Conference on Sustainable Agriculture with the Cabildo of La Palma
On the 6th of February, the Conference on Sustainable Agriculture took place on the island of La Palma, inaugurated by the Counsellor of Agriculture of the Cabildo of La Palma, Mr. José Adrián Hernández. The program consisted of four presentations, in which the various works and results obtained in 2019 within the Sustainable Agriculture Program developed by the Cabildo of La Palma within its agreement with the Institute of Natural Products and Agrobiology (IPNA-CSIC) were presented.
The first lecture was given by Dr. María Mercedes Hernández González, a researcher with 19 years of experience linked to this research. She presented the origins of the Sustainable Agriculture Program and IPNA-CSIC involvement, and highlighted the research work developed in the banana crop in the years 2015-1018. She pointed out the importance of applying ecological models of this type to the island's crops due to their water savings and reduced carbon footprint, environmental problems that affect La Palma in a significant way. She also mentioned the research work being carried out in collaboration with the company Nertalab, part of a doctoral thesis ULL-Nertalab-IPNA within the Industrial Doctorate program.
Next, Dr. Néstor Abreu, director of the company Nertalab, described in detail the results of the first year of study of the soils of such important crops for the island as banana, avocado or pineapple, quantifying populations of beneficial organisms, as well as their activity, in soils treated with this ecological model and with a model of chemical synthesis. He also highlighted the discovery of the great diversity of beneficial microorganisms capable of controlling known phytopathogens, observed in those soils managed ecologically.
The following presentation was given by Dr. Jana Alonso, a researcher at the IPNA who recently joined the Technical Unit of the IPNA CSIC on the island of La Palma. She listed the possible applications of Proteomics, an area in which she has significant experience, to the study of soils, exposing a new range of possibilities in the study of agricultural soils.
The last presentation was given by Cecilia Ortega Zamora, a graduate in Chemistry from the ULL, who presented her Master's thesis from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. This consisted of an in-depth study on the soils, leaves and mainly the fruit of avocado cultivated with the ecological cultivation model of the Sustainable Agriculture Program and chemical synthesis cultivation model.
During the subsequent round of questions, the Councillor for Agriculture of the Cabildo of La Palma highlighted the virtues, demonstrated through research work, of the use of ecological versus chemical models, and encouraged agricultural entrepreneurs to use these models with the support of the institution of La Palma.
