The goal that 60% of the cultivated area in Spain is organic is one of the topics highlighted in the latest BCN Smart Rural Press Digest.
Pedro Sánchez's 2050 plan sets the goal that 60% of the cultivated area in Spain will be organic
The president of the Spanish government, Pedro Sánchez, presented last May 20 the Spain 2050 plan, a long-term strategy on which the Foresight Office of Moncloa has been working for a year. This new body was created to think about the country model that Spain will be in 30 years and reports directly to its chief of staff, Iván Redondo. The result of this work is a document of 676 pages in which a hundred experts in different subjects make concrete proposals to ensure that Spain is consolidated "as one of the most advanced countries in Europe".
Among the objectives presented, there are several that directly affect agri-food systems. One of them is to reduce the demand for water by 15%: from 30,600 hm³ annually to 26,000 hm³. To achieve this, the plan proposes, among other actions, to reorder agricultural uses and the types of crops that are produced. It is also intended to reduce the consumption of food of animal origin due to greenhouse gas emissions from industrial livestock farming, and to halve food waste, which now amounts to 1.3 billion kilograms annually. In addition, the strategy prioritizes sustainable agriculture and establishes that 25% of agricultural land be worked ecologically before 2030, in line with what the European Commission advocates, and that this percentage rise to 60% by the year 2050.
The "Spain 2050" document is available at this link.
How to revitalize a trade and a town through cheese
Alpens will inaugurate this July the country's first collective cheese factory, open to entrepreneurs in the dairy sector, as part of the BCN Smart Rural program. This initiative, led by the Consorci del Lluçanès with the support of Barcelona Provincial Council and the Associació d'Iniciatives Rurales de Catalunya, has the support of the Ajuntament d'Alpens, which has given space to the old Sati factory "with the desire to highlight the traditional agri-food sector", according to the mayor, Montse Barniol.
(Arrels)
Agricultural systems need to be redesigned and modernized through agroecological approaches
A report commissioned by the Economic Circle to address the challenges and opportunities in the transition towards a greener, sustainable and ecological economy defends agroecological practices and encourages to "implement innovative solutions that favour the increase of productivity and reduce the negative impacts on biological diversity". In this sense, several opportunities are opening up in the territory, such as the use of biomass as a source of energy (especially thermal), the use of biogas generated by livestock waste, the hybridization of these technologies with other mature (this would be the case of thermosolar hybridization with biomass) or the possibility of seeking synergies between sectors such as urban wastewater treatment and the livestock sector. The report adds that "the administrations can act as facilitators of this reorientation towards more sustainable agricultural and livestock practices by initiating responsible public purchasing policies for food, so that it commits to local agroecological productions and initiatives that seek the sustainable management of resources".
(Economy Circle)
We are looking for farmers to extend the vineyard in the DO Pla de Bages
Growing cultivated land is the main challenge in this territory, where the recovery of old grape varieties is also making its way.
(Nació Digital)
The environmental services of sustainable livestock farms
With grass-fed beef still in short supply on the markets, a report published by the European Commission encourages support for young farmers to ensure knowledge transfer, develop local supply chains and strengthen certification systems and labelling. According to this study, small-scale agroecological livestock farming maintains water quality and local ecosystems, improves biodiversity and minimizes animal suffering.
(European Commission)
Two adjoining farms in Tiana, in the Parque de la Serralada de Marina, will have a perimeter fence of approximately 50 hectares to graze the area during the winter and spring months by a mixed herd of Albera cows and donkeys. With this activity, which has the support of the Diputació de Barcelona, several objectives will be achieved, such as fire prevention, the maintenance of open landscapes and the formation of resilient forests.
(L'Informatiu dels Parcs)
A herd of goats will keep the undergrowth and fire protection strips clean in Valldoreix
Thanks to the signing of a collaboration agreement between the Collserola Natural Park Consortium, the EMD, the Sant Cugat Town Council and a shepherdess, a herd of goats will be able to rest and spend the night in a shed on the estate of Can Monmany. In exchange, they will have to graze the undergrowth of these lands for 10 days a month between April and January, as well as the forest fire protection strips of the municipal territory.
