Carbonica Excellence Hub aims to introduce Carbon Farming techniques in the widening countries of Cyprus, Greece and North Macedonia. The consortium partners chose the crop types that will be studied in each country. For the selection of the crops, the partners decided to include some common crops cultivated in the consortium countries, aiming to study the impact of the agroclimatic conditions as well as the impact of the management practices on the carbon footprint. The pilots’ selection was made to have representative coverage in terms of spatial as well as soil and climate characteristics.
The main goal is to promote a sustainable future for agriculture by adopt in carbon farming. Through our collaboration, there is a great opportunity for research and innovation with an emphasis given to the creation of experimental fields in the consortium countries. The experimental fields will gather data concerning carbon sequestration and carbon footprint to support the development of a protocol for measuring carbon footprint and to guide in carbon farming solutions.
Contribution by Dr. Christiana Papoutsa
Furthermore, for the selection of the crop types included in the experimental fields some additional criteria were taken into account. These are: 1) the consumers’ demand, which is related to the farmers’ interest due to the requested quantity of the specific crops and consequently the high impact on carbon footprint and 2) the added value from the processing of specific products and the carbon footprint involved in all the stages of the production, including in the processing chain. Such are the cultivation as well as the post-processing up to the final product, e.g. production of oil from primary production of olives involving waste, bottling, etc.
In the framework of Carbonica Project five permanent and annual crops, which are the mostly cultivated in each of the three countries, were selected. Specifically, for Cyprus two main areas of interest were selected to be studied. The first is Achelia district area, Pafos and the second is Fassouri district area, Limassol. The crops selected for Cyprus are Vines, Olives and Citrus (permanent) and Cereals and Potatoes (annual). For Greece the selected pilot sites are located in Orestiada, Pilio, Imathia, Chalkidiki, and Central Greece covering different agroclimatic zones over Greece. The crops that Greece selected to study are Apple, Peach, Olive, and Vines (permanent) and Broccoli (annual). For North Macedonia the selected pilot sites are located in the Eastern (Stip-Sveti Nikole) and South-Eastern Region (Strumica). The crops that are selected are Barley and Cabbage (annual) and Apples and Grape Vines (permanent) while a 5th crop will be selected soon.
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