The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, visited the El Valenciano farm on Monday the 13th, which the GALPAGRO company has in Carmona (Seville), where he was able to verify the development of the R + D + i projects being carried out such as the project co-financed by the LIFE program of the European Union «Life Resilience».
In this way, he has been able to see first hand the different projects related to the genetic improvement of the olive grove, the quality of olive oil or the fight against Xylella fastidiosa.
At the El Valenciano farm, among others, he is conducting an international trial to stop Xylella fastidiosa. It is a European project, «Life Resilience», which aims to develop olive varieties that are highly resistant to this infection and other pathogens and minimize the losses that an infected plantation entails so far.
Planas has commented that his visit is due to the interest in knowing the olive groves of the 21st century and the latest developments of a private company that, together with public research entities and other actors, is capable of obtaining new varieties and varieties resistant to sanitary problems that we have on the horizon.
He also took advantage of the visit to remember the importance of digitization in the agri-food sector, which in his opinion should focus on three fundamental pillars: breaking the digital divide in rural areas, using data to improve the efficiency of the food chain and develop new business models.