(Sant Cugat City Council)
A guide is presented for the implementation of silvopasture in the Baix Mountains
The publication, promoted by the Consell Comarcal del Baix Llobregat and Muntanyes del Baix, aims to be a tool for the transfer of knowledge and useful experiences for the municipalities of the territory that consider silvopasture projects, both from the administrative point of view and the natural environment. Les Muntanyes del Baix is a project in which sixteen municipalities of the region participate, which have in common a large forest area and agricultural, livestock, natural, landscape and heritage values. All of them coordinate and share strategies and actions for the management of this agroforestry space.
(Begues City Council)
The Begues herd of goats and sheep works to prevent forest fires
The municipal silvopasture service is made up of a herd of goats and sheep whose main function is to clean the undergrowth and the protection strips of the urbanizations, in addition to recovering and maintaining natural firebreaks and maintaining beams, banks and paths.
(Begues City Council)
Tiana City Council considers that the promotion of "livestock linked to the land" is an activity of agricultural revitalization that could be a main part of the municipality's forestry policy: the herds act as natural brush cutters and also contribute to enhancing biodiversity, maintaining the landscape and rooting people's work activity in the territory.
(Tiana City Council)
The Covid-19 pandemic has increased the pressure on forests and made them more vulnerable
According to a study published by the United Nations, the current pandemic has exacerbated the challenges countries face in managing their forests. The report is the first assessment of the world's position in the implementation of the United Nations Strategic Plan for Forests 2030.
(Department of Economic and Social Affairs of the United Nations)
Only 1.42% of the forest mass in Catalonia is protected
The Sèlvans Association calculates that only 1.42% of the forest mass in Catalonia is protected. This percentage is equivalent to around 67,000 hectares distributed throughout Catalonia.
(Món Rural)
The third part of the world's food production is at risk due to the climate crisis
Researchers at Aalto University in Finland have calculated that approximately 95% of current food production takes place in what they define as "climate-safe spaces", that is, areas of the world where temperature, precipitation and aridity are within certain limits. But if temperatures continue to rise at the current rate, this safe zone would shrink drastically, according to a report published in the magazine "One Earth".
(The Guardian)
Spain's first Climate Change Law approved
The Congress approved the rule that must help the Spanish State to disassociate itself from fossil fuels and reduce the emissions of gases with a greenhouse effect. This rule aims to enable Spain to comply with its international commitments in the fight against climate change and achieve climate neutrality before 2050; that is to say, the country can only emit greenhouse gases that can be captured by sewers. It is a historic law that provides, among other measures, that public administrations prioritize fresh or seasonal foods, and with a short distribution cycle, in their purchase contracts.
(El País)
Spain represents 9% of the total emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) of the EU
A study commissioned by the European Parliament has evaluated the progress in the climate action of the Member States of the Union and found that, between the years 2005 and 2019, Spain reduced emissions by 27%, with a performance above the average of the EU The forestry sector has contributed the most to reducing emissions, but without additional measures, sewers are expected to become saturated due to climate change. To reverse this trend, a series of measures are proposed including reforestation, forest fire prevention and ecosystem recovery. According to this report, improving agricultural sewers would also generate significant catches.
(European Parliament)
The European Commission presents its action plan to reduce pollution to zero
One of the objectives of this action plan is to improve the quality of the soil by reducing the loss of nutrients and the use of chemical products by 50% by 2030, among other measures that directly affect the agricultural sector.
(European Commission)
Brussels will present an action plan on carbon farming this year
Before the end of the year, the European Commission plans to present a European action plan on carbon farming. In a report recently published, the institution confirms that this practice "can contribute significantly to mitigating climate change in the EU". The development of carbon agriculture is part of the strategy "From the field to the table" and one of its purposes is to create a new source of income for farmers.
