The land banks promoted by the Barcelona Provincial Council continue to grow steadily: in the last year, the offered land area has increased by 40%. Currently, there are 50 available estates, representing about 332 hectares of vegetable gardens, orchards, vineyards, drylands, and pastures. The number of formal applicants and citizens willing to cultivate unused agricultural and livestock plots has also increased: since the start of the project, more than a hundred individuals have shown interest in one of the offered estates, and of these, 52% have submitted a formal application. Compared to September of last year, formal land applicants have increased by over 21%.

The Land Banks Network of Catalonia is a pioneering initiative in Europe that the Barcelona Provincial Council has co-financed since 2018 within the framework of BCN Smart Rural. It does so with a triple objective: to recover unused farmland, facilitate generational renewal, and promote agricultural entrepreneurship. The network currently encompasses 13 land banks distributed throughout the country, but the bulk of the actions focus on three existing projects in the Barcelona region: that of Montserrat Rural Park, that of the Food Sovereignty Network of Catalonia Central (XaSACC) and that of the Ges Valley, Orís and Bisaura. Of the total land offered in the province of Barcelona, 67% is located in the Montserrat Rural Park, highlighting the desire of agricultural landowners in the area to ensure that their estates remain productive.  

According to Sònia Callau, head of the Territorial Agricultural Directorate of the corporation and coordinator of the strategy, the objective of the initiative is «to connect owners of abandoned or unused estates with people looking for land to cultivate, and provide technical and legal support that best suits the needs of both parties». «That's whys», she adds, «we have been collaborating with municipalities and local entities for some time now, who want to preserve the rural landscape and promote agricultural activity in the area». «We have made a great effort to identify abandoned agricultural land, forested land transformable into pastures, land owned by individuals about to cease their activity, etc., and once referenced, we have created a digital management and dissemination platform to interconnect farm owners with people looking to start an agricultural activity», concludes Callau.

For more information about the land banks that are part of the BCN Smart Rural strategy, please contact Pere Navarro, territorial engineer of the Agrarian Territorial Directorate of the Barcelona Provincial Council.

— BCN Smart Rural Editorial —