Eco farming in Spain-Harvesting happiness

Madrid, Nov 18 (EFE-EPA).- (Camera: Clea House) Aitor Ruiz drives out to his allotment every morning to tend to a vibrant array of crops, from lettuce and spinach to more exotic varieties like Chinese cabbage and Japanese mustard leaf, but beyond seasonal bounties what matters to him most is happiness.

Aitor belongs to ATM, one of 10 ecological farming projects operating in Perales de Tajuña, located just 38 kilometers (24 miles) from Madrid but world’s away from the hustle and bustle of the Spanish capital.

MADRID’S ALLOTMENT

The village and its outlying area is colloquially known as Madrid’s allotment, “but all the products that are consumed in the city come from hundreds of kilometers away now,” Aitor tells Efe.

As city sprawls swallow up rural areas, agroecological projects are championing locally-grown produce.

The model that has taken root in the village typically sees a small group of people coming together to work a smallholding.

Several cooperatives join forces to share resources including a warehouse, equipment and vehicles.

“We try to relate to each other in a different way, whereby not everything is based on competition, like the world we currently live in, instead we try to support each other,” Aitor added, who has been living in Perales for 15 years, says.

“The brushcutter I am using and all the production tools we use are collectivized. This tool belongs to, like, 10 different people and we take turns using it,” he said before cranking up the machine and tearing out weeds from a dusty patch in the field.

Aitor toils away for hours as the wind pours in off the plain, no match for the olive groves that flank the roughly one hectare of land.

Neat rows of chard, leek and bulbous radish brush shoulders with towering Oriental vegetables that are not only exposed to the elements above ground but to the local moles who patrol the soil below. The ground-dwellers recently ploughed through a clutch of spinach roots.

“We don't have a greenhouse, the allotment is seasonal,” Aitor explains.

COMMUNITY FARMING

Aitor's collective ATM aims to make vegetables accessible to all types of consumers.

“It is a fixed monthly fee. People don’t pay for each product but to keep the project going, what we call a fixed basket.”

This community-oriented approach to farming is, for the European Union, an essential part of a sustainable future.

The bloc’s Farm to Fork strategy, one of the key components of the European Green Deal, aims to replace lengthy, polluting supply chains with direct customer sales and boost organic farming to account for a quarter of agricultural land use by 2030.

On a national level, Spanish farming organization COAG backs community farming as a way to foster a circular and accessible economy that provides produce at an optimal state of seasonal ripeness and nutritional value.

“(The system) allows direct and stable relationships to be established between producers and consumers, improving transparency and trust, creating a social fabric and involving society in decision-making,” Andoni García, COAG Agricultural Markets manager, told Efe.

“It's the closest thing to growing your own vegetables without actually growing your own veg,” Ruth Ann Cunningham, a member of ATM, tells Efe during the vegetable drop-off in the center of Madrid.

Every Tuesday members gather to sort through the harvest while sharing recipes and tips on how to prepare the leafy greens included in the weekly batch.

“I also love the social side. I love being part of the coop, giving something back a bit to the community and getting back in touch as to where the vegetables come from,” Cunningham adds.

GUARDIANS OF THE LAND

However, the seemingly idyllic lifestyle Aitor and his colleagues have forged is not without its own challenges.

“We are sort of vigilantes or guardians of the land,” Juangas Leal tells Efe.

Since the group of eco farmers arrived in 2002 they have challenged four urban development projects proposed for the area.

Ecologistas en Acción, a Spanish NGO, has been instrumental in deploying its legal department to overturn such projects, citing shortcomings in required conditions and standards.

For Juangas, the value of what the community of farmers can bring is one of advocacy.

“I do think that thanks to our work here there is more awareness that it has value. Traditional land, local seeds and the type of lifestyle that can be sustained in a village is something that has great value and we need to protect it.”

The care Aitor and Juangas inject into their jobs is palpable.

As Cunnigham points out, the cooperative goes beyond just being a money transaction, and the lively community that keeps the wheels of the project in motion is what draws people in.

“Our ultimate goal is to be happy. We don't even want to make money. I mean, money is required, but what matters here is to be happy,” Aitor says.

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BROLL FROM PERALES DE TAJUÑA AND THE ATM FARM

QUOTES AITOR RUIZ:

"We try to relate to each other in a different way, whereby not everything is based on competition, like the world we currently live in, instead we try to support each other. The brushcutter I am using and all the production tools we use are collectivized. This tool belongs to, like, 10 different people and we take turns using it”

BROLL OF THE DELIVERY CENTER IN MADRID WHERE CLIENTS GET THEIR PRODUCT

QUOTES RUTH ANN CUNNINGHAM (ENGLISH)