Esporus
Esporus is a project promoted by L'Era, Espai de Recursos Agroecològics. Its task consists of conserving, revaluing and disseminating varieties of herbaceous crops, conducting research into their possible new uses and guaranteeing access to this heritage.
The Manresa Agricultural School, created in 1972 and reimagined during the 1980s as the first agricultural school in Spain specializing in renewable energies and organic production, has been a benchmark in terms of sustainable agriculture. At the end of the 1990s, based on the various training and activities carried out there with farmers and technical staff, it was detected that the loss of cultivated biodiversity was already an obvious problem that needed to be addressed immediately to avoid losing even more biocultural heritage irretrievably.
It was in this context that, in 2002 and from the Association of Friends of the Agricultural School, an entity recently created with the aim of promoting agroecology and which in 2005 would become the association L'Era, Espai de Recursos Agroecològics, the first prospecting tasks began.
These early prospecting activities shaped what would become the Esporus project and the future seed bank.
Esporus's mission is to safeguard the biodiversity cultivated in Catalonia. Specifically, through the following actions:
- The conservation of herbaceous crop varieties .
- The revaluation, dissemination and research into new uses of these crops.
- Guaranteeing access to this heritage, since conservation in germplasm banks does not guarantee accessibility to agricultural genetic heritage by farmers.
Above all, it is important not to lose sight of the main objective. It is important to sell seeds and make the project last, but not at any cost.
- To get started: in 2002 a grant was obtained from the then Caixa Manresa which financed the first exploration tasks of the project for two years.
- For consolidation: the subsidy received in 2009 from the Biodiversity Foundation, worth 30,000 euros, was important, which allowed the start of a process of internal consolidation, systematization, reorganization and creation of seed bank management protocols.
The budget dedicated to the project has varied over the years.
Since 2009, the project and the entity have been developing an internal consolidation process that has allowed them to become increasingly solid and less dependent on subsidies. At the same time, and during this time, they have managed to stabilize a technical job position with a dedication of thirty-five hours a week (it began in 2009 with ten hours a week, a figure that gradually increased until February 2022).
The annual budget available is intended mainly to cover the human resources of this technical job position (around 25,000 euros per year). The help of volunteers is also available.
Regarding the origin of economic resources, 30% come from subsidies linked to projects, while the other 70% is generated through resources and own activities:
- Projects and assignments.
- Training and workshops.
- Seed marketing.
Currently, this last activity represents a turnover of around 10,000 euros. The aim is to gradually increase the sale of seeds in order to be less dependent on external financing.
Regarding infrastructure and machinery, the entity has established an agreement with the Manresa Agricultural School, which provides both the cultivation space and the machinery and tools.
