La Junquera has been in quarantine for the last month but this has not stopped us from being active with our projects.
Now more than ever it is important to diversify our farming practices as we see all over Europe that it is hard for farmers to keep their heads above water as supply chains are challenged, tourists have disappeared and education has come to a halt. On our farm we are lucky to be able to continue with our educational program online, though in a different format than before.
The Regeneration Academy, hosting the regenerative agriculture research program, the rural youth program and the sustainable supply chain LAB, has been working for the past month on other ways to share knowledge with students, scholars and farmers. One of the ways we do this is by sharing the research done with people around us.
La Junquera farm has been part of a research done contributed by our knowledge partners Rudolf de Groot, Associate Professor, Environmental Systems Analysis (ESA-WUR) and Chair Ecosystem Services Partnership (www.es-partnership.org), and Simon Moolenaar (PhD). Head of Science & Education at Commonland (www.commonland.com). This has resulted in a great article in the SER on the costs and benefits of ecosystem services on a 1000ha farm scale comparing monoculture farms with multifunctional farms. It states that a multifunctional farm (in the Altiplano Southern Spain) provides 3x more employment, is more resilient to environmental and social changes which leads to less land abandonment.
Having a multifunctional farm we are able to live here with our family and friends, eat from the land and keep working on our different projects. We are connected to a short food supply chain which is an online organic food shop that delivers food at our doorstep and buys our produce. This, and the Regeneration Academy have given us the possibility to keep working and stay busy.
For the full article click on the link below.
https://www.es-partnership.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/2019-De-Groot-Moolenaar_Building-the-Investment-case-SER-News.pdf