A total of 73 Andalusian landowners, the vast majority of them from Granada, signed this Saturday the founding act of the Agrupación de Productores Marjal Chopo de Granada, which brings together 1,270 hectares of this tree crop, under LIFE Wood for Future/Madera para el Futuro (LWFF), the project led by the University of Granada and funded by the European Union within its financial strategy for action against climate change. At the constituent assembly, held at the headquarters of the Agricultural and Fisheries Research Institute (Ifapa) of the Junta de Andalucía in Granada, the board of directors of the new group, which will be chaired by Victoria Carreras, was elected.

The objectives of the group, also sponsored by the Confederación de Organizaciones de Selvicultores de España (COSE), partner of the LIFE project, with its manager Patricia Gómez at the head, are to carry out a common management of the poplar groves to obtain quality, sustainable and certified wood; to plan the resource to supply the industry in a constant way; to develop a brand with denomination of origin; to develop a brand with a designation of origin; to sell or auction joint lots of wood to obtain better prices in order to stabilize production; to exercise a common defense of their interests with regard to agricultural insurance, CAP aid and the sale of carbon credits for emissions markets; and to act as a single interlocutor with the administrations.

In this sense, one of its first initiatives will be to ask the Ministry of Agriculture and Sustainable Development of the Junta de Andalucía to include poplar cultivation among the beneficiaries of aid from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union, since these owners make productive forestry investments and maintain good practices especially beneficial to the climate and the environment, one of the criteria for the granting of these incentives.

The procedures for the constitution of the group, the first in Spain in the poplar sector, began only a few months ago, so its promoters consider a great success the degree of involvement achieved by the poplar tree owners, since the 1,270 hectares represent more than a quarter of the total area dedicated to this crop in Andalusia. However, the group is open to new members. Given that poplar cultivation is already carried out in practice under environmentally friendly conditions, it is not difficult for the foresters to meet the necessary requirements to join the common management plan.

More poplar groves against pollution

Among the 73 members of the group, almost 60% are small landowners (between 1 and 5 hectares) and around 15% have more than 20 hectares. Likewise, almost half of the surface area is located in the Vega of Granada, a third in the northern part of the province and the rest in other regions of Granada or Andalusian provinces (Jaén, Córdoba and Seville).

A very Granada brand

The logo and brand of the group and of the timber from these plantations were presented at the assembly, based on the marjal, a traditional surface measurement in Granada that has its origins in the Nasrid Kingdom – it is approximately the size of the Patio de los Leones in the Alhambra – and is still used in many commercial transactions in the province. It corresponds to 100 Granada estadales or 528.42 square meters.The colors of the logo, reddish for the wood brand and green for the group, are those of the flag of Granada, while the play of the normal and inverted A’s of this word of Arabic etymology symbolize both the tree, from the roots to the top, and the wooden houses that will be built with them, since one of the main objectives of the LIFE Wood for the Future project is to create an ecosystem of companies that use poplar wood for sustainable and industrialized construction.

The board of directors chaired by Victoria Carreras is also formed by the vice-president, Juan Carlos Cano; the secretary, Alberto de la Torre, the treasurer, Manuel Benítez, and five members. The honorary president will be Javier de Teresa, president of the Social Council of Granada, and the advisory committee will be made up of technicians from the LIFE project and Ifapa.

Museum and technology center in the Azucarera

The headquarters of the cluster will be provisionally located in the Ifapa of Granada, but the cluster and the LIFE project will propose to the UGR its definitive location in the San Isidro Sugar Factory, together with a museum space on the past, present and future of poplar and other natural products of the Vega and a technology center for wood and industrialized construction. This proposal responds to the objective of the University through its Strategic Plan UGR 2031 and the Alliance for the Recovery of Granada (Martyrs’ Pact), to support the creation of a Biodiversity and Environment Campus of the UGR in the San Isidro Sugar Mill, which in turn is a space considered strategic to work for a green Granada with the challenge of facing the ecological transition.

LIFE Wood for Future/Madera para el Futuro, which has obtained funding from the LIFE Program of the European Union [LIFE20 CCM/ES/001656] for the environment and climate action for the next 4 years, is integrated by the University of Granada, the Provincial Council, the Confederation of Organizations of Foresters of Spain, the University of Santiago de Compostela and the spinoff 3edata. The LIFE program celebrates its 30th anniversary this month. During these years it has promoted more than 5,500 projects for environmental improvement and climate action in the European Union.