Just before omicron sent us all back home again, some partners managed to have a work package kick off meeting. They met in NEIKER’s offices just outside Bilbao, north of Spain. Participants from NEIKER, UVIC, Fertinagro, NIBIO and ECRI were physically present, and some other participants followed part of it online.

Participants from ECRI, NIBIO and Fertinagro in the meeting.

The first day, November 22nd, they had a work package meeting where they discussed about the organisation and division of tasks in pot trials. Further work on biostimulants, field experiments, modelling and ecotron was discussed, and Chilean partners presented their plan for contribution. In the evening they met in a restaurant for a good dinner.

Views of the valley and nature reserve

Harbour

The next day, partners enjoyed an excursion. They first visited a tuna canning factory. Then as a boat trip was cancelled, they visited a museum, and after that they went for wine tasting. The wine was served in a beautiful setting outside, despite the cold typical of this time of the year. After that they went for a good lunch, and then to visit a nature reserve and nature museum.

View over the vineyard

 

Inside the nature museum

The last day they had a workshop on crop simulation modelling. The trainer was Maria Dietrich from NIBIO. Partners learned to use the DNDC model using a data set from FIBL. At the end of the workshop most participants went back home, but others decided to stay and enjoyed a bit of Bilbao’s old town.