Arqus holds the first BIP on extensive farming in Southern Europe

The first Blended Intensive Program (BIP) on extensive livestock farming and landscape in Southern Europe, promoted by the Universities of Granada, Minho and Padua, was held in Granada from 14^th to 21^st April 2024. The BIP brought together participants from up to 11 countries, including students, researchers and teachers.

This interdisciplinary training programme, entitled “Extensive livestock systems and landscape: challenges and opportunities for the sustainable development of rural areas in Southern Europe (BIP GEO 2024)”, focused on the current challenges and opportunities of extensive livestock farming and their expression in the landscape. Within the framework of the project, two workshops were held in which experts from research centres and universities of Greece, Italy, the United Kingdom and Spain gave lectures on the subject.

In addition, the training programme aimed to spread the ecological, economic and heritage values of extensive livestock farming in Andalusia, through visits to various livestock farms in different geographical areas of the region. The participants had the opportunity to get to know some examples of the diversity of the Andalusian livestock farming sector, such as the Segureño Lamb PGI in the municipality of Huéscar (Granada), the fighting bulls and the dehesa landscape in Sierra Morena (province of Jaen), or the Spanish Association of Malagueña Goat Breeders and cheese making in the municipality of Casabermeja (Malaga).

The first edition of the programme was coordinated by the Department of Human Geography of the University of Granada, under the direction of Professor José Luis Serrano Montes, with the collaboration of Professor João Sarmento of the Department of Geography of the University of Minho (Portugal) and Margherita Cisani of the Department of Historical, Geographical Sciences and the Ancient World of the University of Padua (Italy).

For more information, visit this website.

Original news in Spanish.