Local Solidarity-based Partnerships for Agroecology (LSPA) – LSPAs are defined by a set of key common values. It is based on the principles of food sovereignty, solidarity economy and organic small-scale farming, where a community is built around producing and consuming food.
LSPAs have been defined during the first URGENCI international symposium as including Community Supported Agriculture, but also Community Supported Fisheries (CSF), social inclusion gardens, some Participatory Guarantee Systems, some farmers’ markets, and food cooperatives. LSPAs have mechanisms for the social inclusion of marginalised families.
LSPA farmers and consumers are also committed to agroecology and farming practices that protect healthy soil and biodiversity, fight the climate crisis, and foster social solidarity economy. LSPAs are also a fair and sustainable solution for global food supply problems as the food comes from the neighbourhood of consumers.
Moreover, it connects urban consumers with small-scale countryside farmers. Although LSPAs have been on the rise in the past two decades they are still niche in the V4 region. Some have been operating for 10 years in partner countries, but the model is not yet widespread, still barely known, while consumer demand for sustainable food is rising.
VISEGRAD FOOD CIRCLE: Building Local Solidarity Based Partnerships around food in the V4 region
Our new VISEGRAD FOOD CIRCLE project, supported by INTERNATIONAL VISEGRAD FUND (no. 22230098), aims to move forward the social acceptance and to develop and improve the up-scalability of Local Solidarity-based Partnerships for Agroecology through building networks in the four partner countries and in the Visegrad region.
The main aims of this VISEGRAD FOOD CIRCLE project implemented in partnership of Tudatos Vasarlók Egyesülete (TVE, Hungary), Fundacja EkoRozwoju (FER, Poland) and Združemie UTOPIA (Slovakia) are:
1) to support the regional network-building activities of LSPA communities and partner organisations to increase knowledge transfer and cooperation in the Visegrad region, and
2) to increase awareness about the social and environmental benefits of LSPA models among consumers to support the diffusion of the LSPA model.
To support these partners plan to strengthen the forming national LSPA networks in the region with events; understand the current situation through research, personal and online experience sharing and provide diverse awareness-raising activities online and offline.
Partners are:
- Tudatos Vasarlók Egyesülete (TVE, Hungary),
- Fundacja EkoRozwoju (FER, Poland)
- Združemie UTOPIA (Slovakia)
The project is co-financed by the Governments of Czechia, Hungary, Poland and Slovakia through Visegrad Grants from International Visegrad Fund. The mission of the fund is to advance ideas for sustainable regional cooperation in Central Europe. Project: VISEGRAD FOOD CIRCLE: Building Local Solidarity Based Partnerships around food in the V4 region (no.22230098).