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Paper short abstract

We explores sustainable agri-food initiatives as niches for transformation on the border between Spain and Portugal. By inviting local actors to dream of desirable futures, agricultural imaginaries emerge that unleash the potential of these initiatives to sustainably transform food systems.

Paper long abstract

The cross-border territory between Galicia (Spain) and Portugal is a Euroregion that shares deep historical, cultural and social-ecological roots. Although the agricultural landscapes of this territory face pressures from rural abandonment and agricultural intensification, they also maintain a rich mosaic of traditional practices. In this diverse cross-border context, sustainable agri-food initiatives are emerging as niches of transformation and examples of resistance to the dominant industrialised production system. Acting as laboratories of innovation, they integrate traditional knowledge with alternative practices to build agri-food systems that respect and care for nature and rural communities.

Although these initiatives emerge with a transformative goal, multiple social, political, and legislative barriers—exacerbated by administrative boundaries—significantly reduce their potential for change. To explore their transformative potential and the needs for their amplification, this study incorporates an analysis of agrarian imaginaries. In the current global context, characterized by overlapping social, ecological, economic, and geopolitical crises, asking local actors to imagine desirable futures has been considered a transformative tool. Imagining desirable futures fosters creativity, social-ecological innovation and enables other ways of thinking, doing and producing food.

Through 40 semi-structured interviews across the border area, this research invites initiative leaders to imagine desirable futures for their projects, the territory, and agri-food systems, leaving aside current financial and bureaucratic constraints. By analysing these projected desires, this study not only maps the agricultural imaginaries that drive these initiatives, but also identifies the strategies needed to overcome barriers, allowing the full deployment of their potential to sustainably transform agri-food systems and rural areas.