Network of Municipalities for Agroecology: Partnerships Transforming Food Systems

For the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, the evolution of the Network of Municipalities for Agroecology (RMA) is one of the clearest examples of how a discreet initiative in its beginnings can develop into a large networking project, generating proposals and results through the collective creation of instruments adapted to the demands of its members. The support provided since 2016, first through our Territorialized Food Systems (SAT) call and then directly to the network project itself, shows how, with adequate accompaniment, projects with ambition, strategy and professionalism, are developed until they reach their potential and shine with their own light.

In its transformation process, the network – which in its early years was called the Network of Cities for Agroecology – has stood out for its approach to the different actors, the challenges it faces and the need to pool more and more support, with a proactive and innovative attitude. Driven since its inception by the Zaragoza City Council and the Entretantos Foundation, it has added 36 municipalities and as many entities, integrating councilors and other elected officials, municipal technical staff, local social organizations and other territorial actors in the network. More recently, the adhesion of the Barcelona Provincial Council is listed, which shows the integration potential of the network. The ability to develop these alliances to build local, environmentally friendly, sustainable, inclusive, resilient, safe and diversified food systems is one of the singularities that allow it to grow in environments of diverse ideological tendencies with which it works to combine public policies, economic activities and social development.

In line with the above, the inclusive nature is another element of this development, and proof of this is the adhesion to the network of local entities of diverse profiles, addressing in their programs the challenges of the urban and rural areas and promoting exchange, as in the case of Alimenta Territorios and the Working Group of small municipalities and supramunicipal entities. In addition, the creation and participation in various local, national and international forums on agroecological food has been created, generating important alliances at the international level, as well as participation in the projects of the Barcelona Challenge for Food and Climate, RURBACT-Ae and Liveseeding. In this way, the network has received in recent years the support of the Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge (MITECO), through the Entretantos Foundation, and also from the Ministry of Social Rights, Consumer Affairs and Agenda 2030.

In this trajectory, the RMA has become a promoter of good practices for the development of sustainable food public policies such as the opening of farmers’ markets during the months of the health emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. In turn, it has gained momentum from the successive agreements of the Milan Pact, with which the entities that make it up have defined some of the food policies proposed by the network to consolidate sustainable systems based on health, action against climate change, economic profit and rural development. In this trajectory, in which the Foundation has been present, declarations and proposals for climate action for food also stand out.

The avant-garde profile and the systematization of its good practices, so that they are applicable in different territories and realities, multiplies the impact of its initiatives. A clear example of this is the tool for calculating the environmental, climate and socio-economic impacts of projects with an agroecological orientation launched in 2024. Some benefits of this calculator affect areas such as catering, local markets, relocation of agricultural production, reduction of food losses and waste, city-region food systems and domestic consumption. This instrument is also one of the components of the Food and Climate Laboratory, another of the main projects of the Network, and which offers municipalities materials, processes, strategies and resources to address the climate challenge in local food systems. Other milestones to mention are the creation of working groups, such as Food Systems and Urban Planning, in order to integrate food into local urban policies. Also the Right to Healthy and Sustainable Food group, which seeks to promote systems that guarantee healthy food, linked to the territory and that respects human rights throughout the chain.

On this path, the Network has held its 2025 annual meeting in Orduña. Under the slogan “Municipalities that feed. Local policies based on agroecology” convened representatives of the entities that make it up to discuss the food policies of local administrations, food waste and the circular economy.

This journey of effort and collective vision, through the actions materialized by the Network, accounts for a stage of organic growth based on proactivity, inclusion, innovation and search for solutions to the challenges of food projects with an agroecological orientation at the municipal level. For this reason, from the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation we are happy to be part of this path started almost 10 years ago, supporting the Network since its inception and now accompanying it in its consolidation phase.

The path traveled by the Network of Municipalities for Agroecology in these almost 10 years has been intense, rich in learning, collaborations, exchanges and debates. The impact achieved through food policies translates into an advance in the sustainability of the food systems linked to the cities in the network. The Foundation is proud to have accompanied this project in its different phases of creation, growth and consolidation, which demonstrates with facts how a dedicated and professional team, with a collectively planned strategy and representative governance, can dream and achieve its goals.