(European Commission)
Agricultural practices affect the soil's ability to sequester carbon
Natural England, the UK government's environment advisory body, has published a study looking at the contribution of different habitats to carbon management and the opportunities they offer for landscape diversity and nature. According to this report, agricultural practices affect the soil's ability to sequester carbon, and they particularly recommend no-tilling (or little-tilling) of the land, as well as providing it with plant cover throughout the year. One of the most interesting results of the study is their assessment of pasture lands: to achieve net zero emissions by 2050, they are fundamental.
(Natural England)
With this line of aid, we want to promote the efficiency of resources and encourage the transition to a low-carbon economy capable of adapting to climate change in the agricultural sector. Thus, it supports investments for the mitigation of climate change to achieve a more efficient use of energy, and facilitating the supply and use of renewable energy sources.
(Government of the Generalitat of Catalonia)
Massive reforestation to sequester CO2 can increase the risk of fires
The Forest Science and Technology Center of Catalonia (CTFC), the Center for Ecological Research and Forestry Applications (CREAF) and the InBIO-CIBIO of the University of Santiago de Compostela the European Union's measure to plant 3,000 trees to cope with climate change can be counterproductive. Researchers warn that the massive reforestation proposed to sequester oxygen may increase the risk of fires. Indeed, in areas with high fire risk, they suggest looking into possible alternatives to tree planting, such as wetland or grassland restoration.
(Forest Science and Technology Center of Catalonia)
A third of the energy consumption of Catalan agricultural cooperatives comes from renewable sources
31% of consumption comes from sources with a green certificate and 2% from photovoltaic installations for self-consumption, according to the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Catalonia.
(Món Rural)
Barcelona Provincial Council invests in biomass installations for thermal use
The corporation supports municipalities in promoting the use of biomass in municipal equipment so that it is possible to close the natural cycle of fuel production and consumption on a local scale. Among the projects that are being promoted in this line, we find the Biomass for the Climate project which involves the installation of 14 boilers in the demarcation of Barcelona.
(Sostenible)
Granollers participates in the Bioenergy project for local development
The BIOEnergia project envisages the construction of two biomass heat networks to supply energy to 12 municipal public facilities, as well as the exploitation of these two unique projects to promote the use of this renewable natural resource in the territory.
(Sostenible)
Having access to green spaces can protect against cardiovascular disease
A study by the Forest Science and Technology Center of Catalonia shows that cities with trees and where the population can access parks and outdoor spaces can improve obesity, blood pressure or diabetes. Although there are more and more studies associating a city's green spaces with improved cardiovascular health, this research extends this knowledge and distinguishes between the type of vegetation, the perceived access to green spaces or the differences between neighbourhoods in the same city. The work has been published in the journal "Environmental Research".
(Món Rural)
Residents of Rubí and Sant Cugat want the abandoned golf course to be an ecological corridor
The land of the Can Sant Joan golf course, of around 80 hectares, is owned by Incasol. One of the few public golf courses in Catalonia, it closed its doors in 2018 and is currently very run down.
(El País)
The participants in the program, apart from cultivating their own plots for family consumption, undertake to attend the training sessions, participate actively in the actions that are organized and respect the regulations of the municipal gardens. The program provides for technical assistance by qualified personnel and the necessary material for cultivation will be provided.
(Sostenible)
The Can Borrell community garden, in Mollet del Vallèa is an example that can be reproduced in homes
Now five years ago he started the community garden at the Can Borrell Civic Center in Mollet del Vallès. It is a project that over time has taken root in the neighbourhood to make the neighborhood feel that it is their own, participating in it and taking care of it together.
(Sostenible)
Informative day at the domestic gardens of Caldes
Attendees learned about the characteristics of the gardens, the procedures that must be done to apply for them, the crops that are grown there, good practices of organic home horticulture for self-consumption and took seedlings home.
(El 9 Nou)
A pioneering project begins to grow white wheat as a local and sustainable alternative to quinoa
This pioneering initiative, carried out by the Eixarcolant Collective in the Anoia county, aims to demonstrate that the seeds extracted from a wild plant very abundant in our country, and until now considered a weed, can be a plausible alternative to quinoa seeds, a species that enjoys great success in the markets but has been controversial due to the environmental and social problems arising from its exploitation.
