Madrid (Spain)
Name: Unión de Huertas Agroecológicas de Madrid (UHAM).
Type of organisation: Organic farmers' Association of the Region of Madrid (CAM) that includes 5 different projects. They started (as legal form in 2020) as a community property company and have now become a legal form of agrarian transformation company in 2026.
Sparring partner(s) within TAELabs: IEGD-CSIC.
Website: https://madridagroecologico.org/union-de-huertas-agroecologicas-de-madrid/
Instagram: @uhamadrid
Linked organizations: other local farmers, local organic food retailers and different farmers' cooperatives and local associations, also training centers and producer groups from other areas of Spain, food coops in Madrid, and local grassroots organisations.
Geographical area: Region of Madrid (179 municipalities, 7M inhab.), where only 9% of the population lives in rural areas.
Urban-rural relationship: motor group composed by local organic farmers based in peri-urban and rural areas of the Region. Most of the auxiliary activities are carried out within the urban area.
Objectives:
- Dignify agricultural work (i.e. 'work less and earn more').
- Recover and enhance the value of local agri-food production systems and resources.
- Create bridges between urban and rural municipalities.
- Improve organic production and processing, and promote its consumption.
- Improve short distribution channels and support small local businesses.
- Defend workers' rights and ensure that all social groups have access to local, quality food.
- Raise awareness of the benefits and values of agroecology among the entire population.
- Develop a system that adequately manages waste and residues.
- Promote a transition towards healthier, more sustainable diets.
Daily activities: Joint marketing and coordination of products and orders (e.g., plants), representation in administrative entities, participating in governance processes and structures around Madrid City Region's food system.
Previous Project/s: RURBACT (https://www.municipiosagroeco.red/proyecto-rurbact/).
Funding: funded by its own sales, the participation in RURBACT and now in TAELabs, and thanks to national grants.
Rome (Italy)
Name: Roman metropolitan area Living Lab.
Type of organisation: Local farmers and social cooperatives; municipality of Rome.
Website: https://www.crea.gov.it/ and https://www.firab.it/
Sparring partners within TAELabs: CREA, FIRAB.
Linked organizations: Rome Food Council, local producers, social cooperatives, biodistricts.
Geographical area: Municipality of Rome and its metropolitan area (121 municipalities and 4,4M inhab.).
Urban-rural relationship: Action Group composed by local farmers and social cooperatives based in peri-urban and rural areas surrounding the city. Most of the activities carried out within the urban area.
Objectives:
- Strengthen local food policies and their connection with territorial contexts.
- Foster sustainable production at the territorial scale.
- Raise self-awareness among farmers and other value-chain stakeholders of the importance of their role, and address power imbalances.
- Promote the integration of social, cultural, and environmental values into local food chains.
- Building critical and problem-solving skills on agroecological farming practices.
- Connect local food system actors, promoting innovative expanded value-chains, food governance, and raising public awareness of food practices and policies.
Daily activities: organization of participatory activities (workshops, farm visits), seminars, open days.
Previous project/s: BIOPAC, PERILBIO (National projects funded by the Ministry of agriculture), SOMMIT (EJP soil project).
Funding: projects (e.g. AGROFORESTEAM).
Bornholm (Denmark)
Name: Hammersly.
Type of organisation: Organic Farm / Agroecological Lighthouse.
Website: www.hammersly.dk
Sparring partner within TAELabs: Aarhus University.
Linked organizations: Association Andelsgaarde, Association ØkoBornholm.
Geographical area: Rutsker, Bornholm, Denmark (island of ~40,000 inhabitants in the Baltic Sea).
Urban-rural relationship: Hammersly is located in a rural area of Bornholm and serves as a bridge between rural food production and consumers across the island. Through its CSA scheme, farm shop, partnerships with restaurants, and educational activities, the farm connects people in both rural areas and urban centres such as Rønne with locally grown food and agroecological farming practices.
Objectives:
- Apply and demonstrate agroecological farming practices that enhance soil health, biodiversity, and ecosystem resilience.
- Strengthen local food systems by producing organic vegetables and supplying directly to consumers and local restaurants.
- Promote food sovereignty and resilience on Bornholm through local production and collaboration.
- Foster community engagement and awareness around sustainable food production through CSA, farm visits, and events.
- Contribute to knowledge sharing and education in agroecology by hosting students, researchers, and volunteers.
