Training in Cover Crops

In May 2022 ASCENZA organized a technical seminar about the management of cover crops in woody crops, at Ecija, Seville, Spain. This event, which counted with the participation of technicians and farmers, had as main goal the promotion of the Best Agricultural Practices which help preserve the soil, the water, and the biodiversity.
The training was led by Ph.D. Agricultural Engineer and Researcher Miguel Ángel Gómez Tenorio, from University of Almeria, with the research group “Vegetal Production in Mediterranean crop systems” and head of Regenerative Agriculture at the Association AIVeIAI.
Conservation agriculture (CA) is a sustainable agricultural approach which aims to protect the soil from erosion and degradation, by improving its quality and biodiversity, contribute to the preservation of natural resources, water, air and optimizing at the same time the yield of the crops.
Therefore, the installation of cover crops in plantation areas is considered one of the best practices to prevent soil erosion and minimize the impact caused by Phyto sanitarian products. That is also why it is considered a recommended practice in the promotion of sustainable agriculture.
To the participants of this initiative was conveyed a vision of the different strategies for the use of cover crops and its benefits in perennial crops:
• Economic benefits – like the savings in workforce and fuel, the increase of yields and reduction of runoff and erosion (which highly contributes to the increase of the costs in agriculture production).
• And the environmental benefits – the improvement of soil properties, increase of biodiversity, reduction of erosion and CO2 emissions, increase of carbon storage, reduction of floodings and landslides and reduction of water pollution.
Franco Antonio Díaz, Sustainability Expert at ASCENZA, was also present at the event and he explained how the implementation of cover crops can become a strong source of income whether through the access to the new help modality PAC 2023-2027, whether through the possibility to generate carbon credits, which in the future will be able to be sold in the market, which the European Commission will legislate in 2023.
The day ended with a field trip in which the participants could observe the management of cover crops in olive and almond groves.
This action is part of an ambitious project of ASCENZA, through which we aim to bring into the sector the necessary knowledge so that farmers adapt better to the changes the society now demands, transforming agriculture into a more sustainable activity.

You can read more about Cover Crops in the ebook Crover Crops in Woody Crops - Agricultural and Environmental Importance.

Carlos Serrano
Sustainability Expert
ASCENZA