Tucked in the heart of the Basque Country, the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz is cultivating change across its institutions. Through its Environmental Studies Centre (Centro de Estudios Ambientales – CEA), owned by the city council, the city is taking bold steps to regenerate its food system, overcoming legal constraints and governance bottlenecks with creativity, partnerships, and determination.
On a recent study visit organised under the Cleverfood project, representatives from Bradford (UK) and Trento (Italy) joined CEA to learn firsthand how this mid-sized city is navigating the complexities of food governance, climate ambition, and agricultural transformation.
From climate goals to local grains
The numbers speak volumes: just 1% of the food consumed in Vitoria-Gasteiz is locally sourced, while 75% of cultivated land is dedicated to monocultures of cereals. For a city committed to sustainability, these figures sparked action.
In 2017, Vitoria-Gasteiz adopted an agri-food strategy shaped by local citizens and stakeholders. Yet efforts soon stalled, hampered by jurisdictional limits, a lack of regional government buy-in , and distancing between local actors and the city council due to its slow proress. “We don’t have legal competences in production policy,” explained Jon Ruiz de Infante of CEA, “but we had to act, because if we didn’t, no one else would.”
This resolve gave rise to Crops4Life, a city-led EU-funded Life project running from 2023 to 2028. Focused on regenerative agriculture, short food supply chains and systemic governance reform, the project is both a climate intervention and a governance innovation.
From field to fork, and back
What makes Vitoria-Gasteiz’s approach stand out is how it builds connections across the entire food system. Take the Aleko test farm, a space where aspiring farmers are trained in a wide range of agroecological methods. These include regenerative biointensive horticulture, diversified livestock systems using rotational grazing, integrated forestry-livestock models, and crop rotations that include cover crops and floral strips to support biodiversity. This practical, hands-on approach equips new entrants to farming with technical knowledge and encourages them to consider how their production methods can regenerate the environment and support community wellbeing.
we had to act, because if we didn’t, no one else would
New farmers who are ready to give it a go can rely on Basaldea, an agroecology business incubator where the city provides eleven one-hectare plots, a greenhouse, and essential farming equipment. Here, farmers can test their models in real conditions. If successful, they can rent the plot and transition into a more stable operation. One such plot is managed by the cooperative Soilik, which combines regenerative agricultural practices with community training, helping to demonstrate that this way of farming can be not just ecologically sound, but economically viable.
The city complements this work with efforts to build supportive distribution and sales channels. A weekly market at Basaldea allows direct sale of farm produce, while a refrigerated unit enables customers to collect their purchases at a time that suits them. An online platform and app were also developed, making it possible for residents to order local products and receive them via a bicycle distribution system – a simple but effective way to reduce carbon emissions from last-mile logistics.
The real innovation, however, lies in how governance is structured around all this. Recognising that building a new food system also means rethinking how decisions are made, Vitoria-Gasteiz is testing sociocracy principles through its partner Ingoing. Using a system of thematic and coordinating ‘circles,’ the governance model decentralises authority, encourages feedback and two-way communication, and helps stakeholders feel genuinely included. These principles are especially useful in a project involving multiple actors – farmers, cooperatives, NGOs, researchers, municipal departments – each with their own perspectives and needs. Instead of working in silos or through hierarchical chains, the project Crops4Life is fostering a culture of shared ownership.
Connecting production, distribution, governance, and social equity, is what makes the work in Vitoria-Gasteiz feel like more than the sum of its parts. It is not just about creating a few alternative farms. It is about planting the seeds of a new local economy and showing that it can flourish.
Cross-border inspiration
For the visiting delegations from Bradford and Trento, the study visit was a chance to see this integrated ecosystem in action and to reflect on how elements of it might be adapted in their own contexts. While the challenges facing each city differ, both found valuable inspiration in Vitoria-Gasteiz’s approach to governance and stakeholder engagement.
In Bradford, where the city’s approach to food is primarily framed through the lens of public health, the visit sparked new ideas about how to make food policy more systemic. City representatives reflected on the potential to engage other departments in shaping a joined-up food strategy. They were particularly intrigued by the sociocracy model and how it could help bring together a fragmented ecosystem of food actors in Bradford. One concrete next step discussed was mapping the city’s food organisations and supporting them to coordinate through participatory governance. There was also discussion of involving local universities, which could act as bridges between grassroots initiatives and institutional change.
Trento, meanwhile, found relevance in how Vitoria-Gasteiz created enabling spaces for small producers, something difficult to achieve in their own city due to the limited availability of public land. Representatives from Trento saw potential in adapting aspects of the incubator model to their own local context, even if the land footprint would be smaller. They also took note of how Vitoria-Gasteiz was working to reconnect producers and consumers, using direct marketing strategies and digital tools to strengthen the local food economy. Back home, Trento plans to focus on improving links between local producers and public procurement systems to ensure a more stable market for local goods. The visit also sparked ideas on how to involve producers in educational programmes, to help raise awareness of sustainable food among young people.
Perhaps most important for both cities was the sense that transformation is possible even in constrained institutional environments. The visit to Vitoria-Gasteiz presented a living, evolving model that is grounded in collaboration and experimentation. It showed how a city can play a catalytic role even without legal competences over food production, and how European projects can serve not just as funding instruments but as frameworks for bringing people back around the same table.
Local constraints, European levers
We need a legal definition of ‘local product’ or ‘short food supply chain’.
As much as Vitoria-Gasteiz is doing, significant constraints remain. Much of the fertile land is locked into cereal production. Urban planning laws limit the use of greenhouses. And the city lacks legal powers to shape production policy, which sits with the regional government – heavily influenced by dominant cooperatives promoting conventional, intensive farming.
Faced with these barriers, Vitoria-Gasteiz is using the Crops4Life project as both a pilot and a political tool. The aim: to demonstrate that regenerative, cooperative, small-scale farming can be economically viable and thus worth supporting at higher levels.
European funding is central to this strategy, but applying is resource intensive. As Jon Ruiz de Infante noted, “It’s easy to find a call that fits your goals. The hard part is writing the proposal and building a viable consortium, especially for small cooperatives that can’t co-finance their share.”
What could help? Clearer EU-level regulations. “We need a legal definition of ‘local product’ or ‘short food supply chain’,” Ruiz de Infante argued. “Otherwise, promoting them puts us at odds with the free market rules.” Stronger alignment of public procurement with sustainability goals would also make it easier to favour local producers.
Vitoria-Gasteiz is proving that with enough will and collaboration, even cities without formal powers can spark systemic change. But to grow this transformation across Europe, cities need recognition, resources, and supportive legislation.
Because in the end, as one participant put it, “There is space for everyone in this world, but we cannot go on like this.”
