The Federació de Cooperatives Agràries de Catalunya (FCAC) in Castelló d’Empúries (Spain), in collaboration with the Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse (INPT) and the Université Toulouse III – Paul Sabatier, carried out a first harvest of stems of sunflower and corn. It was carried out by the farmers of the agricultural cooperative on site, in three successive stages: cutting the stems at the base with a mower, aligning them with a row and, finally, loading them with a self-loading trailer.
This collection was delayed until the beginning of November due to heavy rains around Castelló d’Empúries during the autumn of 2020, which made it difficult for harvesting machines to access the agricultural plots. Harvest yields (expressed in dry mass of stems) were estimated at 1.5 t/ha for sunflower and 2.3 t/ha for corn.
A second harvest of sunflower and corn stalks is currently being carried out, also in Castelló d’Empúries.