Daily activities: contribution to conversations about Bornholm's food system; publication of a flyer that maps all organic producers on Bornholm, organization of a yearly organic market that brings farmers, businesses, and citizens together; development of activities through the agroecological farm Hammersly Økojord, including a CSA initiative, workshops, educational activities and farm visits as well as communal meals and biodiversity projects.
Previous project/s: Emerging member of the European Network of Agroecology LLs and Ris.
Funding: Funded through vegetable sales (CSA, farm shop and restaurants), events, partnership with the association Andelsgaarde, and project-based grants.
Prignitz/Brandenburg (Germany)
Name: Förderverein bäuerliche Umwelt e.V. (FbU), facilitator of the Lab Prignitz.
Type of organisation: The FbU is a farmers' association newly founded in 2025 that is and will be active in the areas of environmental protection and nature conservation, education, and the promotion of research and science. The FbU is currently being established.
Website: No website yet.
Sparring partner within TAELabs: ZALF.
Linked organizations: FbU is the regional partner organisation of the AbL Nordost, operating in the Federal States of Brandenburg, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, and Berlin. AbL Nordost is the German partner within the European Confederation la Vía Campesina (https://www.abl-ev.de/start), FbU also collaborates with local farmers, local organic food retailers and different social cooperatives and associations.
Geographical area: Federal state of Brandenburg, Germany (including the county Prignitz with 26 municipalities. Low population density and least developed county in Germany). Within TAELabs, the LL will focus on Prignitz territory.
Urban-rural relationship: The Prignitz county is not well connected to the capital city of Berlin, which is at the geographical center of Brandenburg. Most farms in Prignitz are big enterprises and big field plots. There are fewer small and/or organically certified farms. Most activities are carried out within the region and products are exported nationally/internationally.
Objectives:
- Strengthen collaboration among farmers and other actors in the regional agri-food system (e.g. fostering food councils and initiatives on access to land).
- Involve/attract actors from civil society and neighbourhoods (e.g. kindergartens).
- Discuss and decide on specific objectives with the actors through a bottom-up process.
- Strengthen regional collaboration (e.g. with Oko-Modellregion Prignitz-Ruppiner Land), as well as international collaboration, and exchange.
- Exchange with other TAELabs regions/labs.
- Improve local food supply chains.
Daily activities: newly founded, activities to be determined.
Previous project/s: Climate4Agroecology, new related projects will start soon (e.g., Farm Incubator project).
Funding: For TAELabs, the FbU is funded by ZALF, regulated by a subcontract between FbU and ZALF.
Sormland (Sweden)
Name: Bio-district Sormland.
Type of organisation: Not-for-profit organisation.
Website: https://ekodistrikt.se/
Sparring partners within TAELabs: Stockholm Resilience Centre - Stockholm University.
Linked organizations: Bio-district Sormland is a not-for-profit organisation that brings together both public and private agri-food actors, with representatives from municipalities, civil society organisations and farmers on the board of the organisation. It also cooperates more broadly with other agri-food organisations in the region, such as Ekologiska Lantbrukarna (organic farmers organisation).
Geographical area: Bio-district Sormland covers the administrative area known historically as the Sormland landscape. Following the historical delineation of the Sormland landscape, the district encompasses two administratively distinct counties and their resident municipalities, namely the southern part of Stockholm County (with 12 municipalities) and Sormland County (with 9 municipalities). Lake Malaren caps the north of the region and the forests of Kolmarden frame the south. The region is characterised by mosaic landscapes with a dominance of forestry. Agriculture is dominated by grain and grass production in the region.
Urban-rural relationship: Bio-district Sormland is located southwest of the Swedish capital city of Stockholm, and as mentioned above, encompasses the southern part of Stockholm County. It is therefore an agricultural region on the fringe of a major urban area that is home to a significant portion of the Swedish population. Further, Bio-district Sormland has close cooperation with a number of municipalities, including Sodertalje municipality, and works actively with bridging urban-rural relations.
Objectives:
- Recover and enhance value of local agri-food production systems and resources.
- Create bridges between municipalities of urban to rural environments.
- Improve organic production and processing and promote its consumption.
- Improve short distribution channels and small and medium size local businesses.
- Promote sustainable livelihoods for food producers and access to local and quality food for all social groups.
- Raise awareness of the entire population about the benefits and values of organic farming and agroecology.
- Promote a transition towards a healthier and more sustainable diet.
Daily activities: newly founded, establishing strategic focus.
Previous project/s: KISMET https://interreg-baltic.eu/project/kismet/
Funding: 2023-2025: EU Interreg project KISMET, 2026 and onwards: membership fees together with regional, national and EU funding.
