Improving the Sustainability and Profitability of Oat and Garlic Crops in a Mediterranean Agro-Ecosystem under Water-Scarce Conditions

Abstract

In areas with scarce water resources, population growth and climate change scenarios will mean that there is increasingly less water available for agricultural activity. Thus, optimizing crop irrigation water management is an absolute necessity. To address this situation, the SUPROMED project (sustainable production in water-limited environments of Mediterranean agro-ecosystems), available in an online platform, brings together a series of models and methodologies designed to promote more efficient management of water, energy and fertilizers. A two-year trial (2020–2021) was implemented in the Castilla-La Mancha region (Spain), with the aim of showing the effectiveness of SUPROMED as a farm management support tool. The trial was conducted on two of the region’s most important crops (oats and garlic). A series of productive, economic, and environmental key performance indicators (KPIs) were analyzed to measure the impact of transferring MOPECO (model for the economic optimization of irrigation water use at farm level), the irrigation scheduling model integrated in the SUPROMED platform, to farmers. In 2020, the management plan proposed by SUPROMED achieved a higher yield for oat than that generated by traditional management, using 40% less water. In the case of garlic, the same yield was obtained, using 30% less water. Gross margin and gross economic irrigation water productivity were improved for both crops. In 2021, one of the selected farmers was trained to use the SUPROMED platform to work with garlic crop. This management improved most of the KPIs analyzed compared to previous management without the SUPROMED platform, obtaining similar results to those obtained by SUPROMED in 2020. The results demonstrate that the tools and models included in SUPROMED have been properly adapted and can be easily used by farmers, improving the economic and environmental sustainability of Mediterranean agroecosystems.

Enhancing Essential Grains Yield for Sustainable Food Security and Bio-Safe Agriculture through Latest Innovative Approaches

“…To assess the effects of MOPECO (model for the economic optimization of irrigation water use at the farm level), the irrigation scheduling model built within the SUPROMED platform available to farmers, several productive, financial, and environmental key performance indicators (KPIs) were examined. When compared to conventional management, the SUPROMED management method increased oat yield while using 40% less water [151]. However, oats with Fusarium disease have lower quality yields because of decreased germination due to contamination of the grain with mycotoxins.…”

Adaptation of a Scientific Decision Support System to the Productive Sector—A Case Study: MOPECO Irrigation Scheduling Model for Annual Crops

“…Therefore, they help increase the diversity of criteria and create a more complete DSS [25]. Moreover, to improve the adaptation of the tool [54,55] questionnaires were used to collect the opinions of general end users, and personal meetings with selected farmers and technicians representative of the sector were conducted during the project.…”

“…Thus, they would act as early adopters and could help us in disseminating the tool among other farmers. A more detailed description of this process was described in [54,55].…”

“…The comparison between traditional management and that proposed by the simplified MOPECO tool was considered the first step for convincing farmers of the effectiveness of the model. This was the beginning of the feedback process between the farmers and the research team, which took place during the second year of the project when the farmers started to use the software in their farms, motivated by the results obtained by the research team in the previous year [54,55].…”

Local Factors Impact Accuracy of Garlic Tissue Test Diagnosis

“…Garlic (Allium sativum L.) yield averaged 11 Mg ha −1 in Brazil, compared with 17 Mg ha −1 worldwide [1].Garlic yield and quality depend mainly on temperature, precipitation, and photoperiod, hence local factors [2]. Associated with this, climate change that is causing the irregular distribution of rainfall can be a limiting factor for garlic production [3,4]. However, the Brazilian yield gap could be filled through genetics [5][6][7], pest management [8], irrigation [9], and fertilization [1,10].…”