Living Lab Portugal - SheepHeatIT

The Eco‑SPAA aims to address the challenges associated with the sustainability of agro‑silvo‑pastoral systems in the Montado, a complex ecosystem that is highly vulnerable to climate change. Key issues include climate variability (namely frequent droughts and irregular precipitation), low soil fertility, degradation of natural pastures, and the need to improve production efficiency without compromising ecosystem services.

In addition, extensive livestock production faces increasing challenges related to animal welfare, particularly the impact of heat stress on animals, which can affect productivity, health, and the resilience of farming systems. There is also a gap between knowledge generated by research and its practical application at farm level.

In this context, the Eco‑SPAA seeks to develop and validate integrated solutions that enhance both productivity and sustainability, promoting more efficient management of soil, pasture, and animals. By operating under real conditions and directly involving farmers, it enables the generation of applicable knowledge, contributing to the adaptation of the agricultural sector to the environmental, productive, and socio-economic challenges of the Montado.

At Eco‑SPAA, experimental and demonstration activities are carried out for over 10 years, focusing on the sustainable management of agro‑silvo‑pastoral systems of the Montado. The main activities include the establishment of field trials in differentiated plots, where soil, pasture, and grazing management practices, as well as different grazing regimes, are tested. In this context, animals play a central role, being used as an active component of the experimental system, allowing the evaluation of their productive performance, behavior, and interaction with pasture and soil. At the same time, various studies have been conducted in bioclimatology, examining aspects of sheep’s environmental tolerance. A distinguishing feature of Eco SPAA is the direct involvement of farmers and producer organisations, who often provide animals for experimental use. This collaboration ensures that the animals are well adapted to regional production conditions, thereby increasing the representativeness and practical applicability of the results. In some cases, less adapted animals are also included to assess their adaptive capacity and resilience to Montado conditions, particularly under climate-stress scenarios. The methodological approach is based on real‑world experimentation, typical of a Living Lab, enabling an integrated assessment of interactions among the different components of the system, namely soil, pasture, trees, and animals. Precision agriculture and continuous monitoring methodologies are used, including the collection of georeferenced data, the analysis of pasture productivity and quality indicators, and the monitoring of animal behaviour and performance. Additionally, sensing technologies are employed, enabling a detailed and near real‑time assessment of system dynamics. Eco SPAA functions as a testing, demonstration and co-development platform, where innovative solutions are designed, evaluated and refined in close collaboration with end users, particularly farmers, producer organisations and technical stakeholders. This approach supports the development of animal management strategies tailored to the specific constraints of Mediterranean silvopastoral systems, including heat stress, seasonal feed variability, water limitation and increasing climatic uncertainty. By integrating scientific experimentation with practical field knowledge, Eco SPAA strengthens knowledge transfer and accelerates the adoption of evidence-based practices. This interaction between research and practice contributes to the development of robust, context-specific solutions that respond to sector needs while supporting the ecological, productive and socio-economic sustainability of the Montado ecosystem.

The main expected outcomes of Eco SPAA include the generation of applied knowledge and the validation of innovative solutions for the sustainable management of agro-silvo-pastoral systems in the Montado. The platform is expected to support the development and testing of efficient soil, pasture and animal management strategies, including approaches specifically adapted to heat stress, seasonal resource variability and broader climate-related pressures. Eco SPAA will also contribute to improved monitoring and decision-making through the integration of sensing technologies, georeferenced data and precision agriculture tools. These approaches will enable a more accurate assessment of system dynamics and support management practices that enhance productivity, animal welfare, resource-use efficiency and the long-term sustainability of the Montado ecosystem.

For end users, namely farmers, the expected impact includes the provision of practical solutions, tested under real conditions, that contribute to increasing productivity, improving animal welfare, and optimizing resource use. The direct involvement of these stakeholders facilitates knowledge transfer and promotes greater adoption of the developed solutions.

Additionally, the results are expected to support the definition of best practices and agricultural policies, fostering innovation and competitiveness in the Mediterranean livestock sector.

Eco‑SPAA contributes to improving agriculture and promoting sustainability through an integrated approach that combines technological innovation, sustainable management, and user engagement. From an environmental perspective, it enables the development of practices that increase the efficiency of natural resource use, such as soil and water, improve the quality and biodiversity of pastures, and contribute to the conservation of the Montado ecosystem, reducing the risks of degradation and desertification.

At the economic level, Eco SPAA supports the optimisation of extensive production systems by promoting management solutions that improve productivity and reduce production costs through more efficient use of inputs, grazing resources and labour. By testing and validating these practices under real farming conditions, the platform helps reduce the technical and economic risks associated with their adoption by farmers.This approach contributes to strengthening farm profitability and resilience, particularly in systems exposed to seasonal feed shortages, climate variability and increasing production costs. In this way, Eco SPAA supports the economic viability of Montado-based agro-silvo-pastoral systems while promoting more efficient and sustainable use of available resources.

From a social perspective, the Living Lab fosters collaboration between researchers, technicians, and farmers, encouraging the co‑creation of solutions and knowledge sharing. This process facilitates the transfer of innovation to the field and strengthens the capacity of end users.

From a technological standpoint, Eco SPAA integrates advanced monitoring tools, sensing technologies, georeferenced data collection and precision agriculture methodologies. These tools enable more accurate, continuous and spatially explicit assessment of soil, pasture, tree and animal components, supporting more informed, timely and adaptive management decisions. The technological dimension of Eco SPAA also strengthens the capacity to monitor system dynamics under variable environmental conditions, including seasonal pasture fluctuations, heat stress events and climate variability. By combining field experimentation with digital monitoring and decision-support approaches, Eco SPAA contributes to the development of more resilient, productive and sustainable agro-silvo-pastoral systems. Overall, Eco SPAA is aligned with current challenges related to climate change adaptation, resource-use efficiency, animal welfare, biodiversity conservation and the transition towards more sustainable and knowledge-based agriculture.