The Quinta da Fornalha project, located in the interior of the municipality of Castro Marim, was the winner in the Young Rural Entrepreneur category of the “Credit Agrícola Entrepreneurship and Innovation Award” awarded by the Crédito Agrícola.
The announcement was made during the seminar «Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Agriculture, Agro-industry, Forest and Sea», which took place in Lisbon, at the Champalimaud Foundation, and which was attended by the Minister of Agriculture Luís Capoulas Santos.
Quinta da Fornalha is an Algarve farm with 30 hectares, which bets on ecological and regenerative agricultural management, associated with the intelligent use of all resources and which also promotes ecotourism and entertainment, explains Crédito Agrícola.
In addition to the Young Rural Entrepreneur Award, Quinta da Fornalha was also awarded 3rd place in the Rural Development category.
The “Credit Agrícola Entrepreneurship and Innovation Award”, which is now in its third edition and is the result of a partnership with INOVISA, is divided into six categories, with a winner and an honorable mention for each, with the exception of the Young Rural Entrepreneur categories and High Potential Project Promoted by a CA Associate. In total, 40 thousand euros are allocated to 10 national projects.
In the Production and Processing category, first prize was awarded to Black Block, a hybrid solar system for agro-industrial drying of herbs, fruit, mushrooms and cork, controlled remotely (including through an app) that consumes less energy than the equipment. conventional ones.
The honorable mention went to Powdered Olive Oil with aromatic herbs, by the company MC Rabaçal & Aragão, resulting from the dehydration of olive oil from Trás-os-Montes with tapioca maltodextrin and the addition of aromatic herbs from the region used by haute cuisine chefs.
The Arge Ruris system, a mobile application for the remote control of extensive livestock farms, developed by the company GlobalBit, came in third. This system aims to make livestock production more profitable and practical, namely the Alentejo black pig.
In the Marketing and Internationalization category, the winner was the “Lotes Reserva” project, by Cantinho das Aromáticas. The project combines the selective collection of the ends of the species Limonete, Erva Principe, Mint and Lemon Thyme on the longest days of the year with the best extraction method, resulting in a unique sensory experience.
The honorable mention went to the Pôpa Art Projects project, which associates an artistic approach to wine production and experimentation. Producers and artists recreate a story or a concept in a wine bottle.
Third place was won by the winner of the category High Potential Project Promoted by an Associate of CA, Vinho da Água, from Ervideira. It is a wine that ages in the Grande Lago do Alqueva, at a depth of 30 meters for eight months, recreating the aging conditions of wines rescued from shipwrecks.
In the Research and Technological Development category, the first prize was awarded to BIOSUBSTRATPOT, a project by Horto da Cidade that replaces the use of plastic pots in the production of plants. In addition to being more environmentally friendly, as it is 100% biodegradable, BIOSUBSTRAPOT reduces the consumption of water and fertilizers.
The honorable mention was awarded to Coolfarm, a software that controls the water, air and light inside the greenhouses. This is a support tool for the management of the producer that allows analyzing and evaluating the health of the plants, as well as integrating and analyzing all the data from the greenhouse.
Third place went to the Carbon Fluxes Tower in Cork Oak. A tower that measures the exchange of CO2 and water between the terrestrial ecosystem and the atmosphere, evaluating the impact of environmental stress on cork oak forests.
Developed by the Instituto Superior de Agronomia, in collaboration with other entities such as Herdade da Machoqueira do Grou and Corticeira Amorim, the Carbon Fluxes tower is unique in cork oak forests and one of the few in the Mediterranean region.
In the Rural Development category, Porta do Mezio was the big winner. This is an initiative of the Alto Lima Regional Development Association (ARDAL), in partnership with the Municipality of Arcos de Valdevez and other entities, which intends to publicize and promote the Peneda Gerês National Park, as an infrastructure that boosts business in tour operators in the region.
Firerisk, the application for citizens that gathers information about forest fires from different sources, allowing real-time access to the level of fire risk, was distinguished with an honorable mention in this category. Its users receive warnings about forest fires that break out in the vicinity of their land, about areas to be cleared to protect their land and about preventive and action measures to be adopted.
Third place went to the aforementioned Quinta da Fornalha.
During the event, the chairman of the Executive Board of Directors of Crédito Agrícola, Licínio Pina, underlined that, “with this project, we intend to boost innovation in the primary and agro-industrial sector, a sector that we know better than anyone else and that we know has great potential ”.
Crédito Agrícola, the only Portuguese cooperative institution with exclusively national capital, is present throughout the country and has the second largest branch network.
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