Situation
Experiments will be performed in the upper part of the Rambla de Torrealvilla, in the area of Los Alagüeces (see Figure 1). The owner of this land is motivated to participate in the experiments, has a large area of land (~1000ha) with both cereals and dryland almond production. He also has a traditional water harvesting structure (Boquera) on his land that can be used for the experiments.
Three field sites are selected at short distance from each other (<1km). Field site A is an almond field without terraces. In this field reduced tillage and green cover technologies will be applied. Field B is a terraced Almond field. Here, in one terrace the effect of a Boquera will be monitored and compared with another terrace without a Boquera. In a third terrace without Boquera straw mulch will be applied to study the effect on reduced evaporation losses. Field site C is a cereal field. In this field the effect of reduced tillage will be compared with conventional tillage operation with a mouldboard plough.
