Context

Alfalfa is the most important fodder crop in Catalonia. According to statistics from the Ministry of
Agriculture, Livestock, Fisheries and Food, in 2020 it accounted for 23% of the total volume of arable crop
production in Catalonia with 1,365,400 t of production and occupying a total of 33,292 ha of cultivation. In
Catalonia, 65% of production is concentrated in the Segrià, Pla d’Urgell and Noguera regions, with 46% of the area dedicated to this crop in Catalonia. Alfalfa is also the mainstay of a powerful processing industry in Catalonia. This industry dehydrates a large part of the alfalfa produced in Catalonia (85% AEFA 2020) and has shown a great capacity to export and open up new markets.
The importance of alfalfa from a strategic point of view for Catalan agriculture is clear, it is a very important source of vegetable protein for animal feed, it is a crop that contributes to a more sustainable agriculture creating a positive synergistic effect with other crops in the rotation, providing nutrients and improving soil structure, reducing erosion, fixing atmospheric nitrogen and helping to reduce the excess of this element in the soil and nitrate pollution. It is also a crop that, compared to other crops, requires less use of
phytosanitary products.
Currently there are several agronomic problems in alfalfa cultivation, which in recent years are increasing in importance and incidence, compromising the economic viability of the crop. Some of these problems, such as the persistence of the crop, the stagnation of yields, the low seed production of current varieties, the lack of varietal purity of the seeds or the lack of control of some of the main pests, will be dealt with in the project.