SECUESVAC, an Operational Group that was born with the aim of responding to the growing need to reduce carbon emissions into the atmosphere and to obtain scientific reference data for the beef cattle sector on net carbon emissions considering sequestration in soils. The working group is made up of cooperatives and associations: PROVACUNO -which leads the project-; the National Association of Young Farmers (ASAJA); the Spanish Association of Beef Cattle Producers of Castilla y León (ASOPROVAC Castilla y León); the Spanish Association of Beef Cattle Producers of Castilla-La Mancha (ASOPROVAC Castilla-La Mancha); the Association of Breeders of Brown Mountain Cattle (ARAPARDA); the Galician Association of Agro-Food Cooperatives (AGACA); Agro-Food Cooperatives of the Principality of Asturias; and GANADEMAD, the Madrid Cattle Farmers’ Cooperative. The Basque Institute for Agricultural Research and Development -NEIKER- also participates in the project.
SECUESVAC was born out of the need to carry out a study focused on the added value provided by carbon sequestration in the entire Spanish beef sector, with the aim not only of creating its own strategy to move towards climate neutrality by 2050, but also to maintain and conserve the environment and the activity in which beef production takes place, the rural environment.
Its main objective is to optimise carbon sequestration in soils associated with beef cattle farms, analysing the current situation, identifying good practices and developing a decision-making support tool for cattle farmers.
In this sense, its specific objectives are:
- To determine the carbon sequestration capacity of soils, pastures and crops associated with beef cattle in Spain, using as a model a set of farms representative of different production models in Spain.
- To identify the most appropriate management practices to maximize carbon sequestration in pastures and crop plots.
- To develop a decision support tool for farmers that allows them to calculate both the carbon footprint and the carbon sequestration potential of their beef cattle farms.
