Tag Archives: organic agriculture

A system inspired by natural ecosystems – permaculture – has been attracting the attention of a number of people who wish to create a sustainable form of life in order to produce their own food. Eco123 went to see one of these projects located in Monchique that is registered with the Rede Convergir network. The project ‘Terra do Milho’ (Land of Maize) was created by Monique Volkers, aged 52, and her husband, Tom Stobbelar, aged 59, who have been working independently since 2010. “My parents bought a piece of land and I came to Portugal, now I am working here …

ECO123 spoke to Rodrigo Rocha, the coordinator of WWOOF Portugal, who lives in Estremoz and Sagres. Rocha is 39 years old. Originally from Santos in Brazil, he came to Portugal when he was 17, studied geology in Coimbra, and completed his doctorate at the University of Évora. He is the father of twins, and he loves the sea. ECO123: How did you become a founder member of WWOOF in Portugal, and how did WWOOF start in Portugal? Rodrigo Rocha: The first time I heard anything about WWOOF was when a friend of mine was living and working on a farm …

Just a few minutes from Faro is ‘Lura’, an educational farm set up with the motto of ‘learning naturally’, where environmental education is taught together with scientific knowledge. ECO123 talked to its founder and mentor, Sara Vítor. ECO123: What is the ‘Lura’ project? Sara Vítor: It began as a kind of way out for a teacher who didn’t get a teaching post. It’s a way of continuing teaching and working with children, linking this to my own personal evolution but returning to my origins. That’s why I returned to ‘Lura’, which is my family’s ‘burrow’. In this space in the …

The term organic agriculture frequently gets applied to the production of food without recourse to any synthetic chemical products such as fertilisers and pesticides. At Agrobio, a pioneer in the Portuguese organic agriculture sector, this dimension only plays a small role given that factors such as crop rotation, the bond between man and the earth and appropriately grasping the prevailing ecosystem all prove of equal importance. To this organisation, this holistic approach to farming represents the most sustainable means of producing food exactly because it “provides a bridge between knowledge on the past and the sustainable utilisation of technology,” Board …