ueagriTHE CATCH-C PROJECT, FINANCED BY THE 7th EU FRAMEWORK PROGRAM, LOOK FOR COMMON POINTS THAT IMPROVE COMMUNITY MANAGEMENT.

What do a village tomato grower have in common?, a French vintner and a Dutch horticulturist? The answers could be as diverse as ways of understanding agriculture. But, Perhaps the simplest would be that both of them see their activity affected by the guidelines of the Common Agricultural Policy. (PAC).

To know in depth the thousand and one ways in which agricultural activity is developed in the European Union and, above all, to look for common points that improve community management, The CATCH-C project was born a year ago, funded by the 7th EU Framework Program.

A team made up of 13 Scientists from eight European countries design the agriculture of the future in Europe, examining the different ways of managing agricultural land in the old continent and proposing to introduce urgent changes to reduce the environmental impact and improve productive efficiency.

Agricultural soil management, understood as the techniques used in irrigation, crop rotation, the labor, the use of nutrients and phytosanitary products, It is its main object of study.

The CATCH-C team, in which the researcher from the Campus of International Excellence in Agri-Food ceiA3 at the University of Córdoba participates, Juan Vicente Giráldez, has mapped the main agricultural regions of the EU looking for the most environmentally and economically effective techniques.

It has thus been possible to establish a typology of the main types of exploitation and agroecological zones in Europe and evaluate the main impacts of their activity..

CATCH-C has paid special attention to cases of sustainable management, evaluating the cost and benefit of its implementation in other places. In this way, it has been possible to draw a roadmap in the hands of the European Commission to try to lay the basis for policies that support the adoption of sustainable practices..