Data sources:
To carry out this analysis report, we focused on the cooperatives of the province in Barcelona registered in the General Register of Cooperatives of the Generalitat and made a selection of those related to the production and consumption of food, either under the categories of "Associated work", "Consumers and users" or "Agrarians". We then verified the current activity status of the registered initiatives.
To identify agri-food associations, we used the Entity Guide of the Department of Justice of the Generalitat. We focused on the entities classified as "Spatial planning, ecology and housing" and, among these, we chose those that have an activity related to the production and consumption of food. It is important to highlight that, according to the Government of Catalonia, "Associations are non-profit entities, voluntarily constituted by three or more people to fulfill a purpose of general or particular interest, through the pooling of personal or patrimonial resources , and on a temporary or indefinite basis. Associations must be registered in the Register of Associations for advertising purposes only." In other words, the registration of associations is a voluntary act and, therefore, it is very possible that initiatives are missing in this study.
We have also included in this study the entities of the map of agro-food cooperatives, made from the doctoral thesis of the researcher Ricard Espelt, and the consumer cooperatives that appear on the "Ets el que menges" ("You are what you eat" portal, in addition to information provided by the Maresme and Vallès Occidental Cooperative Atheneums. Likewise, we have taken into account the publication "Viable agri-food cooperative models in Central Catalonia," prepared between Calidoscoop, ARCA and the Cooperative Atheneum of Central Catalonia, with the collaboration of the Barcelona Provincial Council.
Our study classified initiatives into three categories: those primarily driven by producers, those driven by consumers, and others providing services to farmers or having complementary activities related to the consumption of local foods.
It's important to note that the data on different pages showed variability over time, with many entities listed in the open data records no longer being active. For future research, it is recommended to consult data from the Network of Cooperative Atheneums to identify current active entities and good practices in the cooperative economy.
