Kick-off meeting: BEL AIR officially launched

Im Unternehmen des Projektpartners Jansen Poultry Equipment (JPE) in der niederländischen Stadt Barneveld hat am vergangenen Dienstag der offizielle Start des mit europäischen Geldern geförderten deutsch-niederländischen Kooperationsprojektes BEL AIR stattgefunden.

BEL AIR stands for “Bringing down Endotoxin Level in and around poultry Animal housings by Innovative technologies and Internet of Things Resources” and has been proposed to develop and evaluate innovative technologies to reduce emissions in poultry farms. A total of nine German and Dutch project partners – companies and associations – from the border region will cooperate in the project until 2020, with a total budget of around 2.6 million euros.

At the kick-off event in the Dutch province of Gelderland – right in the heart of Dutch poultry production – around 40 representatives of the project partners involved, the donors, the programme management of the Euregio Rhein-Waal and associated and interested organisations and associations met to get to know each other and to inform and exchange information about the planned activities in the project.

Importance of the region for the global poultry industry

At the beginning of the opening event, JPE founders Ab Jansen and Ery Tijink, representing the province of Gelderland, addressed greetings to those present. Ab Jansen briefly explained the history of the company he founded in 1986 and was very pleased that his company is part of the BEL AIR project. In his speech, Ery Tijink mentioned the particularly strong bilateral relations between Germany and the Netherlands and the importance of cross-border projects for the economy of the border region and for the cultural integration of both countries.

In a short introduction, the BEL AIR project manager Tim Mäkelburg of lead partner GIQS e.V. briefly introduced the emission problem in the poultry sector, the objectives of the project as well as the planned solutions for reducing harmful emissions at source. He also referred to the importance of the German-Dutch border region around the municipalities of Ede and Barneveld for the global poultry sector and was very pleased that a very high-calibre consortium could be put together for this project. Afterwards, representatives of the eight remaining project partners introduced themselves and their concrete activities in the project.

German-Dutch Consortium

The project partners come from North Rhine-Westphalia in addition to the lead partner GIQS e.V. (Kleve), the Mikrobiologisches Labor Dr. Michael Lohmeyer (Münster), the Rottmann Group (Ahaus) and the PTC Phage Technology Center (Böhnen). Jansen Poultry Equipment (Barneveld) from the province of Gelderland is involved in the project, Whysor (Arcen) from Limburg and DLV Intensief Advies (Uden), Kewi Services (Heesch) and the association ZLTO (‘s-Hertogenbosch) from North Brabant.

Project manager Tim Mäkelburg rated the kick-off at the end of the event as a great success: “All partners have come a little closer and can now start the joint project fully motivated”. The partners and guests were also very enthusiastic about the project and the lead partner GIQS e.V. after the event.

The project BEL AIR is implemented under the INTERREG V A programme Deutschland-Nederland and co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) and the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs, MWIDE NRW and the provinces of Gelderland, Limburg and Noord-Brabant. It is accompanied by the programme management of the Euregio Rhein-Waal.

Further information can be found in the project description or on the project website.