A team from the UPV will investigate how to generate sustainable agri-food systems in the Mediterranean

VALENCIA, 25 Apr. (EUROPA PRESS) -

Accelerate the agroecological transition in the Mediterranean region with innovative proposals that make it possible to generate new sustainable production systems for basic foods, such as cereals, in the face of current and future climate change scenarios.

This is the main objective of the European AgrEcoMed project, in which research staff from the Higher Technical School of Agricultural Engineering and the Natural Environment (Etsiamn) of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) -- Neus Sanjuan, Héctor Moreno and Gabriela Clemente participate. --, together with Javier Ribal, from the Economic Engineering Research Center and professor at the Faculty of Business Administration and Management.

The study -explains the academic institution in a statement- starts from the reality that the scientific community plays an important role in the development of the European Green Pact, especially the "Farm to Fork" strategy, which constitutes an essential element for increase the sustainability of the European agri-food system through a series of environmental and social objectives.

In fact, the proposal on the common agricultural policy (CAP) for the period 2021-27 includes as fundamental axes of action: the agroecological transition, the economic and social development of rural areas and the competitiveness of farms.

For this reason, Neus Sanjuan, a researcher at the University Institute of Food Engineering for Development and main researcher at the UPV in the project, highlights that the agroecological approach has a strong territorial connotation that "transcends beyond the ecological and agronomic and also includes the social, economic and cultural dimension.Specifically, at the UPV we will carry out the evaluation of the environmental and economic sustainability of agroecological proposals compared to conventional cultivation, based on field trials of crop rotations in southern Italy and Tunisia that will include, among other crops, recovered wheat varieties", explains the Valencian researcher.

The project --which belongs to the PRIMA call financed with funds from the European H2020 program-- seeks Mediterranean farmers and producers to develop sustainable crop systems through innovative practices and technologies.

"During the 36 months of the project, we are going to investigate the sustainability of innovative proposals that take into account local agri-environmental needs, the socioeconomic and territorial context, the demands of the end user and the needs of the relevant agents in the supply chain. local supply," says Gabriela Clemente, also a researcher at the University Institute of Food Engineering for Development at the UPV.

All this will be articulated through an agroecological approach based "on the efficient use of natural resources, the reduction of pollution, the promotion of the circular economy and the idiosyncrasy of each region", asserts Héctor Moreno, a researcher at the Valencian Center. of Studies on Irrigation of the UPV.

Finally, the focus will also be on developing awareness campaigns that promote "sustainable food consumption, and a circular economy for the transition towards more sustainable agri-food chains," says Javier Ribal.

The AgrEcoMed initiative is coordinated by the Università della Basilicata (UNIBAS) and is part of a consortium made up of the UPV itself, the Università degli Studi di Bari (UNIBA), the Consiglio per la Ricerca e l'Economia Agraria (CREA), the Center for Biotechnology of Sfax (CBS), the University Sultan Moulay Slimane Beni Mellal (USMS), the National School of Agriculture (ENAM) and the University of Córdoba (UCO).