The Congress of the Society for Agrarian History Studies visits the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro

Zaragoza hosted, from January 14 to 16, 2026, the 5th International Congress “Water and Rural Development in Historical Perspective”, held within the framework of the 19th SEHA Congress and the 14th Rural Report Meeting. In this context, on the 14th, a delegation of participants visited the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro (CHE).

The visit helped bring the congress’s academic approach closer to the real-world management of water in the Ebro basin, with particular attention to how planning, hydrological monitoring and decision-making are integrated today. All of this takes place in a territory where water shapes the rural economy, agricultural uses, the landscape and risks.

One of the central points of the day was the presentation of the Automatic Hydrological Information System (SAIH), a monitoring tool that collects real-time information and supports the management of relevant hydrological events, such as floods or periods of scarcity.

From the centenary website of the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro (CHE), we are reporting on meetings such as this throughout 2026. One hundred years only happens once, and everything that contributes to reflecting on water, the territory, and the future of the basin is part of that collective conversation.

As Laura Soriano noted in the news item published by the CHE, in its early decades the organisation promoted initiatives directly linked to rural development, such as an agronomic service and a network of experimental farms intended to improve and disseminate agricultural and irrigation techniques. Notable among them are Almudévar and La Melusa, conceived as spaces for testing and transferring knowledge to the territory. On these farms, crops, irrigation systems and agricultural practices are tested and later extended to municipalities and districts across the Ebro basin.

This approach, which combines research, technical expertise and practical application, helps to understand the CHE not only as a management body, but also as an institution that, from its origins, has worked to translate hydraulic planning into tangible improvements for rural areas.

About SEHA

The Society for Agrarian History Studies (SEHA) is a scientific and cultural association focused on the study and dissemination of agrarian and rural history, in dialogue with economic history, geography and other related disciplines. Originating from a seminar on agrarian history and formally established in 1990, SEHA became a meeting point for the research community devoted to rural studies, with a commitment to debate and an international outlook.

Its main lines of activity include the regular organisation of congresses and scientific meetings, as well as promoting the publication and circulation of specialised knowledge. In this context, SEHA has been linked to the development of the journal Historia Agraria, as a key tool for connecting research and approaches on agriculture, the economy and rural society in different contexts.

With a perspective that goes beyond the national sphere and strengthens academic links between Europe and Latin America, SEHA promotes critical exchange and the building of research networks on the major themes of the rural past and their impact on contemporary debates (agrarian transformations, territorial inequalities, institutions and governance, among others).

This information comes from a publication on the Confederación Hidrográfica del Ebro website, dated January 19, 2026.