Renewable energies
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19 abril 2024
IFAPA: Promoting sustainability in the Andalusian agri-food sector
The agri-food sector will be facing many challenges with climate change. But innovation applied to the primary sector may be the answer to them. IFAPA is committed to sustainability and decarbonisation in new projects designed to promote this transformation, generate local value, contribute to modernising this sector and promote the integration of renewable energies.
By Marta Bosquet Aznar
For the Andalusian Institute of Research and Training in Agriculture, Fisheries, Food and Ecological Production (IFAPA in Spanish), a commitment to sustainability and decarbonisation is a challenge that enriches its role as an ally of the agri-food and fisheries sector of Andalusia in the search for solutions to its problems.
In this regard, the IFAPA is working on a daily basis to continue being a useful, agile and effective instrument by deploying research programmes that help to truly modernise the sector. There is an ambitious training plan that enables greater professionalism and a generational turnover, and there is a commitment to promoting innovation as the best way to improve the profitability and sustainability of the agri-food sector in Andalusia.
No one doubts that the agricultural sector faces many challenges. These include climate change, drought, high production costs, low profitability, regulatory requirements with regard to environmental issues and a lack of generational turnover, to name just a few. It also faces a huge challenge: The world's population is growing every year and climate change is affecting both arable land and productivity. We have to produce more with less and in this context technology is emerging as the only possible solution.
Innovation for Sustainable Agriculture
It is true that in recent decades there has been great progress with regard to cultivation techniques, mechanisation, fertilisation and pest control, which has greatly improved access to food. But it is also true that by 2050 we are expected to have to feed about 10,000 million people, and we will not be able to produce more if we do not apply technology and innovation.
We need to simplify the supply chain, provide information and be able to bring farmers and consumers closer together, as well as growing crops with a lower carbon footprint, with the exact input of resources required and with optimal use of water.
The IFAPA is doing its best to address these challenges in the primary sector through its work in training, research, and transferring all the knowledge it has generated to the sector. And that is why we are committed to finding the answers, tools and knowledge needed to meet the needs of the present without compromising the capacity of future generations.
Agrovoltaic energy and the primary sector
Linked by this commitment, one of the objectives of the IFAPA is to promote the profitability and sustainability of the agri-food sector in Andalusia, and this involves exploring ways of combining this economic activity with other sectors. In this regard, we have recently signed an agreement with Endesa to launch a common agrovoltaic energy project that will enable two basic production models to coexist: our agricultural sector and the generation of photovoltaic energy.
This initiative will make it possible to generate knowledge through research, experimentation and then to transfer it in order to promote innovation and sustainable development in the agricultural and livestock activity. All of this is framed in the context of redefining production models and the role of agriculture and livestock in rural areas, as well as the roles that the rural area has assigned to environmental conservation and contribution to territorial balance.
This makes it a way to generate value in the local community, to contribute to modernising the primary sector and to promote the integration of agricultural activity with the use and generation of clean energy.
Regenerative Agriculture
An agrovoltaic energy project which specifically involves the behaviour and management of the crops that are best adapted to this technology will be studied, as well as making an assessment of what will be their economic viability and the impact on agricultural activity. The aim is to reconcile both activities in the same space and with the focus on prioritising small and medium-sized agricultural enterprises as a pillar of the rural world. A project with the aim of seeking not only environmental sustainability, but also economic and social sustainability.
Many of the IFAPA's projects are also aligned with the objectives of regenerative agriculture to improve yields while restoring biodiversity, the health and quality of soils and the water cycle. This involves working to apply, in the best conditions in accordance with each type of soil and region, both vegetation cover and research in which we are committed to the circular bio-economy, for example by reusing the invasive Asian algae found on our coasts as compost and as a bio-stimulant for crops. Also the numerous projects to optimise the use of water or the firm commitment to regenerate biodiversity by identifying species that are natural predators of pests, thus avoiding the use of phytosanitary products.
All this with a view to promoting a sustainable balance between improving production and protecting our ecosystems, an objective to which we should add the potential of agrovoltaic energy as a further element to advance along the path towards sustainable development and respect for the planet. Because solar energy is a clean and inexhaustible source of energy and it is up to us to take advantage of it in order to ensure the future of our agriculture.
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