The conuco of Les Cabasses is a new line of work that adds to and deepens the practices and ideas we have been developing and researching for years in different territories and in collaboration with various networks, concerning the relationships between material production and symbolic production —and more specifically concerning the relationships between culture, social economy, ecology, and agri-food systems—.
The project aims to promote an agricultural plot located in the Baix Llobregat Agricultural Park for the organic cultivation of food products characteristic of diverse agri-food systems and cuisines, as well as to foster the creation of a short circuit for organic production, sustainable distribution, and conscious consumption of these same products, integrated by small local businesses located in l’Hospitalet —which import non-native products from transnational agro-industrial food systems—, as well as by groups and cooperatives that consume agroecological products.
The project’s objective, therefore, is threefold:
· To promote and strengthen a local economic network, involving people in migratory situations and aimed at satisfying the need to maintain cultural ties with diverse places of origin through diet.
· To introduce ESS values into the production and distribution circuit that currently meets this need through the import of agro-industrial products.
· To raise awareness of the adaptability and climate resilience potential of some crops from agroecosystems under strong socio-environmental pressure and the gastronomic and cultural diversity of the territory, while expanding conscious consumption options into new areas —such as school canteens, for example— and markets.
El conuco is thus linked to the community networks that we support and in which we participate in the Florida neighborhood (l’Hospitalet), such as the neighborhood support network or the urban commonality of La Florida (La Florida s’aveïna). In collaboration with these spaces for neighborhood self-organization, we propose to promote a space for research and creation related to migrant agroecosystems, where there will be room for training and awareness-raising activities around agroecology and food sovereignty, as well as socialization spaces to share culturally diverse gastronomic knowledge, learn about the products offered by El conuco, strengthen community networks, celebrate, and care for communal life.
