Written by: Husain Sadeqi, MTU

Bio-Based Technologies (BBTs), turning agricultural and forestry non-food feedstock into value-added products such as biogas, biochar, natural fertilisers, bioplastics and more, are among the promising routes to a circular, lower-emission rural economy. To achieve this, Operational Groups (OGs) under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) are one of the practical ways to bring that innovation to farms and forests, by uniting farmers, researchers, advisors and businesses around a shared challenge.

Yet across many EU Member States, the number of BBT OGs remains stubbornly low. Why?

To find out, the BBioNets project asked the people closest to the process. A new support tool, Operational Groups Support Tool: Tackling Systemic Barriers to Bio-Based Innovation in Farms and Forests, draws on a survey of fifteen experts including CAP Network representatives, Managing Authorities, advisors and researchers across six countries: Ireland, Greece, Poland, the Czech Republic, Spain and Italy. It examines every stage of the OG journey, from the first idea through to what happens after a project ends.

The survey findings were among the topics discussed at the recent webinar, “Building Better Operational Groups.” More information about the event, as well as the video recording, is available here.

What was found

The same obstacles surface again and again. Administrative and regulatory burden falls hardest on exactly the smaller, less experienced groups that OG schemes are meant to encourage. Engaging farmers remains difficult throughout, with technical language and paperwork deterring participation and digital outreach consistently failing to reach them. And post-project continuity emerged as the weakest link of all, once the funding ends, promising innovations too often stall, with no clear route to scale-up or market.

Support does exist but it is uneven. It varies widely between countries, rarely targets bio-based innovation specifically, and leaves some phases, especially the post-project stage, almost untouched.

What works

Encouragingly, the tool also looks at countries further along the journey. Italy and Spain show that these barriers are real but surmountable through national knowledge portals, standardised templates, simplified costs and advance payments, mentoring programmes, and dedicated Innovation Support Services that bridge research and practice. None of these is complex or expensive.

The clearest lessons: make collaboration genuine by involving farmers from the design stage, start with visible early wins, treat OGs as tools for competitiveness rather than subsidies, invest in intermediaries, make knowledge visible, and connect nationally and internationally.

The opportunity

With the post-2027 CAP framework taking shape, the timing matters. As the support tool concludes, the tools needed to grow bio-based innovation are neither complex nor expensive, what they require is deliberate investment and sustained commitment. National CAP Networks are uniquely placed to lead.