The 43rd Spring Meeting, organized by the Portuguese Society of Grasslands and Forages (SPPF), took place at Casino Fundanense (Fundão), from April 18 to 19, 2024, and was under the theme "Multifunctionality of grasslands in mountain areas".
Highlights from the plenary:
- Pastures serve as carbon sinks and biodiversity refuges, playing a crucial role in climate regulation and preserving unique species. Traditional pastoral practices help conserve cultural heritage, sustain local economies, and mitigate natural risks like forest fires, making it essential to recognize and value these ecosystem services for the health and sustainability of mountain environments.
- In recent decades, orchard and vineyard producers have increasingly adopted soil management systems with vegetation cover to combat soil erosion, enhance carbon sequestration, and boost soil organic matter. While these practices help control erosion, they must balance competition for water resources, especially in dryland areas. There is also a trend towards using seeded covers between rows, but success is often limited by the quick reversion to natural vegetation.
- Agricultural activity across the national territory is essential to counter coastal population concentration and reverse the depopulation, desertification, biodiversity loss, and fire risks in the interior. Adapting agriculture to climate change is a major challenge, with severe impacts expected in Mediterranean regions, requiring locally-focused, long-term research integrating various scientific areas.
- Extensive grazing systems have low productivity due to poor soils, natural pastures, low stocking rates, and climate variability. Advances in Precision Agriculture technologies, like sensors and georeferencing, help manage soil and pastures more effectively.
During this event, an oral presentation was presented by DesirMED partner, IPCB- Istituto Politecnico de Castelo Branco, on the topic "DesirMED - Ao encontro de soluções para uma maior resiliência às alterações climáticas" (DesirMED - Finding solutions for greater resilience to climate change), presenting the planned actions which will address issues associated with the efficient use of water, the creation of landscape mosaics, namely with the installation of pastures improvements at altitude, the recovery of ecosystems, the inclusion of digital solutions in agricultural activities, the agricultural valorization of by-products, animal improvement based on feed efficiency and to the study of forages and pastures.
Link to the event (Portuguese language)
