The first Portuguese SUPER-G co-innovation workshop took place on 26th November 2019 at Herdade da Barrosinha, in Alcácer do Sal, following the 41st Autumn Meeting of the Portuguese Grassland Society (SPPF). The workshop was well attended with a total of 70 Participants, 18 farmers and 10 farmers’ associations attending.
The main objectives of the meeting were to:
- Introduce the SUPER-G project
- Discuss the main local issues for permanent grassland (PG) management
- Discuss the potential to investigate the use of new PG management options or emerging technologies by experimentation and demonstration.
The workshop sessions were run by Dina Lopes and Ricardo Zanatti from CONSULAI with
the collaboration of Carolina Mendes and Francisca Viveiros, also from CONSULAI. The
farm walk was led by the host farmer Gonçalo Lynce de Faria, from Sociedade Agrícola
Herdade D. Rodrigo.
Farmers mentioned the following innovations to PG management in recent years:
- Introducing multi-species swards
- Integrating production and biodiversity
- Grazing tighter and rotating more
- Monitoring and correcting soil pH and nutrient levels
The main issues that delegates were interested in were:
- Increasing resilience to extreme weather conditions
- Biodiversity
- Economics (cost/benefit of management interventions)
- Nutrient management
- Diverse swards
- Livestock breeds
There was interest in experiments and demonstrations on:
- Sward renewal to understand the impact of new grassland plant species/varieties on productivity
- Grazing management for productivity and biodiversity
- Cost/benefit analysis of improving permanent pasture
- Soils fertilization and improvement
See below some photographs from this day.