Under the memory of the first poplar sawmill of the “Rey del Chopo” located in the Old Factory of San Juan (Old sawmill of the “Rey del Chopo”) in Las Huertas Bajas, in Santa Fe, this historic place of the Vega began a second life yesterday as it witnessed the inauguration ceremony of the demonstration plots of the LIFE Wood for Future project. Its owner, María del Carmen Jiménez Barrionuevo, “Marita”, kindly offered her farm to celebrate this intimate and historic event. A new life for a crop with a long tradition in construction in the Vega and in the province, which now arises to demonstrate the innovation proposed by this project, both at nursery level (certified plant), plantations (more competitive and more environmentally friendly forestry to generate quality certified wood), at the level of owners through a Poplar Producers’ Association, and at product level (structural laminated beams built with the technologies of glued laminated and notched joints between boards).  Yesterday, the public-private joint efforts bore fruit. IFAPA’s research in clonal trials for many years, the courage and initiative of two local nurseries, Certichopo and Hijo de Celedonio, the enormous experience of COSE with respect to forest owners, the previous research of the Universities of Granada and Santiago de Compostela (Pemade), the willingness of the Provincial Council to maintain a certified nursery of mother vines, as well as the support of the regional government in these first steps of the project in terms of possible aid to the primary sector and the establishment of a local industry, encourage owners to actively join the project.

In this line, the Territorial Delegate of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, María José Martín, attended, in the municipality of Santa Fe, the inauguration of a poplar demonstration plot included in the Wood for the Future Project. The Junta de Andalucía intends to reintroduce the cultivation of poplar in the Vega, whose hectares have been reduced, in recent times, to 3,000, according to the delegate who stressed the “indisputable social role for its cultural, historical and landscape value, as a tree and traditional crop in the province with more than 100 years of history. Marita’s plot, of almost 2 ha, has been planted with local certified plant of the Beaupré clone with a 5×5 m frame and with a protection and biodiversity generating band of MC poplars.

According to Martín, “more poplar trees means more bioeconomy, more sustainable development, more green jobs, less pollution and more climate change mitigation in our Vega”. He highlighted, in addition to the economic value of poplar trees, “the enormous environmental value, which can be seen directly in the water cycle in the Vega, for the value they provide in water purification and recovery of aquifers or flood regulation; in the climate itself, also functioning as excellent carbon sinks and as buffers against extreme temperatures; or in improving biodiversity, soil conservation and erosion regulation”.

The role of Ifapa is essential in this project, betting on this type of research for which it already has a demonstration plot and a research team. The aim is to take the cultivation of this tree to another level, improving its performance, orienting the product to the construction sector, in short, to place this crop in the path of an innovative industry of good quality wood.

Patricia Gómez, manager of COSE, and responsible for this action of the project, highlighted the enormous qualitative leap that these plantations represent in terms of generating more quality wood and therefore supporting the local sustainable industry that generates green jobs. He also highlighted the fact that these plantations have already been carried out within the framework of the Producers’ Group promoted by the project, which makes all the owners perceive them as a real group, with which they can better defend their interests and guarantee the supply for the industry.

In turn, Antolino Gallego, coordinator of the project, highlighted the historical value of the place, and the endearing way in which its owner, Marita, had prepared everything for a worthy act, with historical photographs and a tour to know what once was the first industry of the sector. The coordinator emphasized that the idea promoted by this project of taking the wood from the land to the nearby house could be applied in several years time just in this sawmill, for its rehabilitation. The University has the social commitment that its knowledge generates value in its territory in an increasingly volatile and complex future in the framework of the global economy built during the last decades. It is now time to bet on Km0 products, and to be self-sufficient.

The Delegate had a previous meeting at the IFAPA with researchers and the primary sector in which she learned first hand about the clonal plantations promoted by the researcher María A. Ripoll, as well as the measures taken by the IFAPA to improve the quality of the products. Ripoll, as well as the measurements of environmental parameters that are being carried out in them under the project.

A great day, in which in addition to inaugurating the new poplar plantations, hope was planted in a sector very punished by prices, dismemberment and little attention from the administration. More wood for the future of the Vega!!!