EIP-Project „GeTie“ has started
Bonn/Geldern Close to the town of Geldern, the operational group of the “GeTie”-project has started its work. “GeTie” is an abbreviation for the German “Gemeinschaftsleistung Tierwohl” which in translation means “joint effort for animal welfare”. This project is funded by the EU and the Federal State of North Rhine-Westphalia for the duration of two years. 12 partners are involved. The aim is to implement an online platform that records all efforts and investments into animal welfare by all actors involved along the food production chain “pork” and which enables to communicate those efforts among each other along the chain. The data of all stages of the chain shall be collected and transmitted via app, be translated into information and be used for a fair pricing between the market partners.
Surveys among customers show over and over that there is a willingness to pay more for pork. But often the assurance of a higher price being related to a higher degree of animal welfare is missing. On the other hand, animal keeping plants complain about fair prices for the investments they have made for more animal welfare. The project “GeTie” seeks to generate transparency on both sides. Thus, the large knowledge and expertise of practical farmers and their service providers as well as their market partners in the value-added chain “meat” will be connected to the interdisciplinary expertise of scientists of the International FoodNetCenter of the University of Bonn. If there is a working concept in the end, this method might be transferred to other food production chains of animal origin.
The lead-partner of the project is EQAsce – a European education-cooperative that is located at Bonn. It works branch-specific, standard-oriented, chain-oriented and is internationally oriented. Via its networks it connects partners who cooperate in many fields of the agricultural sector. For GeTie these are standard providers and market partners of the food sector. A round table moderated by EQAsce will provide a communication platform during the project that enables an exchange between them and the agricultural plants. The focus of the work in the GeTie-project lies on seven pig-keeping farms of North Rhine-Westphalia: They play a crucial role in the development of functioning indicators for animal welfare, rights of access to the data-platform, design of communication-flows and the evaluation of a common concept. Further, important service-providers such as system-developers Chainpoint and VERAVIS as well as the Rheinische Erzeugerring für Mastschweine e.V. are involved in the development processes. The project is funded by the European Agricultural Fund for the development of rural areas. The EU invests in rural areas supported by funds of the Ministry for Environment, Agriculture, Conservation- and Consumer Protection of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia.
After the official kick-off the practical work of the operational group has started.
