During the first six months, the Andalusian Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training (IFAPA) has participated in coordination and work update meetings with the rest of the project partners, internal meetings have been held with some of the partners with whom activities are shared in collaborating farms and internal meetings of the team itself to agree on budgetary and technical arrangements.
Also, following meetings with the communication services of IFAPA and the Regional Ministry of Agriculture, the project website has been included in the respective portals of both organisations.
In relation to the technical activities, the sampling of the 6 demo farms, the pilot farm and the 2 variety trial farms has been completed, taking into account the different crops planted, the soil profile and the management systems considered in the project, in this case direct sowing and conventional tillage. To take into account the spatial variability within each sub-plot, 10 sampling points were considered, making a total of 636 soil samples collected.
Similarly, the soil samples collected by IFAPA, which were sent to the laboratory for preparation and analysis, have undergone soil characterisation, evaluating their physical and chemical properties so that we can distinguish those parameters that will have a greater influence on the agronomic and environmental indicators, which we will evaluate later. This task involves a great analytical effort, as a total of 9540 analyses have to be carried out, of which more than 80% have already been completed.
As for the specific interaction tests: species-variety, management system and agro-climatic zone. In the town of Jerez de la Frontera (Cádiz), the corresponding fertilisers and herbicides have been used. Morphological data were taken from the plots to determine the possible influence of the different cultivation methods.
Due to the drought, the crops have been brought forward by 20 days, so we will start harvesting at the end of May and the beginning of June. We have made a visit with technicians and farmers in the area.
The trial in Granada, due to water shortage problems, has been rejected.