(Món Rural)
Torres produces the first wine with the ancestral variety Moneu, recently recovered in the Penedès
La Moneu is a variety that predates phylloxera and had disappeared from cultivation. Five years ago now, Torres grafted the first vines in the Penedès and it was with the last harvest that the first marketable wine came out.
(Món Rural)
Malgrat de Mar creates the first public "Butterfly Forest" in Catalonia
The initiative wants to create habitats that favor the ideal biodiversity for the reproduction of butterflies and has already taken the first steps with the activity "Create a butterfly forest" in which 230 girls and boys from the 4th grade of primary school from all the Malgrat schools.
(Sostenible)
Specimens of the fallow aurora butterfly are found, 14 years after the last date in Catalonia
The fallow aurora butterfly is a threatened species in danger of extinction in Catalonia, of which the last specimens were located in 2007. This period is typical of dryland agricultural environments and its subsistence depends on practices such as fallow, which consists of letting land that has been cultivated rest for a certain time in order for it to acquire fertility again. The decline of this practice in recent decades due to the advance of intensive agriculture and the application of pesticides is the main cause of the extreme rarefaction that this butterfly is suffering in our country.
(Territory and Sustainability Department)
The European Union wants to further protect pollinating insects
A Commission report on EU action to protect pollinators highlights the need for urgent action. Specifically, it underlines the need to combat the loss of habitats in agricultural landscapes and the effects of pesticides. The "Biodiversity 2030" Strategy , the "From Farm to Fork" Strategy and the EU Action Plan for zero pollution have specified objectives to tackle this problem, such as expanding protected areas and restoring ecosystems, promote organic agriculture, restore landscape elements of high diversity in agricultural lands and significantly reduce the use of pesticides and other environmental pollutants harmful to pollinators. The EU's new strategy for adapting to climate change and the renewed push for the ambition to achieve climate neutrality will help mitigate the effects of climate change on pollinators.
(European Commission)
The viability of small slaughterhouses ensures sustainable meat consumption
The Armentera slaughterhouse paves the way for creating new management models for facilities that can be decisive in guaranteeing the continuity of small farms.
(Arrels)
65 samples of honey participate in the competition "The best Catalan honeys"
With this initiative, the beekeeping sector of Catalonia wants to make consumers aware of the importance of bees in the sustainability of the Catalan territory and wants to make known the different types of honey that can be obtained according to the environment and flora of the hive.
(Government of the Generalitat of Catalonia)
Half of the municipal markets in the demarcation of Barcelona have online sales platforms
Thanks to the "Online Markets" program, 48 municipal markets in the province of Barcelona already have digital stores. These marketplace platforms have been developed to bring quality and proximity products to the entire population through new technologies.
(Barcelona Provincial Council)
The Cardedeu market launches a virtual store with home delivery
The municipal market of Cardedeu launches an online store that aims to facilitate the purchase and distribution of products, with comfort and security. The initiative has the support of the Cardedeu City Council and the Barcelona Provincial Council.
(Cardedeu City Council)
Esplugues municipal markets open an online shopping platform
The two municipal markets, those of Can Vidalet and La Plana, have launched an online shopping platform that allows the products of stallholders to be delivered to homes in Esplugues and other surrounding municipalities, such as Cornellà, Sant Joan Despí, Sant Just Desvern, Sant Feliu, l'Hospitalet and the Barcelona neighborhood of Les Corts. The new virtual purchase system is part of the Reconstruction Plan against Covid approved by the Esplugues City Council and which has required an investment of 17,000 euros financed by the Barcelona Provincial Council.
(El Far)
La Torre de Claramunt recovers the weekly market
The City Council's aim with this campaign is to bring life and dynamism to the municipality, generating economic activity in the commercial premises, with the intention that the Torre market will be a point of reference in Anoia.
