Groen Kennisnet: The first national knowledge reservoir to connect with EU-FarmBook
To support farmers, foresters, advisors, and other rural stakeholders across Europe, the EU-FarmBook platform is integrating practice-oriented knowledge, not only from key agricultural and forestry Research and Innovation EU-funded projects, but also from National Knowledge Reservoirs. The first national platform to join this initiative is Groen Kennisnet, a well-respected knowledge database from the Netherlands.
For over two decades, Groen Kennisnet has played a crucial role in making agricultural and environmental knowledge widely accessible in the Netherlands. Its extensive collection of resources – sourced from national and regional projects – has supported professionals across the sector. In addition to its role in disseminating knowledge, Groen Kennisnet also serves an educational purpose by providing resources and support for professionals in the agricultural and environmental sectors. Given this strong foundation, Groen Kennisnet was a natural choice as the first national platform to integrate with EU-FarmBook.
The Connection Process
During the initial phase of the process, presentations from both EU-FarmBook and Groen Kennisnet helped align workflows. Since both platforms follow a similar knowledge-sharing model, their technical teams began working on the API connection in 2024. By 2025, the connection was fully operational, making a vast selection of Groen Kennisnet’s practice-oriented materials, including journal articles, project results, factsheets, and other resources, accessible through EU-FarmBook. This ensures that knowledge is not only preserved but also actively shared, ensuring broader reusability.
Looking ahead, there is interest in exploring ways to enhance this collaboration further. One potential opportunity could be to enable the reuse of results from EU projects across borders – such as making EU-FarmBook content directly accessible through the Groen Kennisnet knowledge database. This would allow Dutch farmers and advisors to more easily discover relevant research from other EU countries. Feedback on the current selection from Groen Kennisnet in EU-FarmBook is welcome. Users are encouraged to share their input by contacting servicedesk@groenkennisnet.nl
involved in supporting the connection between platforms.
From left to right: Peter Paree (ZLTO), Yaite Cuesta Arenas (ZLTO), Christopher Brewster (Maastricht University), Louis Powell (Maastricht University), Inge De Bo (Ghent University), Rob Van Genderen (Groen Kennisnet), Paulien van Vredendaal (Groen Kennisnet)
Key Benefits:
This collaboration offers significant advantages to the agricultural sector across Europe:
- Accelerated knowledge transfer: Farmers, foresters, and advisors gain easier access to research-backed, practical solutions.
- Stronger expert collaboration: Dutch agricultural specialists can share insights and innovations with European peers, fostering cross-border learning.
- Enhanced policy support: Decision-makers benefit from well-organized and easily accessible research data, supporting evidence-based policymaking.
- Greater adoption of innovative solutions: By integrating Horizon project outputs into national databases, research findings can be transformed into practical applications faster, benefiting sustainable farming and forestry practices.
The connection of Groen Kennisnet with EU-FarmBook marks a significant step in expanding agricultural knowledge exchange across Europe. As an early contributor, the Dutch Knowledge Reservoir for practice sets a precedent for other national platforms looking to enhance their impact through European collaboration.
