The Estación Experimental de Aula Dei (EEAD, https://eead.csic.es/) is an agronomical research institute that belongs to the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC, https://www.csic.es/). CISC is Spain’s largest public research institution, and ranks third among Europe’s largest research organizations. CSIC is under the responsibility of Spain’s Ministry of Science and Innovation through the Secretary of State for Research, and plays a key role in scientific and technological policy in Spain and worldwide. CSIC carries out research in all fields of knowledge.

The EEAD mission is to provide the agricultural sector with appropriate materials and technologies, to increase competitiveness and sustainability, through a deeper knowledge of basic processes of the plant-environment system. This mission encompasses activities in high quality research, postgraduate education and technical training, technical consulting for public and private sectors, and dissemination of our results to the society.

The research group “Irrigation Agronomy and Environment” (RAMA, grupo-rama.es/es/) was formally established in 1995 at the EEAD-CISC. Together with researchers from CITA (Agri-food Research and Technology Center of the Government of Aragón) the group composes an Associated Unit to CSIC. Research interests include irrigation engineering, water management, water quality and agronomy. RAMA is interested in the scientific study of the interaction between crops, water, soil and the environment in one of the most arid regions of Europe: the middle valley of the Ebro River. Agriculture faces challenges such as globalization of markets, competition for the use of the resources water and soil, European regulations, increasing social demand for sustainability, and a growing demand of agricultural products. The scientific challenge is to produce scientific and technological information that will help irrigated agricultural systems to be more competitive, more efficient and more sustainable.

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