Farmer vs. sand: Spain’s fight against desertification

Este artigo trata do intensivo processo de desertificação e progressiva aridez dos solos devido ao aquecimento global e as Alterações do Clima. Isto em Espanha.  Mas em toda a península Ibérica a ameaça é comum e em constante aumento. Ora Espanha desvia uma grande quantidade de água em transvases “legais” e ilegais, para a sua Horticultura em regiões como Múrcia. Existe mesmo uma “máfia” da água. Portugal anda adormecido para esta questão vital e determinante para a sua sobrevivência. Portugal e a sua classe política não têm uma estratégia para esta decisiva e determinante questão.

OVOODOCORVO

Farmer vs. sand: Spain’s fight against desertification

If climate change models are correct, much of the country’s fertile land could transform into desert.

By           KAIT BOLONGARO          4/3/19, 5:20 PM CET Updated 4/4/19, 4:35 PM CET

https://www.politico.eu/article/farmer-sand-spain-fight-against-desertification-soil-degradation/

Farms across southern Spain, Europe’s fruit basket, may not survive at all | Kait Bolongaro/POLITICO

This article is part of a special report on soil degradation in Europe.

LA JUNQUERA, Spain — In a ghost town in southeastern Spain, Alfonso Chico de Guzmán is using ancient farming practices to restore the soil on his family's 1,000- hectare farm. If it works, he’ll hold back the encroaching desert — and maybe even bring his abandoned village of La Junquera back to life.

The stakes are high. Chaotic weather and thinning topsoil are putting farmers like Chico de Guzmán under ever greater pressure. And it’s only going to get worse.

Climate change models used by the European Commission project temperatures will increase by more than 2°C in Spain by the end of the century. According to a special report published by the European Court of Auditors in December 2018, three-quarters of Spain faces desertification, making it one of the most seriously affected countries in Europe.

In the region of Murcia — where La Junquera is located — as much as 90 percent of the land is at high or very high risk. If farmers like Chico de Guzmán don’t find a way to adapt, farms across southern Spain, Europe’s fruit basket, may not survive at all.

"This farm has been in my family for five generations," says the 30-year-old Madrid native, perched behind the wheel of his truck. “But climate change is affecting this area quite fast. Part of the soil was very badly eroded. We were hitting bedrock when we were digging under the topsoil."

Regeneration

Chico de Guzmán took over the family farm in 2012 and quickly decided to experiment with farming techniques better adapted to the changing weather. He expanded the farm’s organic offerings, planting almond and pistachio trees, grains, vegetable fields and orchards. He also introduced so-called “regenerative” practices, which not only preserve the state of the land but improve the soil's health, after decades of intensive exploitation.

Since his crops are rainfed, retaining as much water as possible is essential on the farm.

With the help of more experienced farmers, Chico de Guzmán carved swales into the slopes of his land, forming ramps to manage runoff and collect rainwater. New sediment traps catch nutrient-rich topsoil that would otherwise wash away in storms.

"This is a more complex method that requires more knowledge and time. It isn't as easy as conventional farming," he says.

His willingness to experiment is paying off: His local, organic products command a 70 percent premium over conventional competitors, he says.

Farmer Alfonso Chico de Guzmán is trying to find a way to adapt | Kait Bolongaro/POLITICO

Still, the future looks challenging. Chico de Guzmán says soil loss on his farm from erosion reaches 40 to 50 metric tons per hectare per year, about double his region’s average.

That soil wasn’t always healthy to start with.

Recently, parts of southern Spain have experienced a severe drought, draining Murcia’s reservoirs. The encroaching desert will mean more soil erosion, declines in biodiversity, and contamination and overuse of groundwater. Water reservoirs in Murcia are at about 21 percent of their capacity, according to government statistics. This is compared to 57.79 percent for the rest of Spain's reservoirs.

A 2010 study by the European Commission's Joint Research Centre found that 45 percent of European soil has a low or very low organic matter content, especially in southern countries like Spain. Desertification has been correlated with low levels of organic carbon in soil, which regulates many vital functions in land and helps crops grow.

The water dance

Seventy kilometers away from La Junquera, in the village of Chirivel, Santiaga Sánchez Porcel is waging her own battle against worsening soil health and erosion.

"With climate change, it's not cold when it's supposed to be," she says. "It's cold in the spring now so the trees are flowering earlier. There's no set cycle anymore."

The 51-year-old owns a flock of more than 1,000 Segura lamb, a local breed of white sheep, and 56 hectares of almond trees.

Beneath the trees, she plants cereals and vegetables as a cover crop to help the soil retain its humidity. "Simply look at the color of the soil," she says. "It is darker here where the green cover is. You can see that it is more humid and acts like a sponge."

Her flock of sheep eats the shoots of the green cover. At the same time as they are eating, their manure fertilizes the soil, in what Sánchez Porcel calls "a very circular system."

"This type of agriculture is sensible, easy and cheap," she says. "It only requires a bit of thinking. It's not some weird type of agriculture we invented. It's old ideas."

"We can't wait for big governments to do something," she adds. "We have to do this at the local level."

Spain, like other EU countries, provides funding to its farmers for environmental schemes via the bloc's Common Agricultural Policy. EU countries are also allowed to provide extra funding in certain environmental crises such as drought, which Spain has also provided for farmers.

The region of Andalusia provides addition subsidies to promote sustainable agriculture and to help farmers switch over to more environmentally friendly forms of farming.

"Farming is very important to the local economy and stopping people from leaving rural areas," says Dietmar Roth, the deputy mayor in Vélez-Blanco, an Andalusian village of nearly 2,000 people, who is working with AlVelAl, a Dutch-funded farmers' initiative trying to regenerate the region's hard-worn soils.

"It is hard to change farming techniques, so we need to show the benefits of not only environmentally friendly farming, but regenerative farming to help the planet," he says.

Few of his neighbors need convincing.

In the nearby settlement of El Contador, Manuel Martínez Egea is looking forward to retiring so he can dedicate more time to his crops.  The 66-year-old agronomy engineer took over his family's 500-hectare farm in 1991, where he grows almonds, grains and grapes.

While he struggles to ensure that his crops grow every season, he's most concerned about what will happen to his region as temperatures rise.

"Soon it'll be summer here the whole year," he says. "If we farmers don't work together, we won't make it."