Transnational cooperation to develop local barley to beer value chains

1 Introduction

Transnational cooperation is one of the main strategies in many research and development (R&D) projects because it is recognised that many common issues can be more effectively and innovatively solved by collaboration than by isolated national initiatives (Dühr and Nadin 2007). Achieving added value is a goal for such cooperation (Colomb 2007). Food and drink value chains are complex, stretching from primary production, through processing, marketing, consumption, waste and recycling. Although food and drink value chains have become increasingly globalised, in recent decades a local food movement has arisen as a reaction to this, and “local” has frequently been associated with “sustainable and healthy production and consumption patterns” (Brunori et al. 2016). It is recognised that new ways of generating knowledge, apart from traditional academic discipline-based approaches, are needed to solve complex challenges. Transdisciplinary is recognised as a suitable method for solving complex issues, where researchers from different disciplines work together with stakeholders (Maasen and Lieven 2006) to develop knowledge that is integrated between science and society (Tress et al. 2005).

The Northern Cereals project ran from 2015 to 2018, and its aim was to increase cereal production and the value of grain and grain products in the Northern Periphery region (as defined by the Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme). The project adopted a value chain perspective and included R&D partners from four countries in the Programme area as well as a total number of 310 stakeholders. The region shares several common features such as low population density, long distances to the larger markets, challenging growing conditions and a large impact from climate change (Natcher et al. 2019). One focus was on the barley to beer value chain and here there were large national differences in the extent of its development. The project acknowledged these differences by allowing each partner to concentrate on the aspects that were considered locally most important. In all activities, there were two or more partners collaborating, creating many opportunities for mutually beneficial exchanges of knowledge and experience.

The value chain from barley to beer in the Northern Periphery region has multiple challenges. One of the most basic, however, is the barley production in which the lack of knowledge, experienced producers, machinery and equipment, as well as locally adapted barley varieties, are limiting the expansion of the crop. However, market trends favouring local or high-provenance products, more plant-based food and sustainable production are making northern food and drink products more attractive to consumers (Martin et al. 2016a). One significant result of this has been an expansion in microbreweries in remote regions where they can benefit from a unique locational identity (Withers 2017). Microbreweries usually have an important positive effect on the local economy and tourism (O’Connor 2018), and as product differentiation and provenance are important, some microbreweries have a particular interest in using local cereals (Danson et al. 2015) as a means of linking their products to a locality and heritage.

The development of the complete value chain requires access to a wide range of knowledge and skills. Knowledge from various disciplines such as agronomy, plant physiology, chemistry, food science, innovation, marketing and economics must align to achieve success. In addition, when concrete results such as increased barley production, improved drying, improved malt quality and higher value beer products are sought, it is necessary to work closely with the practitioners. Therefore, the project used a transdisciplinary approach where challenges were addressed in close cooperation with associate partners and other stakeholders.

The research question of this article is as follows: Can a framework of transnational and transdisciplinary cooperation promote development in local barley to beer value chains? Empirically, the study focuses on work carried out in the Northern Cereals project in the Northern Periphery region. A summary of the methods utilised, outcomes, and partners and stakeholders involved in the project is presented to evaluate the cooperation and transdisciplinary effects. The study concludes with suggestions, both for further development of this value chain and for transnational cooperation.

2 Transnational and transdisciplinary cooperation in R&D

The Northern Cereals Project was funded by the EU’s Northern Periphery and Arctic Programme in which both transnational and transdisciplinary cooperation are key driving forces. The programme emphasises the use of the individual strengths of the partners, and transnational cooperation facilitates a joint approach for tackling common issues. According to Pisani and Burighel (2014), transnational cooperation projects create an opportunity “to exchange fruitful information, contextual expertise and local knowledge, thus enhancing the opportunities for innovation and economic benefits”. Ray (2001) explained the rationale behind the benefits stemming from transnational cooperation as “to take advantage of similarity”, “to take advantage of complementarity” and “to reach critical mass”. However, it has also been recognised that successful (policy) transfer depends on the nature and quality of the cooperation (Colomb 2007). Cooperation in the Northern Periphery region aiming to improve the barley to beer value chain is well suited to this rationale. Similarities between the areas include geography, climatic conditions and cultural background, which make cooperation easy as participants feel a natural connectivity. In addition, using each participant’s strengths improves the result and, in a region that is sparsely populated, there are considerable advantages in linking together SMEs from the whole region through knowledge exchange and networking activities. Such cooperation is not easy, however, and although transnational collaboration is expanding, good examples of working across administrative borders are exceptions (Dühr and Nadin 2007).

