The corkscrew was the central focus of the 2nd PATT technical conference "SUROCAT: Talent, mechanization and employment opportunities in the corkscrew", which took place this Thursday, June 22, in Can Vilallonga, in Cassà de la Selva, with more than thirty attendees.

The session has started with one demonstration of the auxiliary machine to open cork from the hand of Joseph Casellas (Amorim Florestal Mediterraneo, SL), a widget that should serve to facilitate the cam with ax, make it more accessible and anticipate some of the works, both before the season starts and the day before the cam to advance the opening of the corks The day continued with one Demonstration of peeling with ax of Martí Fugarolas (Serveis Forestals Martí Fugarolas), which has served to show good practices and evaluate the suitability of the standards to obtain the cork midwife certificate that have been worked on throughout the project.

The technical days

SURROGATE is a project to transfer knowledge and good practices to people who are currently and in the future dedicated to the cork cam. In order to spread the word about the work being done as part of the project, two technical conferences have been organized, thea theoretical one which took place last May 17 atAgricultural School of Santa Coloma de Farners and this Thursday's practical session.

The conference has several objectives: on the one hand, to present SUROCAT and its first results to advance the professionalization of the profession of cork peeler. On the other hand, transfer knowledge and informative material on how to look for talent in the sector, skills and aptitudes to take into account and how to make use of the benefits of the OCUPFOREST public employment platform. Finally, convey the adoption of innovative management guidelines and strategies that lead to an improvement in competitiveness and sustainability in the sector.

These days are part of the demonstration activity "SUROCAT - Improving the technical and key skills of cork peelers in production and sustainable management", operation 01.02.01 (technology transfer) of the PDR of Catalonia 2014-2022.