The Agrupación Marjal offers a free course open to all farmers and foresters, this Friday at the headquarters of IFAPA

Granada, November 14, 2024

The Agrupación de Productores de Chopo de Granada Marjal offers this weekend a course on management of vegetation cover in poplar groves for soil regeneration and improvement of biodiversity and productivity. This program, open to all interested parties and free of charge, will be taught by permaculture expert Radko Tichalvsky at the headquarters of the Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Training and Research (IFAPA) of the Junta de Andalucía (Camino de Purchil s / n) on Friday November 15 from 16.30 to 18.30 hours. On Saturday, November 16, a practical training will take place in several poplar groves in the Vega de Granada.

The manager of the Confederation of Organizations of Foresters of Spain (COSE) and promoter of the Agrupación Marjal, Patricia Gómez, explained that the objective of the course is to improve the training and professionalization of poplar growers through knowledge of what are commonly known as ‘weeds’ or adventitious plants, which grow spontaneously in these crops. “Adventitious plants are bioindicators: they provide global information on soil health. Depending on the species, they indicate the presence or absence of certain nutrients, aeration conditions, or whether it is contaminated by heavy metals. This will guide us in the management of the plantation,” he emphasized.

The care of the plant cover that grows between the trees is important because the herbaceous plants interact through their roots with the poplars in symbiotic relationships that improve soil fertility and, therefore, the growth and resilience of the crops. It also acts as a barrier against pests and insects, enhances the biodiversity of these ecosystems and helps the soil retain more moisture. “Constantly rototilling the soil to eliminate this cover breaks the soil structure and eliminates the microorganisms needed to decompose the nutrients on which the poplar feeds,” said Gómez.

Therefore, these good practices mean savings for farms, since foresters will optimize irrigation and will need fewer fertilizers and pesticides, which in turn benefits the environment and reduces groundwater pollution. We want to use these plants that come out naturally for our benefit, for the benefit of the ecosystem, and to regenerate the soils, which in the Vega de Granada are very punished by the excessive use of phytosanitary chemicals and fertilizers, especially from agriculture,” added the COSE manager. With a simple change of mentality and management of these covers, with solutions based on nature, we improve the sustainability and profitability of poplar groves”.

Without forgetting that by increasing the organic matter on which the poplars feed, the amount of organic carbon in the soil increases, a great reservoir that will be revalued for the sale of credits in the voluntary emissions market, which can provide the poplar growers with a complementary income.

This course is part of a cycle organized by Agrupación Marjal, which began with a first workshop on plant health and will continue with another on farm profitability. Marjal, which was established in May 2022, brings together one hundred producers with more than 1,400 hectares of poplar groves, mostly in the province of Granada.

A few days ago, the Association held the auction of the first lots of wood with PEFC certification, which guarantees compliance with strict environmental and management requirements for poplar cultivation. A total of 5,584.575 cubic meters of wood were awarded -55.3% of the total for sale-, with a total price of 517,606.83 euros. The wood auctioned came from poplar groves in Fuente Vaqueros, Santa Fe and Láchar.