New solutions for transforming Barcelona’s food model at the 2023 Agro-hackathon

Public success, energy and good ideas at the second edition of the Agro-hackathon, a day event for co-creating new projects to boost the agro-ecological transition in Barcelona.

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28/02/2023 - 13:47 h - Environment and sustainability Ajuntament de Barcelona

Some forty people, including representatives from several agro-ecology and public authority sectors joined forces on 17 February, during the second edition of the Agro-hackathon, to devise creative and transformational projects to bring Barcelona’s food system over to a fairer and healthier model.

Held at Torre Jussana, the meeting was organised by the participatory space Agròpolis.

Inspiration and discussion panel

The day event kicked off with an initial inspiration part for hackers. On the one hand, Alex Durrande and Adela Martínez, participants at the 2022 Agro-hackathon, explained two projects resulting from the previous edition which have enjoyed continuity thanks to funding received from an “Impulsem el que Fas” subsidy. The projects are: the la revista GUST editorial board and La Plantaria KM0.

A round table was held immediately afterwards, for sharing experiences of transformational and inter-cooperation projects. Taking part were Gustavo Duch from “AlterBanc”, Maria García from “Terra Pagesa”, Adela Martínez, who gave another talk this time about the “48 hours of agriculture and urban greenery” project, and Xavier Montagut form the Solidarity Consumption Network.

The 2023 Agro-hackathon’s innovative proposals

The second part catalysed the creative talent at the event. Attendees were assigned to one of several groups to design innovative and co-creative solutions to meet the challenges of the Barcelona Healthy and Sustainable Food Strategy for 2030.

Each of the teams worked on one of the challenges, looking for solutions and deciding on the line to follow and, when the time was up, all the proposals were shared with the rest of the teams.

All together 6 proposals were developed, all very different, but equally engaging. They ranged from establishing a farmer’s market in each neighbourhood, to creating a platform for the joint purchase of dry produce; boosting the Mercat de la Vall d’Hebron’s allotment with an urban agriculture resource in the city, creating a “Coop” structure for managing municipal allotments, establishing a space for discussion and reflection on the contradictions of the system that takes all views into account, and supporting a pilot group in changing food habits.

From ideas to projects

Once the sharing of ideas had ended, the hackers were instructed to continue working on the proposals that could lead to the creation of new projects and networks.

All the proposed initiatives are still at a very early stage, but as explained through Agròpolis, the next step will be to start a landing stage with the creation of work groups open to any organisation interested in these issues.

In any case, whatever the number of projects that materialise as a result of the event, the 2023 Agro-hackathon was a fruitful day given the number of new contacts and the creativity it generated.

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