News

On June 11 and 12, José Liétor, researcher at AgroecoliveLab, and Pablo Domouso, researcher at the Andalusian Institute for Agricultural and Fisheries Research and Training (IFAPA), participated in the LIFE OLIVER Mid-Term Conference, held at the Agricultural University of Athens (Greece).

The event brought together researchers, technical experts, and representatives from various European organizations to discuss the challenges that climate change poses to Mediterranean olive groves and to share innovative strategies for improving their resilience and sustainability.

During the conference, we presented the progress achieved in Work Package 3 of the project, led by AgroecoliveLab and focused on facilitating olive farms’ access to the voluntary carbon market. The presentation highlighted the technical and operational challenges encountered during the farm selection process and soil sampling campaign conducted across more than 900 hectares of olive groves in Spain, Italy, and Greece.

This work represents a key step toward the rigorous quantification of soil organic carbon and the assessment of the Mediterranean olive sector’s potential for future carbon credit generation.

The participation of AgroecoliveLab and IFAPA in this event strengthens international collaboration within the LIFE OLIVER project and contributes to the development of practical tools to promote a more sustainable, resilient olive-growing sector aligned with European climate objectives.

On 9 June, AgroecoliveLab took part in the event organised within the framework of the working group on carbon balance and CO₂ credits in olive groves, promoted by the International Olive Council (IOC). The event was held at the University of Jaén in collaboration with the INUO.

The meeting brought together IOC experts and researchers from the University of Jaén with the aim of advancing the development of scientific and standardised tools to measure the carbon balance in olive groves, as well as facilitating access for the olive sector to carbon credit mechanisms.

During the event, several approaches were addressed, including the quantification of soil organic carbon, the role of olive grove biomass, the use of remote sensing and artificial intelligence, and the creation of federated data spaces to assess the carbon balance in olive groves.

AgroecoliveLab contributed to the programme with a presentation focused on its work on the dynamics of organic carbon in olive groves. Roberto García Ruiz took part as one of the speakers and members of the event, highlighting the group’s work on carbon analysis in olive-growing systems and its application to more sustainable management models.

The event provided an opportunity to exchange knowledge, identify challenges and explore new opportunities related to carbon credits in olive groves, a key area for moving towards a more sustainable, measurable agriculture aligned with today’s climate challenges.

The SCALE-It project continues to progress in its experimental phase with new field activities. At this stage, AgroecoliveLab staff have selected Chardonnay grapevines at El Cascante farm (Alcalá la Real, Jaén, Spain), managed by Blanca Serrano (Viñedos y Bodega Marcelino Serrano), to evaluate their performance under real field conditions.

The trial focuses on applying an eco-friendly product as an alternative to copper for protection against powdery mildew and downy mildew, aiming to reduce environmental impact without compromising effectiveness.

Following plant selection, treatments will begin according to the established protocol, alongside detailed phenological monitoring to assess both crop development and product performance. The experimental work will continue over the coming months.

The European SCALE-it project has published the second edition of its newsletter, which highlights some of the main advances and activities carried out by the consortium in recent months.

Among the contents of this new issue, the newsletter features the first annual project meeting held in Granada, several dissemination and knowledge-transfer actions, and new collaborations aimed at promoting more sustainable alternatives in organic farming.

This second edition also includes one of the actions developed in the province of Jaén, where pilot plots of organic vineyards have started to be selected in order to test innovative plant protection strategies. One of the selected locations is Alcalá la Real, at the family winery Marcelino Serrano, with fieldwork carried out by Roberto García and Jaime Lechuga, from the Agroecolivelab.

With this new newsletter, SCALE-it continues to move forward in its goal of promoting sustainable and transferable solutions for the organic farming sector. Click here to suscribe.

The International University of Andalusia (UNIA) celebrates the 30th Anniversary of the Master’s Degree in Agroecology, an initiative that has spent three decades promoting the sustainable transformation of agri-food systems.

The event will take place on April 15, 2026, in Baeza (Jaén) and will feature the participation of leading international figures in the field of agroecology, as well as a live broadcast.

📌 Check the full programme in the attached image.

A new international study published in Nature Sustainability, led by Laura García-Velázquez, researcher from University of Alicante, and co-authored by Victoria Ochoa, researcher at AgroecoliveLab, shows that increasing the proportion of organic farming can contribute to healthier and more diverse soils.

The research analysed 179 agricultural landscapes with different shares of organic farming and found that areas with a higher presence of organic agriculture host richer and more diverse soil communities. These biological communities play a key role in maintaining soil functions such as nutrient cycling, soil structure and ecosystem resilience.

The results highlight the importance of promoting farming systems that enhance soil biodiversity and ecosystem services. Expanding organic farming within agricultural landscapes could therefore be an effective strategy to improve soil health and support more sustainable food production systems.

AgroecoliveLab has signed the Mission Soil Manifesto of the European Union, reinforcing its commitment to protecting and improving the health of agricultural soils, especially those of Andalusian olive groves. We invite all stakeholders involved in soil health to join this initiative and actively contribute to the mission:
https://mission-soil-platform.ec.europa.eu/

AgroecoliveLab considers Vocational Education and Training (VET) a practical and excellent pathway for preparing highly qualified professionals capable of responding to the labour market needs of the agri-food sector.

Within this framework, we have recently applied to the Erasmus+ KA220-VET call for cooperation projects in vocational education, together with partners from Portugal, Italy and Greece. The initiative aims to contribute to the modernisation of the European VET curriculum related to the olive grove and olive oil sector.

In line with this strategic commitment to vocational education, the AgroecoliveLab laboratory has welcomed three internship students this week from the Higher Vocational Training Programme in Clinical and Biomedical Laboratory at the CDP IFP Aventura (MEDAC) training centre.

Students Lourdes Montiel, María del Carmen Pérez and Ariana Zambrano will carry out their internship period in the laboratory facilities, where they will participate in various experimental support tasks and contribute to the team’s daily technical work.

The training placement is supervised by AgroecoliveLab researcher Victoria Ochoa, who will guide the students throughout their learning process in the laboratory environment.

Through initiatives like this, AgroecoliveLab aims to strengthen collaboration with vocational training centres and provide students with direct contact with real research and technical work environments, contributing to the training of the next generation of professionals in the sector.