Workshop on Water and Agriculture – European Comission’s Task Force

Last 28^th and 29^th May, Bioazul attended to the workshop “Water and Agriculture – Water Abstraction” which took place in Spanish Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in Madrid.

This workshop is the third of three EU-level regional workshops being organised over the period of 2018-2019 by the European Commission’s Task Force on Water and Agriculture (TFW). Through this initiative, Commissioners Vella and Hogan and the respective services, DG Environment (ENV) and DG Agriculture (AGRI), are committed to work together to support sustainable water management in agriculture. The joint TFW aims at catalyzing new ways of integrating research and innovation with analysis of investment needs and experiences on good governance to enhance water management in the agricultural sector.

The event was hosted by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food of Spain and brought together experts from Member States, organizations and others from across the EU. It sought to explore good examples and best practices on water abstraction and water re-use, identifying innovative new inventions and create positive synergies for water and agriculture in the post-2020 implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), Nitrates Directive (ND) and Common Agricultural Policy (CAP).

The workshop focused on interventions and synergies in the agriculture sector and compliance with the WFD, innovative technical solutions, such as the use of satellite tools and precision irrigation and regulatory instruments such as water allocation, cost-recovery and water re-use

Bioazul joint this workshop where learnt what are the new trends, technologies and European policies in the filed of water and circular economy. The conference also paid attention to the nowadays role of reclaimed water and the relevance of use it for solving problems related to water stress. Not only European practices on water abstraction and water re-use were presented, it also some Spanish cases were explained.

In addition, an excursion was organized to the National Irrigation Technologies Center in San Fernando de Henares. Some experts explained the new irrigation systems and quality tests applied to irrigation systems that contribute to water efficiency.