Red Otri de Andalucía. .

Robust and accessible modelling for an effective management of agricultural soil erosion in Europe

21 de abril de 2023

Soil erosion modelling can help define efficient and targeted mitigation strategies by identifying the long-term controlling factors and the areas where, and periods during which, soil is at high risk of erosion. However, to define such strategies, there remains a lack of modelling approaches a) able to provide with longer term baseline information which to measure the success or otherwise of mitigation strategies at the catchment scale and b) accessible and robust enough to be used, understood, and trusted by users with more or less expertise, including researchers, land managers and policy makers. In response, this project will improve the robustness and accessibility of quantitative methods for supporting agricultural land management. For this purpose, we will develop a parsimonious soil erosion model, iMPACt-erosion, to support agricultural land management in Europe at the catchment scale. The development philosophy will be based on three principles: robustness, transparency, and accessibility. For a robust model evaluation, model simulations will be compared to multi-decadal soil loss estimations estimated from fallout radionuclides and tree mound measurements. The model and its code will be easy to read and understand by users with more or less expertise. The model accessibility will be achieved by using interactive Jupyter Notebooks (jupyter.org), a modelling environment that combines executable code, rich media and interactive visualization of data and model results. This translates into a more fluent conversation between the user and the model and an easier exploration of the model results and the impact of possible agricultural management scenarios.

Connecting the cereal value chain and creating sustainable certification for carbon neutral production in Europe

14 de marzo de 2023

This project creates an ecosystem throughout the entire cereal production chain, demonstrating sustainability and competitiveness in all production stages of the flour, malting and baking industries focused on reaching the high sustainable standards of the market.In the primary sector, the implementation of best agricultural practices (BAP) in different climatic zones and the use of innovative technologies (i.e. precision agriculture, warning systems, NIR technology) among farmers will aim to increase productivity with greater efficiency in the use of nutrients, herbicides and fertilizers and mitigating carbon farming practices (i.e higher carbon sequestration in the soil and lower GHG emissions). In the processing industry, standardized model contracts will be created between the different sectors to ensure a consistent supply to the European market of cereal products that comply with food security standards.As a result, a low-carbon emission cereals certification system will be created together with a sustainability label "Innocereal EU" that will identify sustainable produced bread, pasta, malt, and beer in the market. All in all, LIFE Innocereal EU breaks through the entire food chain towards digital and sustainable production, mitigating GHGs, ensuring careful traceability and a balanced distribution of wealth.

Identification and sustainable deployment of wheat genetic diversity to enhance the resilience and security of the European food supply

9 de marzo de 2023

WheatSecurity aims to enhance sustainability, security, and nutritional quality of one of the most important sources of human calories, wheat. («WheatSecurity» project, PCI2022-135028-2, is funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by European Union "NextGenerationEU"/PRTR")

Boosting SUstaiNability, Reliability and EfficiencY of perovskite PV through novel materials and process Engineering

8 de marzo de 2023

13 partners - research institutes, universities, and companies from all over Europe combine their competencies to overcome the drawbacks of perovskite photovoltaics.SUNREY will be carried out in close cooperation between science and industry, in order to strengthen the innovation of the European industry along the value chain. Our developments will enable the companies of our consortium to improve their capabilities for the fabrication of solar cells, taking another step towards a CO¬2-neutral future. We are thinking of new applications of such solar modules in micro-electronics for the Internet of Things (IoT) or grid independent power supply of building integrated photovoltaics.

HUB Iberia Agrotech: Creation of a regional ecosystem for agrodigitalisation through the Digital Innovation Hub (DIH)

6 de marzo de 2023

HIBA aims to promote a Pluriregional Agrodigitalization ecosystem through the creation of a Digital Innovation Hubs (DIH) network that encourages business initiative, competitiveness, and sustainability, promoting post-Covid19 economic reactivation. The Iberia Network will facilitate and/or drive digitalization, focusing on: • Deployment and offering of technological services.• Development of training and entrepreneurship programs for different levels of users and business needs.• Creation of innovative technology experimentation environments for their adaptation and adoption in the business environment.• Promotion of spaces for dialogue and co-creation to share priorities and lines of work.

A SYstem for reaL-time obserVation of Aeroallergens

24 de febrero de 2023

Primary biological aerosols (bioaerosols, mainly pollen and fungal spores, but also bacteria and viruses) released into the air by plants, fungi, and other biota, are strongly impacted by climate change. Simultaneously, they also directly affect the climate through interactions with clouds and precipitation. Many bioaerosols, especially pollen and some fungal spores, have allergenic effect on humans. Such aeroallergens affect over 80 million Europeans, reducing their quality of life and costing well over €50 billion/year. Information on bioaerosols is also vital for agriculture and forestry, where timely data about plant development, abundance of pathogens and parasites, as well as invasive species, are necessary for precision-agriculture and knowledge-based technologies. The demand for timely, free, and objective information is currently not met.The overall goal of SYLVA is to achieve a radical improvement and fill gaps in temporal resolution, timeliness, coverage, and availability of information about aeroallergens and other bioaerosols. SYLVA technological innovations will be accompanied with new infrastructure, distribution and exploitation pathways, and links with stakeholders to ensure technology uptake and sustainability beyond the lifetime of the project.

