GO CARBOGAN: Digitalization of extensive grazing management as a carbon fixation strategy

Type Grupo operativo
Status In progress
Execution 2024 -2027
Scope Supraautonómico
Autonomous community Andalucía; Castilla y León; Extremadura
Main source of financing PEPAC 2023-2027

Abstract

Development of a digital platform based on the recommendations for grazing management and the data and algorithms obtained through the monitoring system. It will be a tool for visualizing information and helping farmers make decisions, to facilitate the implementation of grazing management techniques that optimize carbon sequestration in grasslands and contribute to mitigating climate change. The main added value for farmers of having a digital tool is the ability to optimize grazing management, increasing efficiency and sustainability, and improving carbon capture in pastures.

Description

Extensive livestock farming plays a crucial role in the sustainability of our ecosystems, not only by providing high-quality products, but also by contributing to environmental conservation. To maximise these benefits, it is essential to improve the economic, environmental and social sustainability of extensive livestock farms through the use of innovative digital tools. These tools make it possible to highlight good management practices, especially in relation to carbon balance.

Taking this into account, the project seeks optimal livestock management based on a selection of good pasture management practices, in order to improve carbon capture in them, and thus improve the economic, environmental and social sustainability of extensive livestock farming through innovative digital tools that combine information from multiple sources. To this end, the final product created will be a digital platform for the identification, monitoring and assessment of good management and handling practices in extensive livestock farming. A guide to good livestock practices that will help professionals in the sector decide how to feed their animals.

Description of activities

Act 1:
- Literature review to identify good grazing management practices related to increased carbon sequestration
- Evaluation of each technique and each practice with respect to the possibilities of practical implementation in the work area
- Development of a guide with recommendations on good management practices for extensive grazing to improve the carbon balance.
Act 2:
- Literature review
- Feasibility study for generating indicators related to soil carbon storage
- Feasibility study for generating indicators related to carbon storage in vegetation
- Feasibility study for generating indicators related to the livestock management system.
Act 3:
- Selection of practices for collecting nearby and remote data
- Delimitation of livestock farms of interest Ground truth data collection and generation of soil variables, close, remote and combined
- Development of software modules for data integration of IoT devices and open data sources
- Training and generalization of environmental sustainability monitoring algorithms for extensive livestock farms, calibration of results and validation of models.
Act 4:
- Definition of requirements and functionalities
- Development of the tool's business model
- Development of a livestock practices monitoring module
- Development of modules for generating recommendations for livestock farmers Viewer with indicators of environmental sustainability of extensive livestock farms
- Development of interoperability protocols Technical validation of the tool including livestock farmers.

Contextual description

The project aims to contribute in the following aspects:

Greater resilience to climate change: Concerted and collective action by all stakeholders in the agricultural and livestock sector is urgently needed to ensure the implementation of existing and promising mitigation strategies. Indeed, the need to reduce the sector's emissions and its ecological footprint has become increasingly pressing in view of their continued increase. This is evidenced by the recent support shown by the Government of Spain, through the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, who has expressed in a letter sent to the Secretary of Agriculture of the United States of America, Thomas Vilsack, Spain's conviction that investments in innovation and R&D of agricultural and food systems can improve agricultural productivity in a sustainable way, while improving livelihoods, environmental protection and adaptation and resilience to climate change.

Facilitating the implementation of the new CAP: Eco-regimes are a key intervention in the environmental architecture of the new CAP. Different eco-regimes have been proposed at national level and, in the case of Spain, one of them aims to support farmers who practice extensive grazing. Expanding carbon capture in agricultural soils: Sustainable land management will be essential to achieve the EU's goal of climate neutrality by 2050, as it will increase the amount of carbon captured and stored in vegetation and soils. Providing knowledge and information to be able to monetize carbon capture in the future: This opens up a new way to complement livestock income and a path that leads to greater environmental sustainability. The livestock sector has the potential to collaborate in an important way with the necessary mitigation efforts. In this sense, extensive livestock farming plays a fundamental role in providing ecosystem services such as carbon capture, erosion control, fire fighting, biodiversity conservation, etc.

Objectives

To improve the economic, environmental and social sustainability of extensive livestock farming through digital tools that enable good management practices to be valued in relation to the carbon balance. To do so, environmental and economic sustainability indicators will be established for the different management of extensive livestock farming, especially for grazing resources, and a useful tool will be provided for livestock farmers and administrations to improve the management of extensive farms to increase carbon capture from pastures.

Results

Identify good practices for extensive grazing management.
Develop a system of quantitative indicators with data from nearby and remote sensors to estimate the impact of good grazing practices on carbon sequestration in extensive livestock farming.
Design and develop a digital tool to monitor the implementation of good grazing management practices and their effects on carbon sequestration.
The development of a digital platform, based on the recommendations for grazing management and the data and algorithms obtained through the monitoring system, will serve as a tool for visualizing information and assisting farmers in making decisions, in order to facilitate the implementation of grazing management techniques that optimize carbon fixation in grasslands and contribute to mitigating climate change.

Contact information