Catalan interest in replicating Regenerate
This weekend, Sven Kallen of Volterra visited the beautiful Avenc property in the vicinity of Tavernet. One of the owner’s family members, Rodger Abey-Parris, is responsible for the management of the approx. 100 cows on the property. The 300 hectares land is co-owned by Catalunya-La Pedrera. The objective is not only to protect this beautiful habitat but also develop a feasible livestock operation. This year the herd has been organically certified, already adding value. But, organic feedstock (for winter) is expensive and has to be brought by trucks from other parts of Catalonia. So, auto-sufficiency is one of the keys to success, and this means having to improve pastures and providing more palatable biomass from the property itself. Also, other ideas of value generating agro-activities could be explored.
More concretely the following actions were discussed that could form the blueprint of future cooperation between Avenc and LIFE Regenerate:
- Introduce rotational grazing on the more accessible lands
- Introduce more animals (free ranging pigs could do a beautiful undergrowth cleaning job on the property)
- Chip parts of the wildly growing Buxus sempervirens bushes for bedding for horses and growth of highly nutritious larvae of gold beetles that love to live in this environment
- Grow high value mushrooms in the currently unused and dark cellar uniting perfect conditions for such an operation
- Think of organic waste (from clearings, chippings, etc.) as an ideal basis for compost to enrich the lands and help grow more forage
We’ll stay in touch with Rodger and his family and hope to report back soon on this cooperation.
