Soil health as a challenge for the future

IP Santarem

Value Creators of Tomorrow

Soil health as a challenge for the future

Description
The intensive cultural systems in the Ribatejo region of Portugal lead to soil degradation. Cover crops, sown during the winter, on one hand, improve soil health, and on the other hand, can be used for animal feeding, with specific seed mixtures promoting better food for certain animal species. The farmers have economic advantages from the use of cover crops, by the possibility of marketing haylage for animal feed while simultaneously increasing the biological quality of soils. Animal feeding is a challenge in our days because resources are limited, particularly concerning soils, water, and production factors. Soils in the cultural systems of Ribatejo are depleted, and their regeneration is of utmost importance. The use of cover crops during the winter period is essential for the sustainability of agroecosystems. One aspect that can help is the use of these cover crops not only for soil incorporation but also for commercialization for animal feeding. Each animal species has specific nutritional requirements; however, by carefully selecting seed mixtures to use in cover crops, we can provide the best food for our animals. However, we must convince farmers of the benefits of Farmers are highly resistant to changes in cultural practices to be used in farming systems, so it is extremely important to understand why farmers are not ready to adopt new techniques, namely, the use of cover crops based on diverse mixtures, during the winter period. In this project you get to develop novel concepts and models to provide crop covering and showcase why it should be seen as an investment instead of an expense.
Contact person

Ongoing project

Basic information

Apply by

05 Apr 2024

Location

IP Santarem

Teamwork

In person

Language

English

Timeline

Project starts

08 Apr 2024

Project ends

06 Jun 2024

Related tags

#agriculture

#communication

#farming

#resistance to change

#soil