The academic division into narrow disciplines has fostered specialisation into increasingly more focused areas. Many of today’s complex issues, such as climate change, food security or poverty reduction, cannot be resolved within single discipline. As a reaction to this, transdisciplinary methodologies have been proposed as a solution, where researchers from different disciplines work together towards a common goal where theory and knowledge between the various disciplines are integrated, and where non-academic participants are included in the work (Tress et al. 2005). Scholz and Steiner (2015) conceived transdisciplinarity as a mutual learning process between science and society to attain knowledge about a specific real-world issue. Moreover, it facilitates bringing societal concerns into scientific research (Maasen et al. 2006). This type of R&D must be contextualised to the specific study area, and the aim of the outcome is to produce “socially robust knowledge”.

According to Nowotny (2003), such “robustness” is more likely to be achieved through the involvement of a heterogeneous group of “experts”. Stakeholder involvement is a crucial part of transdisciplinary research and ensures that “the ‘right problem’ gets addressed in ‘the right way’” (Maasen and Lieven 2006). Triste et al. (2014) also included increased learning opportunities as an advantage stemming from stakeholder involvement, which is also considered to ensure impact, as in real life changes (Gasparatos et al. 2008). However, there are many definitions of what a stakeholder is. Alrøe and Noe (2016) wrote that stakeholders are “those who will bear the consequences and carry out actions for change”. Key stakeholders or primary stakeholders are also used as concepts for stakeholders more directly connected to (in this case) the value chain from barley to beer (Alrøe and Noe 2016). Tress et al. (2005) also emphasised that the level of stakeholder participation – the extent to which they are informed, consulted, involved or in control – determines their influence on the work. For a project, it is therefore important to define the role of the stakeholders, especially to fulfil the expectations the involved parties have about the project.

3 Methods

The objectives of the Northern Cereals project were very broad and could only be addressed by accessing knowledge and experience from many different disciplines. All the partners had some of these skills or knowledge, but no single partner had access to all of them. The project, therefore, provided a mechanism for pooling this expertise for the benefit of all partner regions. Although the project included both R&D, the emphasis was on the latter and the partners spent most of their time working with farmers and SMEs in very practical situations and under diverse “northern” conditions.

Simplified, the barley to beer value chain consists of the following four distinct parts: growing the barley, malting, brewing and marketing. All of them are connected, and each depends on the quality of the output from earlier steps of the chain to perform well. Figure 1 shows these four parts and the various challenges along the value chain.

Figure 1

Challenges in each step of the value chain from barley to beer.

The activities in the Northern Cereals project were structured under work packages (WPs), coordinated by an overarching Management WP led by Matis, Iceland. Each WP was led by an individual researcher with skills that were relevant to the WP, and the WP leaders were responsible for coordinating WP activities with participating researchers in all the other countries. All researchers then liaised with stakeholders in each WP to ensure that the WP activities were implemented. Project WPs addressed the challenges identified in Figure 1 through five main areas of activity summarised in the following sections.

4 The context – the value chain from barley to beer in the Northern Periphery area

The region shares several common features such as low population density, long distances to the larger markets, challenging growing conditions (especially, poor soils, large variations in rainfall and temperature during the short growing season, and difficult harvesting conditions) and a large impact from climate change (principally increased temperatures in both summer and winter). Recent warming in the northern regions has helped to increase the potential for barley production (Martin et al. 2017), and this may help to offset the decreased agricultural production predicted in some more southern areas as a result of climate change (Muller et al. 2010). Nevertheless, in some years, other weather-related factors, such as high rainfall, drought, gales and late or early frosts, continue to make growing barley risky in parts of the region.

