Portugal

Farmers Competition

The Muralha de Évora’s Veterinary Hospital will be holding the 15th International Conference the 2nd Edition of the Innovations in Extensive Livestock Award, in association with the Grazing4AgroEcology project (G4AE). The 2024 “Innovations in Extensive Livestock Award” is aligned with national and European priorities to support innovation in the sector and aims to reward the most innovative livestock farms in 4 areas of activity:

1. Environmental sustainability – biotechnological solutions that respect the principles of zero carbon, sustainable economy, and the circularity of raw materials, i.e. the use of by-products from exploitation, allowing value to be created from biological and renewable resources, preferably endogenous.

2. Technological innovation – the aim is to reward innovative technological solutions that promote the optimization of processes to improve the farm’s profitability, infrastructure capacity, and efficient resource management.

3. Profitability – the farms with the best fertility rates and overall profitability will be rewarded, as long as they meet the assumptions of environmental, economic, and social sustainability of the agri-food value chain.

4. Animal Welfare – Farms that actively promote animal welfare, whether through innovative livestock management procedures or through the development of infrastructures adapted to animal welfare.

The applications should be submitted through the form present in:

https://jornadas.hvetmuralha.pt/index.php/premio-inovar-pecuaria-extensiva-2024/

     News and events

Event: 1st Meeting with Portugese Partner Farms

28th of February 2023

Online

The results of the last Agricultural Census whose collection ended at the end of 2020, are revealing of the strong cultural change in agricultural activity in Portugal: permanent crops have soared, with olive, almond, small fruit, and subtropical fruits setting the trend.

As for the structure, the number of agricultural farms in Portugal has decreased, but the surface area used has grown and so has the average area. What’s more, entrepreneurial agriculture continues to grow. Data that demonstrates the modernisation of the activity and, above all, a lot of investment in the last decade.

The area of permanent pasture area in Portugal, currently, is around 2 million hectares, which corresponds to 51.7% of the UAA. In the period between 2009 and 2019, the area of permanent pasture increased by 14.9%.The Alentejo region has the highest representativeness, with 63.9% of the area of Permanent Pasture.

The average size of the farms in Portugal is 13.7 ha.

In Portugal, 52% of agricultural land in 2019 was permanent pasture. This means that, in total, permanent grassland occupied about 2 million hectares, 71.6% of which without any improvements, such as sowing, fertilisation, irrigation or drainage.

Portugese

Grazing4AgroEcology – Uma rede europeia para inverter o declínio do pastoreio e apoiar as explorações com sistemas agropecuários baseados no pastoreio no seu desempenho económico e ambiental e no bem-estar animal

O Grazing4Agroecology (G4AE) é um projeto financiado pela UE que visa restaurar a confiança dos agricultores e da indústria agrícola no desempenho produtivo e na competitividade do sistemas baseados no pastoreio através da promoção de inovações agroecológicas. O projeto tem como objetivo apoiar os agricultores na implementação de sistemas baseados no pastoreio, como uma prática para o ambiente, animais e sociedade, a fim de produzir alimentos mais saudáveis e com menor impacto nos recursos naturais. O G4AE visará também os objetivos do Pacto Ecológico Europeu da EU: restaurar a biodiversidade, reduzir as perdas de nutrientes e reduzir as emissões de Gases com Efeito de Estufa (GEE).

Os sistemas agrícolas baseados no pastoreio têm potencial para produzir alimentos de alta qualidade, beneficiar a competitividade dos agricultores e o bem-estar dos animais, e fornecer outros serviços de ecossistema que são amplamente valorizados pela nossa sociedade. Embora os sistemas de produção baseados no pastoreio tenham provado o seu potencial para produzir alimentos de alta qualidade, tais como leite e carne com elevados benefícios nutricionais, infelizmente, enfrentamos atualmente um declínio pronunciado do pastoreio na Europa.

Os agricultores e os grupos de agricultores representativos estão no centro de uma rede multi-atores que trabalham em conjunto com o Sistema de Conhecimento e Informação Agrícola AKIS, incluindo investigação aplicada, grupos operacionais, organizações não governamentais (ONGs), técnicos de aconselhamento/consultoria e indústria, bem como consumidores e sociedade geral.

 A rede de 120 explorações agrícolas parceiras (15 por país) permitirá a recolha e implementação das melhores práticas e inovações para promover o pastoreio para a agroecologia. A G4AE inovará o setor dos sistemas agropecuários baseados no pastoreio, reforçando a capacidade dos agricultores para compreenderem o seu próprio desempenho com base numa ferramenta integrada de autoavaliação.

Facilitator Agents

2 agents that will moderate farm demonstrations of best practices and meetings within the grazing AKIS and encourage all actors to exchange and share knowledge in Portugal

Carolina Ramos

Zootechincal enginner

Advisor

Animal production

cramos@consulai.com

Ricardo Zanatti

Agronomic enginner

Advisor

Animal production

rzanatti@consulai.com

 

Partner Farms

Farmer

Innovation

More info here: Video / Practice abstract

Farm information & location

Farmer

Innovation

More info here: Video / Practice abstract

Farm information & location

Farmer

Innovation

More info here: Video / Practice abstract

Farm information & location

Farmer

Innovation

More info here: Video / Practice abstract

Farm information & location

Farmer

Innovation

More info here: Video / Practice abstract

Farm information & location

Farmer

Innovation

More info here: Video / Practice abstract

Farm information & location

Farmer

Innovation

More info here: Video / Practice abstract

Farm information & location

Farmer

Innovation

More info here: Video / Practice abstract

Farm information & location

Farmer

Innovation

More info here: Video / Practice abstract

Farm information & location

Farmer

Innovation

More info here: Video / Practice abstract

Farm information & location

Farmer

Innovation

More info here: Video / Practice abstract

Farm information & location

Farmer

Innovation

More info here: Video / Practice abstract

Farm information & location

Farmer

Innovation

More info here: Video / Practice abstract

Farm information & location

Farmer

Innovation

More info here: Video / Practice abstract

Farm information & location

Farmer

Innovation

More info here: Video / Practice abstract

Farm information & location