More funds from top sectors for DLO

Wageningen’s DLO institutes have done extremely well out of the allocation of research money by the two top sectors Agri-food and Horticulture & Propagation Materials. That became clear last week when it was decided which project proposals would be funded next year. Like last year, the ministry of Economic Affairs is contributing 13 million euros. Wageningen UR also benefits from the scheme whereby the government adds 25 cents to every euro invested by the private sector. That results in an additional five million euros. The business community is also investing more – around four million euros – which gives DLO an estimated nine million euros more to spend compared with this year. The private sector had five times as many research proposals with participants from Wageningen than the top sectors were able to fund. ‘That is a really good sign,’ says Martin Kropff, a member of the Agrofood top sector team. ‘It shows that the business community likes collaborating with us.’ There were good results for projects in the areas of sustainable livestock farming, plant breeding, resource efficiency (more food for fewer inputs), plant health and crop protection. There is less money available for food safety than there was this year. The allocation benefits the Plant Sciences, AFSG (biobased economy) and Animal Sciences groups. LEI is getting somewhat fewer projects, Alterra just as many.