Located in central Alentejo, in the municipality of Montemor-o-Novo, Herdade do Barrocal de Baixo covers an area of around 450ha, where mixed cork oak and holm oak forests predominate, with the use of natural pasture improved by cattle and sheep. The Herdade is part of a business project that encompasses a wider range of Herdades, which function as a business unit, and whose strategy is to increase competitiveness.
Herdade do Barrocal de Baixo has been promoting the consolidation of current activities with a view to optimising their profitability, namely rural tourism, the genetic improvement of livestock and the continued renovation of the Montado. This measure to promote the renewal and expansion of cork oak forest areas is being implemented on the Group’s other estates with similar soil and climate conditions, with around 300 hectares of new cork oak forest and plans to install 5 hectares of irrigated cork oak.
The field trip to Herdade do Barrocal de Baixo will include lunch on site followed by a presentation and discussion of the estate’s business model. In addition, there will be a presentation on soil microbiology and a practical demonstration of soil sampling – according to a MED/DGADR/Observatório do Solo protocol – under the guidance of researchers Isabel Brito (MED, University of Évora) and Oscar Pelayo (CESAM, University of Aveiro).