Barley has been grown in Norway and northern Scotland since ancient times, and production was introduced to both the Faroe Islands and Iceland in the ninth century. However, it is only in Orkney and Northern Norway that the cultivation has been continuous, although in Northern Norway there was a marked decline after the 1940s, due to both economic and political reasons (Halland et al. 2018). In Iceland, cultivation started again in 1923 and has been continuous since then with considerably increased production over the last few decades. In the Faroe Islands, barley was recently re-introduced. In Orkney, barley is an important established crop that is cultivated with a high level of mechanisation.

Barley is well-suited for the cool climates of the Northern Periphery region where the growing season is short and strong winds and frost can be expected. However, grain is often harvested at a high moisture content, which means that it needs to be dried for food uses although there is always an option to process the grain as wet feed for animals.

An important potential market for local barley is to supply malt for brewing. This results from the recent expansion of northern tourism, the increased demand for high provenance drink products and the growth of microbreweries or craft breweries. For example, in Iceland, the number of tourists has quadrupled from 4,89,000 in 2010 to 22,25,000 in 2017 (Icelandic Tourist Board 2018) and since the first independent craft brewery opened in 2006, there are now about 20 which are associated with the Independent Craft Brewers of Iceland on the organisation’s Facebook page.

In peripheral northern areas, there are, however, some major constraints on using local barley to produce beer, especially the availability of grain of a suitable quality and quantity, and a lack of local facilities for using this to make malt. Grain quality issues stem mainly from a lack of specific malting varieties adapted to northern areas. As a result, non-malting varieties tend to be used which are likely to give malt with lower extract yields than imported malt made from the recognised malting varieties. Challenging harvesting conditions may also make it difficult to obtain grain of good quality with a high germination percentage for malting. Brewing within the region is therefore mainly carried out with malt imported from a small number of very large malting companies in Germany or the United Kingdom (Nordic Innovation Centre 2009).

Most of the partner regions have considerable potential for expanding the area of barley cultivated. In Iceland, for example, it has been estimated (Ministry of Industries and Innovation 2011) that annual production of cereals (barley) could be increased from about 16,000 t to 40,000–50,000 t per year. With the current increase in microbreweries across the region, part of this increased barley production could also be utilised to make local malt and beer. The region, therefore, has opportunities for increased self-sufficiency and sustainability by increasing domestic cereal production for feed, food and drinks.

5 Results – review of outcomes

From a value chain perspective, we review the main findings and work done in the Northern Cereals project on the barley to beer value chain. These findings are contextualised to the Northern Periphery region. However, areas with similar production constraints, where improved local malting is needed, or there is a market demand for local beer with special qualities, will also find much relevant information in this review.

6 Discussion

The project utilised various methods to tackle the different challenges (Figure 1) along the value chain from barley to beer. The review of outcomes shows that much new knowledge was gained, and development has been achieved. For each step of the value chain, Table 3 summarises the work undertaken, the results obtained and the partners and stakeholders which were involved.

It is clear from Table 3 that the main focus in the Northern Cereals project was on the upstream parts of the value chain, growing and malting barley. However, the knowledge generated and work done on the farming part of the value chain were also used when working on the value chain from barley to food products, which was also an important part of the project. There were three main reasons for the emphasis on the upstream value chain. First, growing high-quality barley in the Northern Periphery region, especially for malting, is generally in its infancy and needs to be increased for providing sufficient raw material for making local beer. Second, apart from in Orkney, local malting was almost non-existent in the region, and new knowledge needs to be generated to obtain malt for brewing. Third, none of the R&D partners had an academic background in marketing or economics. In spite of this, the project was able to deliver upstream outcomes based on the combination of the background of the researchers and the expertise of the brewery stakeholders. Most researchers came from applied research institutes with good brewing industry links and a knowledge of the practical challenges faced by the industry in all parts of the value chain. Within the region, many microbreweries have been operating for several years, and these have good knowledge and practical experience of brewing, product development and marketing. Researchers were therefore able to rely on the expertise of the microbreweries themselves for achieving outcomes in the brewing and marketing part of the value chain.

