AGROFACTORY Operational Group: New opportunities for agricultural development based on the comprehensive use of biofactory tobacco varieties

The loss of competitiveness of a large part of traditional herbaceous crops seriously affects the viability of farms. Recently, as a result of research and development efforts in genetic improvement technologies, new innovative industrial crops are emerging that base their viability on their high content of one or more high added value compounds. The objective of this project is to optimize the cultivation and processing practices of new varieties of biofactory tobacco for their comprehensive and scaled use at a commercial level. At the end of the project, the following results are expected to be achieved for end users: improved annotation of the Nicotiana tabacum genome; establishment of optimal cultivation procedures; maximization of the processing and biorefinery process; and traceability protocols. The objective of this project is therefore to decisively advance the commercial development of these new varieties and give the decisive push for the definitive implementation of the first biofactory crops in Europe.