On September 12th, the first Regional Innovation Agroforestry Network meeting was held in Galicia, Spain. The event was attended by nearly 30 participants, almost half of them practitioners. Within the group there were farmers, advisors, Rural Development technicians, members of the Galician Office of Climate Change, and the Galician Innovation Agency. The meeting took place at the Center for Scientific and Technological Support (CACTUS), which is located in Campus Terra, headquarters of Universidad de Santiago de Compostela (USC) in Lugo.
Rosa Mosquera, the coordinator of AFINET project, and Antia Villada, Innovation Broker of the Galician network, presented the event. Afterwards, RAIN members introduced themselves and participated in a brainstorming exercise to identify the main problems Agroforestry systems are currently facing in Galicia, as well as the needs and lack of knowledge that should be addressed during AFINET’s development.
They all agreed on some issues which AFINET should be focused on, all related to management of Agroforestry systems, politics, commercialization of their products and dissemination of knowledge on techniques and methods.
In the afternoon, RAIN members went on a field visit to Castro Ribeiras de Lea e Pol, a silvopastoral system with pine (Pinus radiata D.Don) and birch (Betula pubescens Ehrh). This system, established more than two decades ago, has been object of study by researchers from all over the world, who focus their research on related topics, among others, carbon sequestration, biodiversity, grass production, etc.
If you want to know more about Spanish RAIN, check their Facebook page or afinet [at] eurafagroforestry [dot] eu (contact us).