The role of microbreweries in delivering upstream project outcomes was very much a reflection of the project’s transdisciplinary approach. According to Tress et al. (2005), such an approach combines researchers from different academic disciplines as well as stakeholders, and all should work together towards a common goal where theory and knowledge are integrated. In the Northern Cereals project, the objectives sought were mainly tangible, concrete outcomes, in addition to practical knowledge building. Integration of different academic theories was, therefore, to a large degree, not needed to allow the various disciplines “to talk together” and solve common tasks. Stakeholder involvement, mainly farmers, extension workers and microbreweries, was crucial to the success of the project and imperative to achieving concrete results such as new barley production, improved drying, malting and new beer products. Although the value chain perspective of the project might have benefitted from research partners from marketing and innovation disciplines, the shortages of grain and malt would still have been the limitation in complete value chain development. It is recommended, however, that such expertise should be included in a follow-up project to realise the full potential of local beer products.

Transnational cooperation was at the core of the Northern Cereals project. The project acknowledged that the regions (and research partners) had different strengths and challenges in the value chain, and because of this each partner concentrated on the aspects that were considered the most important locally. Table 3 shows that partners from all regions participated in many of the outcomes, and there was no outcome where only a single partner/region was involved. This shows that transnational cooperation was truly an integral part of this project.

Producing the many outcomes shown in Table 3 does not occur by transnational cooperation in itself. A good plan, appropriate expertise and careful follow-up during the project period are essential for such cooperation resulting in concrete outcomes. In addition, success depends on the nature and quality of the cooperation (Colomb 2007), and where there are historical or other pre-existing links between the partners in the project, transnational cooperation can be very important (Dühr and Nadin 2007). Partners in The Northern Cereals project came from an area where cultural–historical roots go back more than 1,000 years, and still today there are many similarities in cultural expression, food, language, social interaction, etc. In addition, the climate and environment are similar enough for the knowledge to be transferable, but sufficiently different for interesting comparisons to be made. We found that the similarities among the many partners and stakeholders strengthened the cooperation, for example, by making the many study trips and company visits of immediate relevance. One of the benefits of transnational cooperation according to Ray (2001) is “to reach critical mass”. The Northern Periphery Area is sparsely populated, and the geographical distances are long so that transnational cooperation can help overcome the shortage of critical mass for development and knowledge building. Another advantage is that it can be easier to share company knowledge with the companies in other regions and countries that are not direct competitors in the market.

7 Conclusion

We found that transnational cooperation proved to be very beneficial for achieving the aims of the Northern Cereals project and for maximising the impact of a small pool of cereal R&D expertise spread across a large geographic region. To tackle the complexity of the challenges, a transdisciplinary approach was taken and a wide variety of practical and theoretical studies were undertaken utilising the specialist knowledge from many disciplines. The inclusion of many SMEs and other stakeholders ensured that the research was focused on overcoming the various challenges in the value chain, and made, we believe, the outcomes of the Northern Cereals project of major practical relevance to the involved parties. Although stakeholder involvement was probably the project’s main strength, the lack of academic knowledge on marketing and innovation may have been a shortcoming.

A particularly useful outcome of the Northern Cereals project has been the identification of constraints on the development of the barley to beer value chain, and addressing these should be the priority of future R&D work. Foremost among these is the development of locally adapted varieties of barley which are suitable for malting. This requires a long-term commitment to a regional plant breeding programme in which the development of malting types would be part of a wider programme of developing barley for a range of purposes. The Agricultural University of Iceland’s current programme is an excellent starting point for this, but it could be made even more effective by increasing collaboration with researchers and breeders in other northern countries/regions and by testing materials across the region. Another very specialised area requiring attention is the need for small-scale malting equipment, grain drying equipment and development of appropriate methods for malting barley produced in the region. Such facilities would be particularly valuable in the most remote areas (Iceland, Northern Norway and the Faroes). Although the project did not investigate in detail economic and policy issues, it is recognised that these also have a strong influence on barley production. For example, it is known that the lack of cereal production in Northern Norway is partly due to political reasons accompanied by lower subsidies for such production in this region (Bunger and Tufte 2016). Other important areas are product development issues related to using local barley for beer and the need for marketing and economic support to obtain maximum benefit from its high provenance. All of the above future R&D activities would benefit from a transnational and transdisciplinary approach. Although much work remains to further increase cereal production and the use of local grain in the Northern Periphery region, we believe that this project has laid a good foundation for further progress.