Executive Summary

Horchera — Benifallet Food Forest is a rural food-forest initiative established in 2018 in Benifallet, Tarragona, Catalonia. Developed across approximately ten hectares, the project combines regenerative land management, food production, environmental education, applied research and community participation.

The site is evolving gradually through what the project describes as “patches of change”. Rather than transforming the entire landscape through a single intervention, each area is planned, planted, observed and adapted before new phases are developed. This progressive approach allows practical experience and ecological monitoring to inform the continuing transformation of the land.

Horchera is led and principally funded by Ecological Interaction, an applied research group focused on identifying and developing small-scale activities aligned with ecological systems. Approximately ten people are directly involved, with the site functioning simultaneously as farmland, an educational environment, a community space and a setting for research and experimentation.

Approach, Activities and Expected Impact

The project brings together agroecology, food sovereignty, popular education and applied experimentation. Its planning and planting strategies seek to strengthen biodiversity, soil health and ecosystem resilience while exploring productive models capable of operating in harmony with the surrounding landscape.

Work at Horchera includes food-forest design and planting, training, workshops, environmental education, school activities, ecological research and the monitoring of environmental change. Scientific collaborators, educators, students, practitioners and community participants contribute different forms of knowledge to the development of the site. The project also participates in collaborative activities connected with Eurosite and other wider environmental networks.

Its community self-management model is supported through an association and coordinated by Ecological Interaction. This structure combines local responsibility and practical land stewardship with access to scientific knowledge, specialist collaboration, monitoring methods and shared tools.

The gradual development of the landscape makes Horchera a valuable environment for testing regenerative approaches over time. Each patch provides an opportunity to assess results, refine methods and respond to changing ecological and organisational conditions. This creates practical knowledge that can support future decisions both within the project and in other Community Food Forests.

Horchera is expected to contribute to the regeneration of a substantial rural landscape, the development of adaptable food-forest planning methods and a stronger connection between ecological research and practical implementation. It also aims to increase understanding of agroecology and food sovereignty, expand opportunities for environmental education and encourage shared responsibility for land and local food systems.

In the longer term, the project seeks to demonstrate how ecological regeneration can support viable small-scale activities while building community knowledge, productive capacity and resilience.

European Collaboration and Contact

As a member of the European Community Food Forest Network, Horchera is interested in exchanging practical experience, participating in pilot projects and collaborating in research, documentation, training and environmental education.

The project can contribute knowledge gained from managing a large rural site, developing a food forest through successive phases and combining community self-management with applied research and ecological monitoring. It is particularly interested in sharing planning and planting strategies, progress-tracking methods and collaborative tools with other projects and scientific or educational partners.

Ecological Interaction leads and supports the initiative as an applied research group working to identify and develop ecologically aligned small-scale industries.

Contact person: Jonathan Minchin
Email: jonathan@ecologicalinteraction.org
Website: https://ecologicalinteraction.org
Instagram: ecological.interaction