GRowing Advanced industrial Crops on marginal lands for biorEfineries” (GRACE)

The consortium consists of 22 partners from universities, agricultural companies and industry. The project is coordinated by the University of Hohenheim in Stuttgart (Germany). It is primarily funded(€ 12.3 million) by the "Bio-based Industries Joint Undertaking" (BBI JU), a public‑private partnership  between the European Union and "Bio-based Industries Consortium" (BIC). The private project partners are contributing the remaining € 2.7 million.

The goal of the project is to produce sustainable products with a strong market potential, to guarantee a reliable and affordable supply of sustainably produced biomass, and to better link biomass producers with the processing industry. In order to avoid competition with the cultivation of food or feed crops, miscanthus and hemp are grown on areas that have been polluted by heavy metals, for example, or are unattractive for food production due to lower yields.