(La Torre de Claramunt City Council)
The EU is at a 'tipping point' in terms of nutritional challenges
A report highlights the urgent need to make a comprehensive policy to ensure that the diet of the population of the Member States goes in the right direction. The study analyzes European food systems and highlights that the EU faces several nutritional challenges, including overweight and obesity in adults, children and adolescents.
(Euroactive)
The Gastronomic Days of the Camí Ignasià arrive in Manresa in June
This year, the Gastronomic Days revolve around four concepts: knowledge, cuisine, tastings and market, with one session open to the general public and another aimed at restaurant professionals. The days want to become a meeting point between farmers, cooks and consumers.
(La Ciutat)
The first gastronomic marketing summit in Catalonia gathers 300 delegates
The congress was attended by great personalities from the culinary, gastronomic and food world such as Carme Ruscalleda, who defended the modernization of the kitchen "without losing its roots", as well as underlining the importance of knowing how to differentiate within the sector: "I think that professionals must try new things and discover new products from other countries and cultures, because that way we will be richer». The congress was also attended by the coordinator of the Economic Development, Tourism and Trade Area of the Barcelona Provincial Council, Javier Villamayor, who said that "over the last decades in Catalonia we have experienced exceptional moments in terms of the appearance of great gastronomy professionals and this has positioned Catalonia as a gastronomic heritage at national and international level. This congress is an opportunity to show this value and highlight the importance of local and quality products".
(Eix Diari and Via Empresa)
The initiative aims to promote healthy, balanced and diversified diets through the consumption of fruit and vegetables.
(Mataró City Council)
Strawberry time in the Maresme
The Gastronomic Days of La Maduixa is an event of regional scope open to all gastronomic proposals with a fruit very cultivated and appreciated in the Maresme.
(Costa del Maresme Tourism Promotion Consortium)
Mercat Arrels joins forces with Maresme farmers to defend the local strawberry
The platform launches the campaign "La maduixa, semper del Maresme" to promote a fruit produced by farmers who face many difficulties with foreign competition. The decline is indisputable: from the 2 million kilos per year that the Union of Strawberry Farmers of Calella and Alt Maresme estimates were harvested around 1995, it has gone up to 40,000 in recent years. Today, in the county, there are barely three dozen strawberry growers, who look at the future of this crop with skepticism.
(Arrels)
With this agreement, we want to encourage the promotion of agricultural engineering as the profession that allows you to obtain safe and quality food with the help of science and technology. Among other actions, it has been agreed to jointly organize an annual informative day to deal with agri-food topics and of interest for the future of food.
(IRTA)
Open data shows us the keys to the transition towards a sustainable agri-food system
In an event organized by the General Directorate of Transparency and Open Data of the Generalitat de Catalunya, the importance of sharing available data to generate wealth and contribute to collective change is defended. The potential of data to understand in order to contribute to improving sustainability and efficiency in the agri-food system is exemplified by a presentation by Daniel Farré Huguet, a specialist in Geographical Information Systems of the Barcelona Provincial Council, who spoke of the Samples of BCN Smart Rural Data and has shown visualizations on agri-food exploitation from an ecological perspective, among others.
(Department of External Action and Transparency)
Registration for the Excellence in Innovation Awards for Rural Women is open until June 4
These awards, convened annually by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food, constitute one of the main lines of recognition by the Government of Spain for the work, projects and careers of women in rural environmental development. More information here.
(Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food)
Agricultura announces the award for the best innovative young food artisan 2021
This award is intended for food artisans from Catalonia under the age of forty who are working in an innovative way, and who, as a result of their actions, have obtained beneficial results in terms of quality, good image, and competitiveness of artisan food productions. More information here.
(DARP)
Awards for Innovation in the Rural World to change the discourse on the reality of farmers
Beyond the difficulties of rural Catalonia related to depopulation, pollution, lack of water, or the aging of the population, among others, these awards aim to focus on the opportunities generated by this territory . It is an initiative of the Lluçanès Consortium within the framework of the Chair of Innovation in the Rural World and applications can be submitted until next June 7. More information here.
