“Employment, agriculture, biodiesel, transport and climate change” is an initiative of the Agricultural Companies & Agricultural Energy Management Group (GEA&GEA), developed with the support of the Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment. The project had among its objectives to have rapeseed oil with which to manufacture biodiesel to be used in the transport of goods to replace fossil diesel. It also sought to inform rainfed landowners about the possibility of starting agricultural activities other than traditional ones to produce rapeseed on their land.

In two plots of land in Pedro Muñoz and La Solana, in Ciudad Real, a direct sowing of rapeseed was carried out. The fields were visited by 500 farmers. The data of the different germination phases are found on the www.geadigital.com website, launched within the project to update all the information related to it.

The initiative has included a series of informative and informative activities on its objectives and the use of biodiesel in transport. To this end , information days have been held for farmers, rural women, administration staff, university teachers and researchers. The conferences have taken place in towns in Ciudad Real and Badajoz. The main aspects of the project and its short, medium and long-term implications were highlighted in the sessions.

The group of transporters has received special attention within the framework of the project, managing to involve them in it. In addition to summoning them to the information days, GEA&GEA has held several meetings with them.

To reinforce the scope of the project, together with the website, a report has been prepared and a thousand copies of an informative guide have been published that includes the advantages of the use of biodiesel in transport. The publication has been distributed among those attending all the conferences held. As for the audiovisual materials, two informative videos have been edited, one on rapeseed and biodiesel and the other on the use of biodiesel in transport.

The initiative has contributed to improving and disseminating the use of knowledge on the use of biodiesel in freight transport. Another of the achievements has been the collaboration agreement that the executing entity has signed with the University of Extremadura for the development of an R+D+i project under the title “Territorial potentiality of the implementation of rapeseed cultivation”.