The NBSOIL project held its third consortium meeting in Albacete, Spain, bringing together all partners from eight European countries. The Spanish partners, Instituto Técnico Agronómico Provincial (ITAP) and AgriSat, hosted the meeting at their facilities in Albacete, providing a perfect environment to further develop the project.
During the meeting, participants discussed the NBSOIL Academy, digital tools and communication strategies to improve the implementation of the project. Partners also had the opportunity to test the Visioning Cards to facilitate one of the partner discussions. The meeting also provided the perfect opportunity to explore the region with dedicated field visits to sites implementing sustainable soil management practices on the second day.
Field visits to discover sustainable land management
Participants went on a field trip to visit three local farms using advanced soil management practices. These included Casa Nueva, demonstrating no-till rainfed annual crops, and Casa Jara, known for its no-till irrigated annual crops, both in Tarazona de La Mancha (Albacete); and La Losa in the neighbouring province of Cuenca, demonstrating the use of no-till cover crops in rainfed almond production.
The field visits provided participants with a valuable opportunity to observe practical applications of Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) techniques and gain insights into their benefits for sustainable agriculture. The visits were also an opportunity for the consortium members to gain insight into the soil characteristics of the area and to ask questions directly to the land managers about their decisions, results and lessons learned.
As the AgriSat team leading the visit explained, “when you move to no-till, you start to learn about soil organic matter and other elements of the soil”. They pointed out that it is more difficult to convince traditional farmers. However, participants in the field visit had the opportunity to meet one of the convinced farmers, Agustín González Ortega, landowner and manager of Casa Jara, who has been using no-till on his 140-hectare plot for 25 years. He stresses that he would never go back to the traditional farming techniques he used before because he has realised how beneficial no-tillage is for the soil.
Participants also had the opportunity to end the visit by learning about the wine-making tradition of La Mancha, with a visit and dinner at the Las Calzadas winery, where they are recovering the region’s traditional wine-making technique of maturing wine in clay jugs and traditional grape varieties that are being lost.
This consortium meeting exemplified NBSOIL’s commitment to fostering international cooperation, sharing knowledge and promoting sustainable soil management practices across Europe.
