Castelo Branco Digital Diary – Amendoal: Exchange between Portugal and Spain has already started
The Diário Digital Castelo Branco knows that at the beginning of February 2022 the Food4Sustainability CoLAB team visited the province of Almeria (Spain) – the region in the world with the largest organic production – in order to visit and learn about the agronomic and commercial of AlVelAl. The sharing included a visit to the “Cortijo”, “La Junquera”, “El Entredicho” farms and Iberian references to good regenerative practices.
On the 18th and 19th of April, the AlVelAl team came to know the Portuguese reality, visiting farms with regenerative practices and intensive and super-intensive production modalities in the regions of Idanha-a-Nova and Baixo Alentejo.
The AlVelAl team, led by Miguel Gomez, technical and scientific director and head of field, had the opportunity to get to know the regenerative project Real Idanha, Lda – Azeite Egitânia, the exploration of Ricardo Couchinho, and the explorations of intensive and super-intensive splices. Agro Água Amêndoas and Veracruz.
The visit also ends with a debate in the Intermunicipal Community of Baixo Alentejo (CIMBAL) on agricultural challenges and opportunities in agricultural practices in Amendmentoal and Olival English. A sharing of experiences specifically with a visit to two amendments farms, of different sizes, both with concerns in terms of sustainability, water management, application of synthetic chemicals, biodiversity, among others.
These visits to the existence of projects with varying degrees of sustainability in Portugal and Spain. These practices will serve as a reference for those who will join the exchange in Spain that will take place between the 26th and 28th of May. All web events can be registered through the page TransFarmers.
This project comes at a time when almond cultivation is growing in the Iberian Peninsula, particularly in an intensive and super-intensive system. Its extensive production of important almonds has an economic and cultural role in the Iberian Peninsula, with Spain being the largest Mediterranean producer and the second largest producer in the world, with 10% of production. In Portugal, almond production is expanding, with traditional extensive orchards being replaced by intensive orchards, particularly in the region of Idanha-a-Nova and Alentejo. Encouraged to invest due to attractive prices on international markets, the recognized quality of Mediterranean almonds and the abundance of water, more and more farmers are opting for the cultivation of the region and olive groves. However, the intensifying cultures of local unemployment, challenges to which TransFarmers wants to respond.