Developing Marginal-Land-Based Bioeconomy Systems—A Design and Development Approach for Bio-Based Value Chains and Webs

Abstract

Industrial crops grown on marginal lands offer a potential source of low-iLUC feedstock for bio-based industries, supporting sustainable bioeconomic development. However, marginal-land-based bioeconomy systems face significant uncertainties at early stages, such as limited data, farmers' hesitancy to adopt novel crops, undeveloped markets and immature technologies. This study implements an integrated multi-criteria framework as a structured, multi-step approach to connect bio-based value chain components and stakeholders in marginal-land-based bioeconomy systems at the research level. The framework was applied within the EU Horizon project MIDAS to identify, evaluate and combine bio-based value chain components, with a case study in the Swabian Alb (southern Germany) demonstrating its potential for designing scalable bio-based value chains tailored to regional conditions. Key findings emphasise the importance of stakeholder collaboration, iterative design processes and context-specific criteria that address technical, economic, social and regulatory aspects. The approach, based on qualitative data and stakeholder input, offers critical insights into the feasibility of biomass-to-product pathways and serves as a foundation for advanced research. Future research needs to focus on expanding data availability, incorporating quantitative methods, and addressing economic and market factors, such as stakeholder willingness to produce feedstocks, to enhance the scalability and robustness of the findings and facilitate the establishment of sustainable bioeconomy systems on marginal lands.