GO ACCESS: Accessibility to eco-regimes with optimized solutions
- Type Grupo operativo
- Status In progress
- Execution 2024
- Scope Supraautonómico
- Autonomous community Comunitat Valenciana; Extremadura; Navarra, Comunidad Foral de
- Main source of financing PEPAC 2023-2027
- Project website GO ACCESO
The GO ACCESO project aims to carry out trials on various crops (Processing Tomato, Persimmon, Pear and Corn) to evaluate and demonstrate that eco-regimes integrating various sustainable and agroecological practices can improve agricultural productivity, soil health and crop resilience to challenges such as climate change and restrictions on the use of agrochemicals.
This innovative project focuses on the adoption of eco-regimes in crops for which there is still no documentation on the subject and in the early adoption phase in which we find ourselves, it makes a lot of sense to do these exercises to illustrate the particular conditions of each crop and region in relation to the chosen practices.
GO ACCESO addresses the promotion of eco-regimes through a multifactorial analysis of various practices proposed in four crops with very different agronomic challenges, and for which agronomic applications included in the catalogue of eco-regimes combined with precision agriculture and digitalization are selected. The test plots will be parameterized with a range of agronomic, economic and environmental indicators, which will be measured before undertaking the actions and at the end of each of the execution campaigns.
- Tests with Industrial Tomato
- Use of winter covers, planted in autumn and finished in spring before the new sowing. These covers will be managed in dry land, receiving only precipitation, and will not consume water from irrigation. They will consist of a mixture of brassicas, legumes and grasses and have several benefits: they generate a large amount of biomass that is incorporated into the soil and increases organic matter, they explore the soil with their roots and improve its structure, some have a nematicidal and fungicidal effect, and allow the substitution of certain quantities of mineral fertilizer.
- Promotion of ecological infrastructures, perimeter floral bands, but also in the crops themselves. These bands, in addition to their landscape function, also have a functional purpose. They act as refuges for pollinators and other beneficial insects, promoting biodiversity and contributing to the general health of the agricultural environment.
- Essays with Persimmon
- The establishment of ground covers for the longest possible period: different alternatives are considered, such as the sowing of forage crops, winter crops (chard, lettuce, spinach, broad beans, etc.) or the sowing of specific mixtures (either classic ones such as oats, mustard and vetch, or with a fungicidal effect). These are covers that cannot be fertilized or treated with herbicides; in any of their forms, they improve the physicochemical conditions of the soil, increase microbiological activity and improve fertility by reducing inoculum, prevent erosion and allow transit through the plot, even when wet, to carry out basic harvesting or treatment operations.
- Improving ecological infrastructures, through perimeter bands of flowers (functional borders). These areas act as refuges for pollinating insects and other beneficial organisms, promoting a balance in the ecosystem and improving the overall health of the crop.
- Essays with Pear
- Implementation of plant covers (functional borders) with a composition that favours the natural enemies of Psila. Anthocorids (Anthocoris nemoralis) are its predators. There are commercial products with this natural enemy for biological control, with several releases being carried out per campaign. However, the establishment of a specially designed plant cover can affect both the survival of the anthocorids introduced and the establishment of an indigenous population. The trial will include monitoring of the anthocorid population.
- The use of technology to monitor the soil-air-tree complex. Soil temperature and humidity sensors will be installed to measure water availability for the tree; environmental sensors to detect stress situations, especially during the fruit formation phase; a leaf humidity sensor to assess the risk of disease and a dendrometer to monitor plant growth.
- Corn trials
- Rotations with improver species, and in particular legume species, such as vetch (Vicia sativa L.). On the one hand, this would allow, according to the CAP, to comply with the requirement for the crop rotation eco-regime. In addition, the nitrogen fixation carried out by legumes provides an extra supply of nitrogen for the subsequent maize crop. In addition, maintaining the winter cover limits the effect of erosion during this period and increases the amount of organic matter in the soil.
- The use of technology for monitoring soil moisture content, consisting of the installation of sensors that measure the volumetric moisture content of the soil. Maintaining soil moisture content is essential for optimal plant growth and grain filling in corn. Therefore, monitoring soil moisture allows for improved irrigation management, adapting it to the actual needs of the crop.
