Laona Foundation

LIFE – AgrOassis: Regenerative approaches for building climate change resilience in EU agricultural regions prone to desertification

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Laona Foundation / LIFE – AgrOassis  / Tree planting with Boutique Beverages
Tree planting with Boutique Beverages team

Tree planting with Boutique Beverages

With great success, the tree-planting activities of the European project LIFE-AgrOassis continue! On Wednesday, 24 November 2025, in the Mazotos area, 24 volunteers from Boutique Beverages helped plant more than 110 trees. A big thank-you to everyone for their valuable contribution!

The hedgerow plantings are carried out under the auspices of the Commissioner for the Environment and Animal Welfare, Ms. Antonia Theodosiou.

LIFE-AgrOassis promotes the reintroduction of traditional hedgerows around agricultural fields using deep-rooted plants grown in special Deep Root Training Tubes at the Department of Forests, with scientific guidance from the KES Research Centre. This innovative method, tested for the first time in Europe, reduces irrigation needs and strengthens plants’ resilience to drought.

From 2023 to today, more than 7,000 trees and shrubs have been planted in farmland areas degraded by desertification, and this year, with the help of around 300 volunteers, even more deep-rooted plants will be planted throughout November and December!

The LIFE-AgrOassis project, with partners from Cyprus, Thessaly and Crete, is co-funded by the European Union and aims to support agriculture in areas at risk of desertification due to climate change.

Project partners include: Ministry of Agriculture (led by the Agricultural Research Institute and with participation from the Departments of Environment, Agriculture, and Forest), Open University of Cyprus, KES Research Center, Cyprus Farmers’ Union (EKA), Mediterranean Agronomic Institute of Chania, University of Thessaly, Municipality of Sitia, Paradisiotis Ltd, TOEV Tavropou Karditsas and the Laona Foundation.