The Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, Luis Planas, has chaired the ceremony for the Fertiberia Award for the Best Doctoral Thesis in Agricultural Issues, which has distinguished Alejandro Jiménez Gómez for an investigation on crop biofertilization defended at the University of Salamanca. The Award, convened by Grupo Fertiberia, in collaboration with the Official College of Agricultural Engineers of the Center and the Canary Islands (COIACC), with the aim of promoting and recognizing research in the agronomic field and agricultural activity, celebrates its 23rd edition this year.
Alejandro Jiménez, Graduate in Environmental Sciences and Master in Agrobiotechnology, has been the winner for his thesis entitled “Metagenomic and culturomic study of bacteria associated with Phaseolus vulgaris and Brassica napus, functional and nutritional implications of their application as biofertilizers in crops of agri-food and bioenergetic interest , and evaluation of the role of putrescine in the bacterium-plant interaction ”. Likewise, a second prize has been awarded to the agronomist Mónica Navarro Rodríguez, for her thesis “Molybdenum Metabolism in Azotobacter vinelandii and its Biotechnological Applications”, read at the Polytechnic University of Madrid (UPM).
“From Grupo Fertiberia we value effort and excellence, recognizing the talent of two young people with exemplary academic careers, also developed in public universities in our country, centers that are a reference of our research potential”, Javier has stated Goñi, president of Grupo Fertiberia during the delivery of the awards held yesterday afternoon at the company’s corporate headquarters in Madrid.
In addition to its academic prestige, the Fertiberia Prize is one of the best financially endowed agronomic research awards in Europe, with a global amount of 30,000 euros. “We are a large company, responsible and committed to the planet, and this commitment also requires us to develop actions in our immediate environment promoting research, talent and excellence of young people,” said Goñi, highlighting that, for the first time In the course of this award, the thesis supervisors have also been awarded which, on this occasion, have been Raúl Rivas González, Professor of Microbiology, and Paula García Fraile, Professor of Microbiology, both from the Salamanca University, as well as Luis Manuel Rubio Herrero, professor at the UPM, respectively.
During his speech, Goñi highlighted the role of science in the progress of humanity, recalling the investment that the company dedicates in innovation and research “to put fertilizers and fertilizers on the market of maximum agronomic efficiency, with certain processes that contribute to the energy transition and are respectful of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals ”. In this sense, he stressed that “the foundations of all scientific advancement come from basic research that must have its course in applied research”, alluding to the CTA-Fertiberia Center for Agro-environmental Technologies in alliance with the University of Seville, as well as projects that the company is currently promoting for the production of 100% sustainable green ammonia at its Puertollano and Palos de la Frontera plants.
Food safety
For his part, Minister Luis Planas, highlighted that the Fertiberia Prize has established itself as a reference event for researchers in their task of providing high-level studies to contribute to a more sustainable agriculture, underlining that research and knowledge Applied academics will play a crucial role in advancing a more sustainable agricultural activity.
In his speech, he expressed the need to advance in the solution to the need for fertilization to ensure enough food, while paying special attention to caring for the soil and improving biodiversity. It has encouraged to reduce its use or change its form of application, through the use of a greater proportion of organic fertilization and a more timely application and in the right dose. For this, the minister considers it essential to increase investment in R + D + ie to promote training and advice to farmers so that they can better plan fertilization and move towards precision fertilization.
The jury for this edition, chaired by the dean of the Colegio Oficial y Ingenieros Agrónomos de Centro y Canarias (COIACC), Francisco González Torres, has been made up of the president of Grupo Fertiberia, Javier Goñi; the head of the Seed and Nursery Plant Testing Station of the National Institute for Agricultural Research and Technology (INIA), Ana Patricia Fernández-Getino; the member of the advisory council of the ETSIAB (UPM), Luis Márquez; the professor of Animal Production at the University of Valladolid, Jesús Ciria; the R + D + i director of Grupo Fertiberia, Javier Brañas, and the director of Studies and Market Research of Grupo Fertiberia, Pilar García-Serrano.
The winning work stands out for “combining quality and immediate applicability of its results”, declared the president of the jury, Francisco González, indicating that the study “shows that the nodules of the roots of these two agricultural species, beans and rapeseed, can constitute niches of new species of bacteria with which biofertilizers applicable to the improvement of the cultivation of various agricultural species can be designed ”. Likewise, regarding the thesis awarded with the Accésit, González has pointed out that “it opens enormous expectations for a more or less near future in the field of fertilization, of consolidating the possibility that the genes that regulate fixation could be transferred through genetic engineering. of nitrogen to agricultural species of high value in the diet and that at the moment do not have that capacity ”.
Almost half a million euros
Since the award was created in 1996, more than 370 doctoral theses from almost 50 universities and research centers have been presented and prizes worth close to half a million euros have been awarded.
The award, of Spanish-Portuguese scope, establishes as a requirement that the theses presented have obtained the highest qualification “cum laude” and that they are directly related to fertilization, soils and their amendment, although due to their quality, they are also they value jobs related to agricultural activity in general.
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