Sustentta, a support programme aimed at agri-food cooperatives in the transition towards more sustainable production practices, is born

The Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation launches Sustentta – cooperatives in transition, a new program devised and promoted in collaboration with Red2Red. It is aimed at strengthening the role of agri-food cooperatives, which become a lever to promote the transition towards sustainable food systems.

Agri-food cooperatives are spaces for articulating production in the rural world and allow farmers and ranchers to have an organizational space to achieve greater profitability for their crops and access sales channels. They are also responsible for supplying the market with food and allowing the population to settle in the rural territory.

We are living at a time when European public policies give greater prominence to the transition to more sustainable food systems, this being one of the key aspects promoted by initiatives such as the European Green Deal and, specifically, the Farm to Fork Strategy. The Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation aligns itself with these policies and understanding that agri-food cooperatives can be an agent of social change, through Sustentta we seek to accompany those who want to walk the path towards more sustainable food systems.

With the Farm to Fork Strategy, which includes all links in the agri-food chain, the European Union pursues the objective of transforming the way food is produced and consumed in Europe to reduce the environmental footprint of food systems, strengthen their resilience to crises and at the same time ensure the availability of healthy and affordable food for the current population and for future generations.

Aware of the leading role, as well as the challenges that the productive sector and cooperatives are facing after the consequences of the war in Ukraine first and the drought and torrential rains later that these issues acquire, from the Foundation we see an opportunity to continue promoting entities through our Rural World program, with which we offer support and accompaniment to rural agents in the transition towards territorialised and more sustainable agri-food systems.

For this reason, and after a study process in which we have worked from October 2021 to July 2022 on agri-food cooperativism in Spain, we have reaffirmed that each cooperative and the person who makes it up is a key agent in the transition to sustainable food, and an essential actor for the development and well-being of our rural territory and can become a driving force for the entire agri-food chain.

In this context, the birth of Sustentta: cooperatives in transition is logical to us. This new call, whose deadline is open from March 31 to June 23, is aimed at all agri-food cooperatives in Spain. Sustentta was born as a program with the aim of lasting over time and becoming a great support, which can be accessed by a maximum of 12 cooperatives that firmly seek to advance towards sustainable food and show commitment and leadership to promote these changes in their sectors, in the territory and in society.

To promote the economic, environmental and social sustainability of each cooperative, the territories and sectors in which they operate, Sustentta offers two types of support to the selected agri-food cooperatives. On the one hand, individual actions to be developed in each cooperative and which includes technical assistance, training and advice adapted to the needs and possibilities of each participating cooperative for the definition of its strategy and action plan in sustainable food. On the other, collective actions in which a space for exchange, connection and shared learning will be built among all the participating cooperatives. This accompaniment will run from September 2023 to April 2024.

In the selection process of cooperatives, aspects such as commitment to the transition towards sustainable practices on the part of both members and management teams, the previous trajectory of the cooperative, the awareness of participating in a process with a collective dimension and the commitment to the ambition of gradual and medium-term transformation of the cooperative sector will be assessed .

In addition, the final selection of participating cooperatives will take into account the geographical distribution of the cooperatives, the greatest possible coverage of different productive sectors and the existence among the participating cooperatives of synergistic and complementary elements in the progress made to date, in order to promote mutual exchange and learning.

FACTS OF INTEREST

• Nominations can be submitted from May 31 to June 23 at 11:59 p.m. via this link
• Aimed at agri-food cooperatives in Spain that want to move towards sustainable food
• Accompaniment to a maximum of 12 cooperatives between September 2023 and April 2024
• Additional information can be found on the website: www.sustentta.com
• On June 13, 2023, from 10 a.m. to 11:30 a.m., an online session will be held to answer any questions about the program