Sustainable Food

Barcelona City Council’s Agròpolis space once again hosted a local agrifood debate with the 2025 Agrohackathon, a participatory gathering that brought together around fifty representatives of organisations with innovative projects to look for synergies and alliances that promote healthier, fairer and more sustainable food.

The Convent de Sant Agustí Civic Centre was the venue of the event held on Friday 16 May with the participation of around thirty organisations affiliated with the Agròpolis network, eleven of which presented projects in the idea creation or development phase to seek collaborations, technical support or strategic alliances.

As Ludovic Nau, a City Council officer, explained, ‘there may be organisations working on the same thing without knowing it, so we hope that they join forces through knowledge to boost their impact’.

Over the course of the morning, Martin Habiague, director of Mescladís, presented this inspiring project that seeks the social and workplace inclusion of immigrants through food and sustainability. After that, the participants strolled through the Santa Caterina and La Ribera neighbourhoods for a breakfast at Mescladís del Pou, where they had an informal chance to socialise and interact.

After the break, the organisations were grouped into thematic panels to promote debate and collaboration through the projects they had shared: urban agriculture, short circuits, community kitchens, food waste and the right to food in the neighbourhoods.

Urban agriculture and neighbourhood support networks

The main challenges that the urban agriculture group identified, based on the presentation of the Hort del Clot [Clot Community Allotment] project, are the projects’ long-term sustainability and connection with the neighbourhood. They spoke about the need to document the processes in order to replicate the model in other parts of the city and to participate in local events to boost their visibility. They also explored alliances with other consolidated gardens and local organisations.

The group that debated the right to food in the neighbourhoods focused on neighbourhood support networks as a tool for guaranteeing the right to decent food, especially in the face of climate or social emergencies. Based on the proposal to share the documentary Alimentando Redes, undertaking a participatory diagnosis of the food system in the neighbourhoods was proposed to help to identify actors and needs in order to come up with collective strategies.

Optimising distribution resources to combat food waste

Another group focused on how to get local products to the city without increasing the end cost. Suggestions included shared logistics models, the inclusion of local goods in urban shops and building trust between producers and merchants to help new goods to be inserted in stable channels.

The last group addressed food waste based on the transformative potential of community kitchens, viewing them as hubs of food education, social dignification and decreased waste. They spoke about recovering foods from school canteens or markets and transforming them and distributing them to residents in vulnerable situations, and then closing the circle with composting.

Inter-cooperation that lasts over time

The Agrohackathon was not only a place to diagnose and share ideas but also a day of real work and connection among different stakeholders who want to transform the neighbourhoods’ food system. As Ludovic Nau remarked, ‘the goal is for participants to meet each other, network, bond and plant the seeds of new projects’.

This workshop is part of Barcelona City Council’s strategy to foster a new food culture based on social justice, sustainability and food sovereignty. Agròpolis announced its desire to continue, monitor and offer support for the initiatives that arose to provide an initial impetus to the working groups.

The 2025 Agrohackathon left a legacy of proposals, contacts and synergies that are even now beginning to take shape with other projects that emerged from previous editions. More than just a one-off event, it is a living space of cooperation and collective construction, where ideas become projects and projects turn into real alliances.

With this momentum, Barcelona continues to work towards a more resilient, agroecological and community food model, where the right to food and sustainability are no longer ideas but become everyday practices.