In 1994 under Council Regulation 2080/92, a number of hectares of arable land were converted into tree plantations of quality species with long growing cycles (30-40 years).
This initiative was part and parcel of a carefully formulated plan to rationalise and diversify production into annual and long-term crops, which as well as being economically sustainable also help to preserve the fragile ecological balance.
Around 35,000 trees were planted (walnut, common oak, ash, cherry, black alder, white hornbeam) over an area of some 42 hectares.
An extensive plan entitled “Conservation and realisation of agro-ecosystem elements with a predominant environmental and landscape function” was then implemented with the aim of protecting the landscape by trying to conserve once traditional farmland features such as rows of plane trees, protecting natural habitats through the creation of over 10,000 metres of new hedges and tree rows, and increasing the number of plant species, in so doing also safeguarding animal biodiversity.