue economy opportunity for the region.
Read more about the project

Circular FoodShift

Circular FoodShift in the Baltic countries
The project Circular FoodShift helps authorities in rural and peri-urban municipalities transform food models with less food waste at schools and gastronomy and new businesses upcycling food and food waste.
Read more about the project

BASCIL

Innovative Solutions for the Rural Food Production Sector to Diversify into Sustainable Culinary Tourism Services
The project BASCIL helps local food producers in rural areas diversify their business into sustainable culinary tourism services, and thus reach new customers.
Read more about the project

KISMET

KISMET – sustainable food environments
The project KISMET helps public authorities create favourable conditions for food producers and consumers to choose sustainable food options.
Read more about the project

StratKIT+

Innovative Strategies for Public Catering: the Expansion of the Sustainable Public Meal Toolkit
The project StratKIT+ guides public authorities, catering providers and others on sustainable procurement for schools, daycare, hospitals and other public institutions.
Read more about the project

Change(K)now!

Change(K)now! – A mindset change from single-use to circular or multiple-use of food delivery systems in cities of the BSR
The Change(K)now! project helps municipalities reduce single-use food packaging in food delivery and catering systems, and build social acceptance among companies and people for circular reuse of food packaging.
Read more about the project

BSR Food Coalition

Baltic Municipality’s Food Coalition
The project BSR Food Coalition connects local farmers and public authorities to ensure regular access to organic food meals at schools, and thus a continuous demand for healthy food supply.
Read more about the project

MainPotRe

Maintenance and scaling up potato growing and consumption heritage in Northern Baltic region to build up resilient communities
In the project MainPotRe potato breeders, gene bank holders, research institutions, authorities, and NGOs work together to enhance the self-sufficiency of communities and food security in the region by improving access to planting material of local potato cultivars.
Read more about the project

TETRAS

Technology transfEr for Thriving Recirculating Aquaculture Systems in the Baltic Sea Region
In the project TETRAS, public authorities trigger fish and shrimp farming on land, which reuses water from industries related to energy production and geothermal resources.
Read more about the project

RoundGoby

Promoting commercial fishing of Round Goby in the Baltic Sea
To develop a commercially viable fishery of invasive Round Goby fish species, the project RoundGoby helps authorities amend the legal framework and guides enterprises in producing suitable fishing gear and fish products for local markets.
Read more about the project

eRural resilience

Creating resilient rural communities in BSR based on the opportunities of digital bio businesses
The project eRural resilience enables local authorities and business support organisations in rural areas to help SMEs increase their digital literacy in e-marketing of bio products and thus seize new business opportunities.
Read more about the project

FoodLoops

Local cooperation for circular biowaste in schools and beyond
The project FoodLoops establishes cooperation among schools, caterers (SMEs), farmers, and professionals in a circular economy to improve biowaste separation at source, prevent excessive food waste and reuse it as organic compost.
Read more about the project

Results stay with the people: listen to our #InterregVoices:

 

 

 

 

 

 

©Sara Seing

Joining this particular project made me rejoice as it provided us with the opportunity to address the issues we had long desired to work on and cooperate with others who share our vision. (...) The Sustainable Public Meal Toolkit offered by the project is incredibly useful for our organization’s work.

Sara Seing

Södertälje Municipality, Sweden
STRATKIT+ project

 

 

 

 

 

 

©Ilga Gruševa

In Latvia, we are especially proud of those partners who took the lead partner role in Interreg projects. Here I can name for example the project InnoFruit, which created a sustainable network of fruit-growing companies to make them more competitive in the Baltic Sea region market.

Ilga Gruševa

Monitoring Committee member, Latvia

 

 

 

 

 

 

©IB.SH

Local food producers need innovative and practical solutions for culinary tourism to meet the specific needs and expectations of visitors in the post-pandemic era. The capacity of small producers to get enough visibility and attention in tourism market is usually very limited. Thus, they also need a solution for efficient marketing of joint tourism products.

Anna Kaiponen

Rural Tourism Association Lomalaidun, Finland
BASCIL project