Garnica’s university collaboration to promote innovation in the poplar industry

Garnica was one of the sponsors of Populus 360, an event organised by the University of León's School of Agricultural and Forestry Engineering (EIAF) to promote innovation and collaboration and look at the challenges facing the poplar industry. It took place on 21 and 22 October at the University Campus in Ponferrada and was attended by more than 200 people.

Experts from Spain, Italy, Belgium, Chile and Argentina took part in the conference, the purpose of which was to build bridges between public and private institutions, researchers, companies, forest owners, poplar growers and those interested in the world of poplar. Juan Albiñana, Garnica's Chief Innovation Officer, gave a presentation entitled “A world of plywood” as part of the section dedicated to the product.

Poplar trees are essential for the development of the bioeconomy, which, in addition to generating wealth and high quality employment, have important environmental benefits: poplar trees absorb CO2 and act as a green filter, acting as ecological corridors and improving the beauty of the agricultural landscape.

Poplar is Garnica's main raw material and for this reason the company promotes research into the development of clones that optimise sustainable wood plantations. During the congress, two applications were presented to improve cultivation and to calculate the wood volume of poplar trees.

Topics related to cultivation, management models, health, product, genetic improvement and sustainability were analysed at the conference with one of the days having a more practical format and taking place in the field.