Are you a farmer, forester or blue bioeconomy producer? Join the Working Group on Primary Producers and help shape practical, producer‑led solutions for Europe’s circular bio‑based value chains.
Primary producers are essential to Europe’s transition towards a competitive, sustainable and circular bio-based economy. Farmers, foresters, fishers and aquaculture producers are already managing resources, risks and innovation on the ground, yet their perspectives are not always sufficiently reflected where new value chains, policies and support mechanisms are designed.
The RootLinks project works to change this. By strengthening the role of agriculture, forestry and blue bioeconomy producers, RootLinks helps ensure they can actively shape, and benefit from, emerging circular bio-based value chains. At the core of this effort is the Working Group on Primary Producers WGPP), a dedicated three-year working group established under the CBE JU, bringing together representatives of primary producers from across Europe. Its mandate is to prepare and implement an Action Plan that proposes practical, actionable solutions to recurring challenges faced by producers when engaging in circular bio-based innovations.
RootLinks supports the WGPP by facilitating dialogue, strengthening communication and helping translate producers’ priorities into concrete actions. To deliver solutions that work in practice, the WGPP must reflect the full diversity of primary production systems across Europe. There is a particular need to strengthen representation from:
- Aquanauts, including aquaculture, small-scale fisheries, shellfish producers, cooperatives and sector associations;
- Foresters, such as small and medium forest owners, owner associations, advisory services and operational actors;
- Agrimakers, including farmers, cooperatives and organisations developing practical bioeconomy pathways rooted in real farm conditions.
Across these sectors, producers face tight margins, growing regulatory demands and uncertainty about how bio-based business models fit into day-to-day operations. The key challenge is not a lack of expertise, but ensuring that practical experience is heard, connected and turned into viable opportunities.
If you are a primary producer or an organisation that represents or works closely with primary producers, such as a cooperative, producer or professional association, advisory body or trusted intermediary network, you are well placed to contribute to the WGPP, as you can play a key role in ensuring discussions remain practical, credible and grounded in real-life experience. By joining the WGPP, you can bring field-level realities into European bio-based discussions, help shape practical solutions, exchange experience with peers across sectors and countries, and contribute to ensuring circular bio-based value chains are designed with producers, not around them.
A stronger, more representative WGPP is key to building bio-based value chains that deliver economic, social and environmental benefits for primary producers across Europe.
