In order to give continuity to the work of the AKIS Forum, the fourth ‘AKIS Forum for the transfer of knowledge in the Basque Country’ was held today at the Arkaute Model Farm, NEIKER’s headquarters.

During the event, we presented the Berritzen plan that NEIKER has drawn up to reinforce the transfer of knowledge to the agricultural, livestock and forestry sector, with the aim of placing science at the service of the countryside, responding in a useful and close way to its real challenges.

The fourth AKIS forum was attended by Amaia Barredo, Minister of Food, Rural Development, Agriculture and Fisheries of the Basque Government; Noemi Aguirre, Regional Deputy for Agriculture of Araba and Olatz Unamunzaga, Managing Director of NEIKER.

It was also attended by agents from the sector such as Lorra, Abelur, Abere, ADR Añana, Gipuzkoako Baso Elkartea, Ehne, Uaga, Hazi, Elika, Urkiola LGA or Artomaña Txakolina and companies such as Udapa, Garlan, Kaiku, Garaia, Miba or Alavesa de Patatas.

In her speech, Olatz Unamunzaga, NEIKER’s general manager, emphasised that “Berritzen marks a change of focus: it is not just about transferring knowledge, but building it together with the sector, through participatory, useful and applied research. It will have a budget of 1.7 million euros and will be a living plan open to the needs of the sector”.

 

Berritzen’s three axes

Unamunzaga explained: “We will have spaces for demonstration and experimentation on NEIKER farms and on real farms, where innovative practices such as regenerative agriculture or agrovoltaics are tested. We will work closely with the sector’s technical advisors, through agreed roadmaps and a model that detects needs and transfers specific solutions. Finally, we will look for ideas through an annual call for ideas so that the sector itself can propose challenges, research or transfer topics, and even contemplate technical stays at NEIKER”.

 

Experimentation and technical advice

Within the practical spaces for experimentation, “we will promote long-term agricultural trials as spaces for common experimentation to generate theoretical and practical knowledge on profitable, productive and sustainable agricultural practices and systems. They must be focal points for the transfer of data, information and knowledge between all the agents in the Basque agricultural sector”, explained Carlos Garbisu, NEIKER’s scientific director.

With regard to transfer, Garbisu emphasised that “it is not unidirectional, it must flow in all directions and bring together different visions and objectives. We need a constant flow of knowledge generation and transfer, so that all the agents in the Basque agricultural sector can adapt to changes and situations”.

For their part, the head of the Department of Plant Production and Protection, Amaia Ortiz, and the manager of Alavesa de Patatas, Andrés Lecuona, shared the collaborative way in which they are working on the research plan to promote seed potatoes in the Basque Country.

 

Sector involvement

One of the keys to Berritzen is the participation of the sector. For this reason, the fourth AKIS Forum has also helped us to gather the sector’s opinion on the Berritzen plan and to incorporate their contributions.

Thus, we have counted on the active participation during the event of agents from the sector and companies, and with all of them we have carried out a dynamic in which they have been able to express their concerns and proposals along three key lines:

• What new practices they would like to see implemented, either in NEIKER’s farms or in their own with technical support.
• What solutions or recommendations already known by NEIKER that they consider should be transferred to the sector in a more generalised way.
• What needs or challenges they consider to be a priority to investigate, as they do not yet have clear solutions.

These contributions will allow the Berritzen plan to be oriented more closely to the real demands of the sector.

 

What are AKIS Forums?

Agricultural Knowledge and Innovation Systems, also known as AKIS, are a European initiative that emerged in 2008 to address the challenges in the agri-food sector, with the aim of achieving a competitive sector, capable of adapting to the demands of society and the challenges of the sector.

Over time, their importance has increased to the point that they play a fundamental role in the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) 2021-2027 and are included in the Transversal Objective of the Strategic Plan of the CAP.

The AKIS Forums were created to establish a regular meeting place for sectoral agents with the aim of creating, generating and disseminating knowledge that enables progress to be made in favour of the proper functioning of the agri-food chain and the sustainability of the sector.

In the Basque Country, the AKIS has its own objectives linked to our reality. Among them, to professionalise people as advisors, so that they can promote the modernisation of the agri-food sector and rural areas and contribute to achieving the Euskadi Challenges. It also promotes innovation in cooperation through the creation of Operational Groups-EIP Agri.