Assembly of European Horticultural Regions

EU projects

 

For a precise and water-saving irrigation : the INTERREG SUDOE project

Dates of the programme : january 2007 - June 2008

logo_PRECIRIEGOn January 11th, 2007, an INTERREG SUDOE project (for European interregional project in the Southwest of Europe) was accepted by Europe.

For horticulture, it is a question of favoring on one hand a more precise piloting, on the other hand of introducing into the reflection, the notion of irrigation of precision (eg.: to determine the choice criteria choice in the area(s) of piloting on a plot of land - a watering unit - in case of heterogeneousness, so frequent in these cultures). So, the project consisted in sharing the various experiences and the piloting methods at the end of the irrigation, between the various regions and organizations.

Indeed, the SUDOE area has a great extent of irrigated agricultural land completely dependent on abundant and high-quality water resources, specially where the main crops produced are fruits and vegetables. However, irrigated agriculture is often accused not only of wasting a limited water resource, but also of being a source of diffuse pollution damage. With the purpose of finding common solutions to these problems, the project partners have joined to share technical knowledge and to experiment on new management systems for agriculture water resources.

The objective of the Precirieg partnership was to foster a quick and safe evolution of models and tools for irrigation control and their strategies of use.

For this, the partners developed a series of actions aiming to:

  • draw up an assessment of the experimental protocols used by the different partners;
  • create new tools and methods for irrigation management
  • test these newly defined measuring tools;
  • evaluate the impact of the chosen tools and methods through pilot actions on farms.

This short project took place over 18 months, from January 2007 to the end of June 2008. It brought together ten partners, research centers and agricultural technical centers, Spanish, Portuguese and French South-West and Languedoc-Roussillon, the coordination being provided by the AREFLH.

The participants were the following organisations:

  • ACMG, Association Climatologique de la Moyenne-Garonne et du Sud-Ouest
  • Cemagref (FR), Institut de recherche pour l'ingénierie de l'agriculture et de l'environnement
  • INVENIO (HORTIS Aquitaine) (FR)
  • CIREA, Centre Inter-Régional d'Expérimentation Arboricole (FR)
  • ANPN, Association Nationale des Producteurs de Noisettes (FR)
  • IRTA (Barcelone), Institut de Recherche et Technologie Agroalimentaires (ES)
  • IVIA (Valencia),  Institut Valencien de Recherche Agronomique
  • IMIDA, Institut Murcien de Recherche et Développement Agraire et Alimentaire, Conseil de l'Agriculture, l'Eau et l'Environnement
  • ISA, Institut Supérieur d'Agronomie - Université Technique de Lisbonne (P).

The first results of this survey and the experimental results were shared in Lisbon in November, 2007. Afterward, and until June, 2008, the results were drawn up as useful documents in the practice. The information was also shared by means of meetings organized within the various regions, with the horticulturalists and with their technicians, to restore the various results and inform about the methods and the most successful decision-making tools or corresponding at best to the expectations and the constraints.

 

This project was presented by Carole Isbérie, Cemagref UMR G-EAU, Water Management, Actors, Manners.

For futher information: AREFLH's presentation

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