By Menorca Preservation
HELPING MENORCAN FARMERS TO TRANSITION THEIR FARMS TO A MORE CLIMATE RESILIENT AND ECONOMICALLY VIABLE AGRICULTURE
According to the “Monitoring indicators of the Island Territorial Plan for active farms” studied by the Socioenvironmental Observatory of Menorca (OBSAM-IME), between 2010 and 2021 a total of 60 active farms and up to 918 hectares of usable agricultural land were lost, which represents a reduction of 12.8% compared to 2010.
At the same time, the number of farms registered in the Balearic Council for Organic Agricultural Production (CBPAE) shows a slight increase: in 2021, the surface area of organic agricultural production exceeded 7,000 hectares (+14%) and organic farming represents 15.2% of the total declared agricultural surface area.
Menorca’s primary sector is the guardian of the mosaic landscape that is so characteristic of our island and, for this reason, it is at the forefront of the fight against climate change. Farmers are key as they ensure our food supply, while at the same time helping to diversify our economy and maintain our cultural traditions.
This is why we at Menorca Preservation aim to help the agricultural sector to adapt to new challenges, providing them with tools that help them to make their farms more economically, socially and environmentally resilient.
MENORCA PRESERVADA: a 2-year free training programme on sustainable agriculture for farmers
Between November 2021 and January 2024 we launched MENORCA PRESERVADA: a 2-year free training programme on Sustainable Agriculture, with technical support from The Regen Academy (former Agroassessor). This followed discussions with many farmers who were eager to implement more sustainable practices on their farms but were unsure how to get started,
The training programme was made up of five modules, focusing on Farm Management, the Basis of Sustainable Production, Vegetable and Animal Production and Marketing. Through this, we were able to deliver over 1,670 hours of training, and a total of 162 people attended the courses offered.
Once the training finished, two-thirds of the participants surveyed by us confirmed that they were already applying some of the lessons learned on their farms.
Identifying the pilot farm: S’Ullestrar
Another output of the project was getting in touch with Carme and Jordi Bosch, the daughter and son of the owners of the Finca S’Ullestrar, who are now taking over the management of the farm. They consistently attended most of the MENORCA PRESERVADA courses and later expressed to us their willingness to transition their dairy farm to Regenerative Agriculture. Finca S’Ullestrar is in Ciutadella and comprises 24 hectares of land; of which 23 hectares are used for grazing while one hectare is used for vegetable garden crops and peanut farming. The farm has 30 cows dedicated to producing milk to produce Queso de Mahón, 20 pigs, 10 sheep, 70 chickens to produce eggs, 4 goats, 20 rabbits, a horse and a duck.
Regenerative agriculture has been proven to significantly increase the resilience of farms to the challenges of the climate crisis such as rising temperatures, loss of biodiversity and droughts. For example, it has been shown that for every 1% of organic matter that we increase in the soil, we manage to retain an extra 230,000 litres of water per hectare (source: The Regen academy). In this way, this project’s ultimate goal is to turn the S’Ullestrar farm into a Pilot Farm that will serve as a laboratory from which to learn which measures are most effective in supporting our primary sector in its transition towards more sustainable practices. Moreover, we aim for it to become a key example from which to raise awareness, inspire and encourage other farms in Menorca to implement regenerative practices on their farms.
With this vision, Menorca Preservation initially funded a Diagnosis Study carried out by The Regen Academy in order to:
- identify the objectives and opportunities of applying Regenerative Agriculture practices on the farm, and
- develop a cohesive Action Plan based on: regenerating and improving the quality, health and fertility of the soil as well as the resilience of the crops; contributing to decreasing soil erosion while also increasing biodiversity, improving water retention and carbon sequestration; ensuring the economic viability of the transition of the farm towards Regenerative Agriculture.
Implementing the Action Plan
The Action Plan kicked off in January 2024 with hands-on support from Nuri Madeo and Sixto Cabiró, both technical consultants from The Regen Academy, and since then many amazing actions have been put in place at Finca S’Ullestrar.
They have prepared the soil and grass sowings and have applied products that help to promote the mineral balance of the soil to boost soil fertility. Regarding cattle management, they installed a managed grazing system for the cows, which contributes to improving the quality of the soil whilst at the same time reducing the feeding costs. Additionally, plant corridors with woody species have been planted, and nesting boxes for bats and birds of prey have been installed in order to control pests, including an insect hotel to improve biodiversity. In addition, the irrigation system has also been improved to make better use of water resources.
Spreading technical and personalised support to other farms
In parallel, and as a continuation of MENORCA PRESERVADA, we at Menorca Preservation decided to go a step further by providing hands-on consultations to those farmers who attended most of the courses offered and were committed to putting into practice some of the lessons learnt. To date, we are supporting 3 other farms, helping them to implement regenerative techniques regarding crop management and pest control.
More information: menorcapreservation.org