The European Union's new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which came into force in 2021, includes provisions related to eco-schemes. Eco-schemes are a new instrument designed to promote sustainable and environmentally beneficial agricultural practices.
The magazine Vida Rural has published a valuable monograph outlining eco-schemes, their main values and advice for their implementation. Eco-schemes aim to encourage the voluntary adoption of agricultural practices that go beyond the basic requirements of the CAP and that provide environmental and climate benefits. These schemes offer economic incentives to farmers who implement sustainable agricultural practices, such as biodiversity management, soil protection, reduction of GHG emissions, among others.
In Spain, examples of good practices for the adoption of eco-schemes have already begun to be documented, taking into account the particularities of each crop. Both the literature consulted and the experience of the members of this project agree that the operating principle of eco-schemes can be implemented in different ways in each crop and region, so that in the same crop - as will be demonstrated with industrial tomatoes - there are many ways to implement them, and some may be better than others, or may provide greater benefits.
This project is innovative because the adoption of eco-schemes that it is going to propose is done in crops for which there is still no documentation on the subject and in the early adoption phase in which we find ourselves, it makes a lot of sense to do these exercises to illustrate the particular conditions of each crop and region in relation to the chosen practices. The implementation of the eco-schemes in each Member State of the European Union, including Spain, is the responsibility of the national and regional authorities. Each country has the flexibility to design and adapt eco-schemes according to its specific agricultural priorities and characteristics.
It is important to note that the specific details of the eco-schemes, including requirements, eligibility criteria and payment amounts, are determined by national and regional authorities in consultation with the European Commission.
Encourage the adoption of eco-regimes, including crops that do not receive CAP aid but can obtain agroecological benefits and receive the corresponding payments if they do so voluntarily.
- Evaluation and comparison of the economic impact of the different practices used.
- Estimation of the impact on producers' income.
- Evaluation of the social impact of different practices.
- Assessment of the impact on biodiversity and soil of different eco-regimes through the implementation of pilots in different crops and areas.
- Quantification of the annual evolution of auxiliary fauna in the practices used, as well as that of the soil microbiome and its fertility.
- Evaluation of the incidence and severity of pests and diseases in each of the practices used.
- Transfer the results of the studies at the territorial and sectoral level with other producers of the same crops in other autonomous communities.
- Disseminate the benefits achievable by adopting eco-regimes and raise awareness about their correct application.
- Coordinator name: Agri-Food Innovation Cluster of the Valencian Community
- Postal address: Av. Cortes Valencianas 58, 5th Floor. 46015 Valencia
- Coordinator email: janavarro@cdiagrocv.net
- Phone: +34669442281
The actions designed for this project aim to contribute to addressing the following needs:
- Incentivising the adoption of eco-regimes: Eco-regimes offer tangible opportunities for more sustainable and environmentally friendly agriculture. By encouraging their voluntary adoption, a balance can be achieved between agricultural production and the conservation of natural resources. This opens the door to agroecological benefits, while allowing farmers to receive adequate compensation for their commitment to sustainability, even if they are not bound by the implementation of the CAP.
Validating the capacity of eco-regimes to include ecosystem services in agricultural management systems:
- Eco-regimes have the potential to provide diverse ecosystem services such as alternative methods of pest control, reducing the need for pesticides, mitigating or reversing the impact of agriculture on biodiversity, and positively impacting soil fertility and health. Validating their efficacy against conventional methods is imperative to induce their widespread adoption and ensure that the quality of agricultural products is maintained, improving agricultural safety.
- Clúster de Innovación Agroalimentaria de la Comunitat Valenciana (CDIAGRO)
- ZERYA Producciones sin Residuos S.L.
- ACOPAEX S. COOP.
- Fundación Global Nature
- Asociación Empresarial Centro Tecnológico Nacional Agroalimentario Extremadura (CTAEX)
- La Unió Llauradora i Ramadera del País Valencià
- AN, S. COOP (Grupo AN)
- Clúster de Innovación Agroalimentaria de la Comunitat Valenciana (CDIAGRO)
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