This press summary primarily includes a selection of articles, reports, and features on agri-food topics related to the Barcelona region. Additionally, it incorporates noteworthy news from other territories, providing essential content to stay informed on these matters.
The European Union defends agroecology at the One Planet summit in Paris
Leaders from around the world held the fourth “One Planet” summit in January, an event born out of the Paris climate conference in 2015. On this occasion, around fifty countries committed to both mobilizing funds and taking action. of governments, companies and citizens in relation to four main themes: protection of terrestrial and marine ecosystems; increase funding to protect biodiversity; identify the links between deforestation and human and animal health; and promote agroecology and other sustainable ways of growing food.
In this regard, the President of the European Commission, Úrsula von der Leyen, defended the creation of a new common agricultural policy that protects people's livelihoods and food security, while also taking care of protecting nature and the environment. Among other measures, the EU wants to reduce the use of pesticides that are harmful to pollinators and get them back on agricultural land.
Ursula von der Leyen's intervention is available at this link.
The 13th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA), the annual meeting of agriculture ministers from around the world, ended on January 22 with an ambitious final communiqué. Signed by the most responsible for agricultural issues from 76 countries, including Spain, this document especially highlights the importance of building agricultural and food systems that are resilient, sustainable, responsible and adaptable, and invites States to direct their investments towards agricultural practices. that help mitigate climate change.
(GFFA)
"Eco-schemes" are a new instrument designed to incentivize agricultural and livestock practices that have a more beneficial impact on the climate and the environment within the framework of the future Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).
(European Comission)
PAC and the food chain: the biggest challenges of the Ministry of Agriculture for 2021
The Food Chain Law and the preparation of a CAP Strategic Plan for the distribution of the 47,000 million euros corresponding to the next seven years constitute the priority objectives of the Ministry of Agriculture for 2021. In the redistribution of funds, there is an agreement almost unanimous on the need to support small and medium-sized farms, with a ceiling of 100,000 euros per petitioner.
(The country)
The Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food has published on its website the final document of the Land Access Focus Group, which deepens the knowledge of the opportunities and possible practical solutions that exist to facilitate access to land and incorporation of young professionals to the sector .
(Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food)
The DUN 2021 submission period begins on February 1
The DUN is the system that the owners of agricultural farms in Catalonia have to communicate the data of their farms to the Department of Agriculture, and with which the presentation of aid applications and the different procedures and/or communications that must be carried out are facilitated. carry out for your professional activity. The set of aid requests that are managed in an integrated manner with the DUN Agrarian Declaration represent a total of more than 328.8 million euros.
(Ruralcat)
The Farm Map is a graphic layer open to citizens that geolocates the agricultural farms in Catalonia based on the data declared in the DUN and shows their main characteristics. This dataset contains graphic information on the delimitation of each agricultural holding, as well as other attributes of the holdings such as legal organization, quality designations, aid requested, age and sex of the owner, adherence to local sales, among others. It also includes location data and the total area of the farm.
(Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food of the Generalitat of Catalonia)
Agricultural producers can benefit from aid until May 2021 to compensate for losses from COVID19 linked to donations to Food Banks. To qualify, it is necessary to have had a reduction in billing of at least 25% during any of the months within the period between March 1, 2020 and April 30, 2021, in relation to the same period of the year 2019.
(Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food of the Generalitat of Catalonia)
New meeting of competitive creativity in the Òdena Basin
The session, in telematic format, has made it possible to identify the data and indicators that the municipalities and associations of the territory need to better understand the characteristics of their agri-food sector.
(Barcelona Provincial Council)
'Espiells Terra de Vi' is born to promote and protect the northern wine-growing area of Alt Penedès
The association will be the first to benefit from a Specific Agrarian Territorial Plan within the framework of the Law on Agrarian Spaces, approved in June 2019. It has the will to conserve, provide continuity and promote the territory located between the municipal limits of San Sadurní of Anoia, Gelida and San Lorenzo de Hortons, north of Alt Penedès.
(Vadevi)
This document aims to promote local, sustainable products with a Vallesan seal.
(Earth Products Network)
Santa Susanna gets to work on the Action Plan for its sustainability project
One of the main objectives of the plan is to promote the circularity of the economy through agricultural products between the tourism sector and local commerce.
(Santa Susanna City Council)
This aid is part of the plan to support small slaughterhouses in order to maintain the roots of livestock farmers in the territory and promote the local economy.
(Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food of the Generalitat of Catalonia)
The new BCN Smart Rural Innovation Coupons support four agri-food projects
Beneficiary companies will receive financial aid to hire an expert advisory service that will allow them to promote their idea of transformation and improvement.
(Barcelona Provincial Council)
The SmartCatalonia Challenge call opens
One of the challenges posed by the participating SMEs and technology startups is to develop an automated system to scare away predators such as brown bears and wolves to guarantee the safety of extensive livestock farming (especially cattle and horses) while protecting biodiversity.
(Department of Digital Policies and Public Administration of the Generalitat of Catalonia)
The drone is going to see the cows
Farmers of the native Bruna breed of the Pyrenees are beginning to consider using drones to see how the cows are grazing and monitor the livestock from a distance.
(El Garrotxi)
Better harvests with smart irrigation
A system of sensors to detect water in the roots ensures efficient use of water, avoiding plant stress, saving energy, increasing the quality of production and reducing the environmental impact of crops.
(Atlas of the Future)
The document plans to reach an annual consumption of 730,000 tons of biomass at the end of the period, and to install equipment and boilers until reaching 844 megawatts of power. In the field of energy transformation, actions will be aimed at promoting the use of local forest and agricultural biomass by the Catalan industrial fabric and promoting the production of chips, pellets and briquettes by companies established in Catalonia that can provide speed to market.
(Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food of the Generalitat of Catalonia)
Forests capture twice as much carbon as they emit
Research available on the open data portal Global Forest Watch finds that carbon flux varies depending on forest management practices.
(World Resources Institute)
2020 has been the warmest year since 1950 in Catalonia
Most of the territory has exceeded the climatic average value of the reference period by more than half a degree, while in the city of Barcelona there has been the highest anomaly value for the fourth consecutive year, of +2 degrees.
(Món Rural)
Campaign to promote cloth bags to buy fruits and vegetables in Montcada i Reixac
The city council will distribute reusable cloth bags among citizens, items that are especially useful when shopping, especially fruit and vegetables.
(La Veu)
Global food prices rise for the seventh consecutive month in December
The increase is led by dairy products and vegetable oils.
(FAO)
Barcelona restaurants are involved in sustainable food
A plan of measures is implemented to accelerate more sustainable management of the city's restaurants, both from an ecological and economic or social point of view. The actions will promote, among others, close dealings with local suppliers, the use of seasonal products at all times and the establishment of a waste treatment protocol.
(Barcelona's City Council)
Mataró begins the “Arrelem” course in the agroecological sector for young people
Mataró Jove offers a newly created training resource for young people who do not have access to other training and occupational resources and who are in a situation of social vulnerability. The course, which will take place from February to March 2021, will have a theoretical part and a practical part that will take place in the Cinco Sénias agricultural area and in the municipal space.
(Mataró City Council)
The municipal gardens of Montcada i Reixac are transformed into a community project
This project aims for the gardens to become a collective space of cohesion, open to citizens, to enhance the empowerment and inclusion of people and to promote the associative fabric, as well as to develop an ecological and environmentally sustainable management model.
(Sustainable)
Exhibition “More than bees” at the Museum of Natural Sciences of Barcelona
The exhibition wants to publicize the essential role of bees in the survival of a good part of the planet's plants: it is estimated that 75% of the food produced around the world depends on pollination by insects.
(Barcelona Museum of Natural Sciences)
“Raíces”, a new magazine about the rural world
It is a quarterly publication, edited by the SOM group (responsible for titles such as “Discover” or “Sàpiens”), which combines in-depth articles with advice and ideas for a more self-sufficient daily life. “Arrels” was born with the desire to be multimedia, which is why it has a website (raíces.info) that wants to be a meeting point for the community and an online farmers' market. And he launches “Ona pagesa”, the first podcast in Catalan dedicated to the subject, directed and presented by Albert Mercadé. The magazine is directed by journalist Josep Sucarrats.
(Ara)
The “Ni un palmo de tierra” collective and other environmental and neighbourhood entities are intensifying the fight against three urban plans projected around the urban centre of El Prat de Llobregat, which foresee the construction of more than 10,000 new homes and which, according to their complaint, It can cause the disappearance of areas of high environmental and agricultural interest. According to the planning proposal of the Prat Nord Consortium, a public entity formed by the Catalan Land Institute and the El Prat City Council that is responsible for the development of the projected plans, the aim is to carry out a "sustainable urban development in order to achieve "a space of high urban quality, with a correct integration of the geographical, environmental and landscape values of the affected areas."
(Direct)
The deployment of solar farms clashes with farmers and environmentalists
The development companies are looking for large areas of land on which to install the plate fields and their claims conflict with the needs of the agricultural sector, which complains because it cannot compete with the rental rates of the farms. In 2020, more than 200 projects were registered in Catalonia to deploy photovoltaic installations on an area of 7,000 hectares.
(The country)
The project had generated great opposition from the local world and the peasantry.
(Món Rural)
A Danish multinational is looking for land to build a large solar park in Vallès Oriental
The multinational European Energy, with headquarters in Denmark, has initiated contacts with property owners in municipalities of the Vallès Oriental to rent agricultural land with the intention of installing a solar park of photovoltaic panels with a surface area of about 15 hectares and about ten megawatts.
(El 9 Nou)
“Throwing away peasant wisdom is stupid”
Interview with Carlo Petrini, gourmet and creator of Slow Food
(La Vanguardia)
“Markets benefit cities, because they connect them with the surrounding peasantry”
Architect Maria Sisternas imagines a Catalonia dotted with medium-sized cities that coexist with the nearby rural world.
(Arrels)
“Farmers never give up: it is a great lesson if we know how to listen to them”
In three documentaries, journalist David Segarra has portrayed the reality of Valencia's orchard as a symbol of a rural world "full of projects, vitality and resistance."
(Arrels)
The urgent utopia of returning to the countryside
In the urban world, going to the countryside has always been an ideal escape towards the good life. But never has the city suffocated us so much as during the coronavirus pandemic. Some people have already chosen to escape. Are we in a moment of change or facing the eternal return of the rural chimera?
(El País Semanal)
The Baix Llobregat Agrarian Park and the Baixa Tordera Agrarian Space: two significant examples to understand how the transformation of the economic model must begin with the primary sector.
(El Temps)
Advance of crop areas and production in Catalonia in December 2020
The DARP monitors the estimation and/or forecast of the surfaces and production of crops that have a greater impact on the Final Agricultural Production of each of the territorial demarcations of Catalonia. In this document you will find the data corresponding to December 2020.
(Department of Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food of the Generalitat of Catalonia)
How to feed the world in times of pandemic and climate change? Innovation opportunities in livestock systems
This report highlights opportunities for innovation in livestock systems to combat both pandemics and climate change. Specifically, it points out that a global priority is the creation of livestock systems, which are often associated with GHG emissions, the risks of spreading zoonotic diseases and the expanding use of antimicrobial agents, but which, in turn, also They are critical providers of animal protein and support the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people. These systems must become greener, safer and more equitable.
(FAO)
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