Moving from networked to patchworked society: motivational underpinnings and societal consequences

20 de febrero de 2023

The rise of digitalization, specifically digital media use, provides people with expanded possibilities in terms of informing and expressing themselves, as well as sharing their opinions and communicating with each other, and thus enables them to develop new and multiple social ties. While it may strengthen democratic processes, it also has a dark side. To begin with, digital media has weakened traditional media and thus hollowed out the"common space" that it used to provide, where people from different parts of society and with different backgrounds could be exposed to and learn about each other, as well as obtain verified news reports about politics and society. Equally important, on digital media, misinformation and intentionally false and/or misleading information abound and are often used strategically in a targeted manner to cause maximum impact. Digital media usage has also made it easier than ever for people to find information that confirms their already firmly held beliefs and strengthen their current identities rather than inform them. These processes may drive the irruption of various kinds of (micro)identities, i.e., closed (micro)groups with strong identities, strong in-group ties, their own epistemic realities, and full endorsement of their ideology and activities. Additionally, the strengthening of commitments in self-governed groups may manifest itself in in-group self-determination, based on narrow micro-identities, at the expense of society at large, which hampers efforts to deal effectively with the societal challenges Europe is facing, and undermines democracy. Despite much research on how digitalization shapes society, in domains such as security and marketing, much less is known about the impact of digital media use in the social sphere. In addition, the role of the socio-cognitive and cultural underpinnings of digitalization-related phenomena is rarely considered. Hence, the role of digital media use in social and cultural transformation is far from being fully described or adequately understood. («DIGIPATCH» project, PCI2022-135090-2, is funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033 and by European Union "NextGenerationEU"/PRTR")

Cross-border strengthening systems of forest fires prevention and extinction and improvement of the resources for rural employment generation in a pos-Covid scenario

20 de febrero de 2023

FIREPOCTEP promotes climate change adaptation in a landscape scale of the territory, specifically on the analysis of forest fire risks by means of investments in resources focused in prevention and extinction strategies. Some demonstrative areas have been chosen both in Spain and Portugal, including cross-border ones.FIREPOCTEP has six activities, covering actions from identifying and mapping forest fire risks, to management, prevention, and extinction of forest fires, along with people capacitation and capitalizing results of experiences and research.

DroughT impACt on the vegeTation of South African semIarid mosaiC landscapes: Implications on grass-crop-lands primary production

17 de febrero de 2023

Semiarid rangelands are one of Africa's most complex and variable biomes. They are a mosaic of land uses, where extensive livestock is the main economic activity, and agriculture, soil for livelihood, or conservational uses are also crucial. They are highly controlled by the availability of water, e.g., pasture and rainfed crop production. Although the vegetation is adapted to variable climatic conditions and dry periods, the increase in drought intensity, duration, and frequency, changes in agricultural practices, and other socioeconomic and environmental factors precipitate their degradation. Through the integration of Earth Observation data into models, we can evaluate, on the one hand, the water consumed by semiarid ecosystems and their vegetation water stress and, on the other, its primary production. Thus, allowing us to assess the interaction of both processes, improving our knowledge about the vegetation's behavior in the face of drought. TACTIC will map water consumption and primary production of semiarid mosaic crop-rangelands at the optimal spatiotemporal scales, setting up an open-source cloud framework to monitor these processes' interaction in the long term and analyze system tipping points. This information can help reduce the uncertainty associated with the administration and farmers' decision-making processes.

Fast-tracking ROOTStock breeding in olive

20 de abril de 2022

Adaptation to environmental conditions is key to maximise crop productivity under limited water and other stresses related to climate impacts. Combining stress resistance with desired agronomic characteristics through regular plant breeding in fruit trees such as olive requires a huge amount of time and resources and might not be feasible by just using the current available genetic pool. However, the use of rootstocks could overcome some of these stresses that are challenging tree crops worldwide and allow to unlock the genetic potential of wild relatives of olive. The objective of FROlive is to speed up the rootstock breeding process in olive trees by developing accurate, fast phenotyping and grafting methodologies for the early selection of new olive rootstocks, in first instance for drought resistance. This will be done by using techniques that are known to the applicant due to his background in plant breeding and disease resistance screening and analysis techniques, in collaboration with the hosting group, which has a strong track record in the study of olive germplasm resources, genetics and breeding, as well as proven ability to train students and scientists. The approach and techniques used in FROlive will allow a faster development of rootstocks resilient to new challenging environments and pests, therefore reducing the environmental impact and future proofing our olive orchards. The training will allow the applicant to be trained as a fruit tree breeder, increasing the capability in this research area. The project presents a multidisciplinary approach as it brings together plant propagation, germplasm resources, genetics and statistics. It also represents a collaboration of five different partners, the University of Córdoba, the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, the University of Málaga, the Institute for Sustainable Agriculture and the company Plantas Continental, S.A., opening the possibility for further collaboration between the institutions.