From the Countryside to Your Store Cupboard

Spain has a thriving agricultural sector; however, the sector is currently going through a difficult period. Traditional farmers are seeing the prices of their harvests fall on a daily basis, while the value of their products in their final markets is rising. It is for this reason that producers are increasingly looking for new distribution channels that bypass the traditional intermediaries, allowing them to reach their end consumers more directly.

Most of them are small-scale growers who have gone down the route of organic farming. They also communicate with their clients via email, or apps such as WhatsApp and Instagram, providing them with lists of available products on a weekly or fortnightly basis. However, there are also other models that have an additional social dimension, or an environmental conscience.

By establishing a more direct relationship with consumers, growers can choose to produce local varieties, and harvest their crops when they are at their best in terms of flavor and quality. For many consumers, meanwhile, this represents a return to the origins of food, and to foods in which flavor, local production, and seasonality are all-important.

Consumers have a better understanding of how food is produced, what they are eating, and the value of growing it. They know and trust the people who produce the food they consume, entrusting them with one of the most basic needs of the human race. In addition, direct sales contribute to the creation of a market for products that are less anonymous, with a return to direct, in-person contact between the grower and the consumer.

Direct selling is a consumer trend that has recently undergone something of a boom in urban Spain. This practice has been commonplace for decades in countries such as the USA and Canada. One of the most interesting movements in these countries is CSA, or Community Supported Agriculture. This involves groups of consumers buying up the entire harvest in advance, thus minimizing the financial risk to the farmer.

The Community Supported Agriculture model creates a new form of community work, in which consumption ceases to be an isolated, independent activity. Consumption and production are brought together and shared, creating social ties that would not otherwise exist.

Farmers' markets sell local, seasonal products without intermediaries. While local production should not be confused with organic production, these markets often sell products that are certified as organic. In addition, shopping in these markets tends to be an experience that goes beyond the usual retail experience: they offer visitors a richer shopping experience in which responsible consumption and the idea of food sovereignty are encouraged.

There are several such markets in larger Spanish cities, such as the Farmers' Market held in Madrid on the last weekend of every month, or the Mercat de la Terra run by the Slow Food movement, which takes place in Barcelona every Saturday. The farmers' market model has been successful all over Spain. Examples include the Güímar Farmers' Market, which only sells products from the Güímar Valley in Tenerife, and the Granada Ecomarket, selling products from the Vega de Granada and the Alpujarra region.

The consumer groups tend to be made up of people who are committed to food and the environment, and who buy locally. They are in contact via online platforms or establishments where they can collect their orders, enabling them to make joint purchases of food (mainly fruit and vegetables) and other consumer products.

Advantages of this system include avoiding distribution costs and reducing the environmental cost, since only one delivery is required. Many of these groups make contact with organic growers, tapping into the local farming tradition. In Spain, an excellent resource listing consumer groups to sign up to is www.grupoagrupo.net.

The Food Assembly (¡La Colmena Que Dice Sí!) is a local consumer initiative that connects consumers and producers, providing them with an opportunity to meet face-to-face in the venues where the orders are collected.

The venues are known as Assemblies, and they are sometimes held in unexpected spaces, such as theatres, schools, civic centers, and coworking spaces. In an Assembly, the producer sells their products directly to consumers, paying a service fee that is shared between the project itself and the person managing the venue.

One of the benefits of combining direct sales with new technologies has been the creation of business models that, thanks to the internet, reach their ideal consumer. Many initiatives that have opted for sustainable production systems have reaped the rewards of this partnership. That has been the case for Dehesa El Milagro, which is based on closed loop agriculture.

It refers to crops that have been grown without chemical fertilizers or weed killers. The soil is only nourished with composted organic waste material and manure. With the aim of finding a lasting agricultural method based on the sustainable exploitation of natural resources, the people who run it believe they have managed to bring the countryside to the city, "encouraging people to understand it, respect it, and value it."

The Albalá Agroecological Association for Social Inclusion (Asociación Agroecológica Albalá para la Inclusión Social) was set up in 2015 by Susana de Eusebio in Navalafuente, Madrid, on land leased by several families in the village. She first came up with the idea when volunteering for Proyecto Hombre, a leading charity in the field of drug dependency. It occurred to her and a co-worker that growing crops could be an ideal way of getting people who had overcome their addictions back into society and the workplace.

“People were given work and practical training in ecological agriculture over a period of two years. The aim was that, after that time, and now in possession of all the necessary tools and knowledge, they could grow their own vegetable garden and we could continue working together.”

In Albalá they grow a wide range of fruit and vegetables that includes tomatoes, lettuces, peppers, eggplants, and some varieties of bean that were common in this region in the past. They sell them from the garden itself, via consumer groups and to individuals. Collections take place in venues that share Albalá's philosophy.

For those who prefer to grow their own products, at Albalá there are various different options for leasing microgardens. These range from the lessor taking care of the whole process, to the gardens being managed by the workers of the association.