(Arrels)
Living in a natural park: the balance between neighbors and nature
Inhabitants of these spaces explain how this figure of protection has contributed to the sustainable development of their surroundings. In the natural parks, in addition to tourism with its own regulation, traditional activities such as hunting, fishing, cattle breeding, agriculture, harvesting, felling trees for forest management, medicinal plants, etc.
(Arrels)
Seven inland counties join forces against the massification of renewables
These counties had already taken previous actions of rejection, but now they have decided to protest through a joint manifesto in which they demand that the voices of the municipalities be heard in the face of the concentration of proposals: despite representing 15% of the territory, they welcome the 60% of the projected wind farms and half of the photovoltaic plants. Anoia is one of the counties that have joined the manifesto.
(Anoia County Council)
The Platform Save Maçana and Serra Morena, which gathers residents of the neighbouring municipalities of Copons, Rubió and Veciana, are asking for "unity of action" from the mayors so that they "clearly show their opposition" to the wind and solar parks that are being processed and claim that they "open all the necessary fronts" so that their voices are heard. They also ask for "firmness" from the new Government to "stop the mess generated as a result of Decree 16/2019". The Renewable Energies Report has given the green light to the viability of the La Maçana wind farm, located between Rubió and Castellfollit del Boix, and a new preliminary project for a wind farm in Copons and Veciana with 12 wind turbines has also been announced.
(Món Rural)
The County Council issues a technical report against the construction of six large photovoltaic installations.
(Món Rural)
The Generalitat sees the location of two new solar parks in Anoia as viable
The two projects add up to nearly 60,000 solar panels located on agricultural and forestry land in the municipalities of Sant Pere Sallavinera, Rubió and Òdena.
(Món Rural)
The vice-president of the European Commission (EC) for the European Green Deal, Frans Timmermans, believes that the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) can create changes and take agriculture down a greener path, although he assumes that, on a European scale, 80% of the money still goes to 20% of the beneficiaries, who "very often are not farmers, but large landowners or large companies". In this interview, the vice-president assures that the reform of the CAP currently under negotiation must allow the implementation of the European Commission's "From the field to the table" and "Biodiversity 2030" strategies. Likewise, he urged an agreement to be reached to extend ecological subsidies "to the extent possible", with the aim of supporting farmers who want to walk "in an ecological direction". "If we could increase the possibility of reserving land for nature, for carbon farming, for reforestation, restoring peatlands, taking care of pastures, not using pesticides or fertilizers, if we can achieve this whole package, really a change would occur", he says in the interview.
(Euroactive)
The expert in agricultural issues and professor of forest ecology at the University of Tuscia, warns that "in this transition, everything that is done without taking young people into account is a waste of money". And he adds: "this is the main point: to find out how we can convince young people to go back to work in the fields. And this is something that we need to address with specific tools. For example, making financial instruments available to them that allow them to obtain loans for free or at very low interest rates».
(Euroactive)
The urban planning professor at the UPC defends a holistic vision of the territory and its interpretation as a single bioregion. For example, faced with the question of whether the metropolitan area can achieve food sovereignty or energy sovereignty, Carles Llop considers that "what should be thought of is Catalonia as a whole, with a reality of territories of variable geometry , which even exceed it, according to the services we are referring to".
(Arrels)
On city roofs, we'll make tomatoes/hour, just like we make kilowatts/hour. With this provocative image, Joan Rieradevall, ICTA researcher and renowned expert in urban agriculture, explains his vision of the city of the future in this interview.
(Sostenible)
The president of the Mancomunitat Penedès-Garraf believes that joint management of the forests is necessary to achieve the energy transition.
(Eix Diari)
The secretary of the Era Association talks to us about the Sporus project and the importance of culturally conserving those seeds that have been lost over time.
(Xarxanet)
Interview with the developers of the Ecolocal Market application, an e-commerce tool where agro-ecological producers can set the price, while making it easier for the consumer to have access to local purchases. In addition to giving visibility to agro-ecological producers, the app allows grouping orders, a fact that helps reach minimum orders, improving logistics and making it fairer and more sustainable. This application was the winner of the seventh edition of the Ruralapps Awards 2020, in the Citizenship category.
(Ruralcat)
Peyu: "Farmers do modern things"
The comedian from Osona celebrates not paying attention to the director of a radio station who, when he hired him, asked him to "remove this rural thing" in order to address a more urban audience. He triumphs daily with El Búnquer, on Catalunya Ràdio, a program that is broadcast from Gurb.
(Arrels)
Maria Nicolau: "Capitalism has removed the kitchen from the center of our lives"
The cook at Ferrer de Tall, a small restaurant in Vilanova de Sau (Osona), defends in this interview the importance of eating locally, stocking up and reusing food.
(Crític)
My daughter: all that you see... used to be vines!
DO Alella is a small appellation of wine origin that covers 200 hectares spread over 31 municipalities in Maresme, Barcelonès and Vallès Oriental. Half, however, are in Alella. In this report, the history of an area that 2,000 years ago cultivated vines for the Roman Empire and that resists today as a stronghold of organic farming is reviewed.
(Arrels and Vadevi)
Due to commercial interests, they were despised, popular language turned them into an insult and now there are those who claim them. In our house, we find them, for example, in Vallcebre (Berguedà), in the herd of Berta Flotats and her partner Eric Garcia.
(Arrels)
In this article, José María Medina Rey, head of knowledge management at Enraíza Derechos and member of the coordination team of the Observatory of the Right to Food in Spain (ODA-E), argues that family farming and farming, practiced on an agroecological basis, must have a priority place in policies to promote sustainable food systems. According to a reflection document made public by the ODA-E, agroecology must be the main paradigm (if not the only one) to promote the transition of agricultural production from sustainability criteria.
(El País)
In defense of the creation of a Department of Ecological Regeneration
The environmentalist and land engineer, Manel Cunill i Llenas, proposes the creation of a new Environmental Department to face the challenge of ecological regeneration. "The stage of what has been called the ecological transition is already history", he states in this article, and puts as "irrevocable duties" in this new environmental agenda "the impetus to the Nature Agency, the biodiversity law, the preservation of the coast, decarbonizing the economy, promoting the circular economy, preserving agricultural spaces and modifying the Vallès Specific Mobility Plan", among others.
(Sostenible)
Sustainable food: there are many reasons
Salvador Milà, director of the Presidency Services of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona, encourages us to take advantage of the World Capital of Sustainable Food to promote more equitable territorial development and new relationships between the rural and urban worlds.
(El Far)
An urban garden with 10 million trees
According to the agricultural engineer Joan Carbó Solé, "Collserola is today in the last stage of a metamorphosis: beyond a garden, an urban garden".
(El Nacional)
Designing the future of food and the territory without farming?
Rocío Hernández and Olivier Chantry, members of the county permanent commission of Unió de Pagesos al Baix Llobregat, are against a phenomenon they "call" the Amazonization of agriculture, in which business becomes the control of the data generated by all the links in the food chain, farming and final consumers will become mere operators without decision-making power in a chain controlled by technological companies".
(El Far)
Do we want the peasantry to die in a pinch?
Ricard Estrada i Arimon, technical agricultural engineer and environmental manager, reflects on the open debate in relation to the use of agricultural land to implement the production of renewable energy.
(Blog Agriculture of Catalonia)
"Stars against waste", more than a book of recipes
"Estrellas contra el desperdicio" is a solidarity book of useful recipes elaborated and given selflessly by chefs with a Michelin star, such as Ferran Adrià, Juan Mari Arzak or José Andrés, among others. Published by the AECOC, it wants to invite citizens to reflect on the value of food, as well as on the importance of not wasting it. The profits obtained from the sale of the book will be donated in full to the Spanish Federation of Food Banks (FESBAL) for the purchase of food.
(AECOC)
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