Cooperativa Agricola Co.r.ag.gio is an agroecological youth farming project in Borghetto San Carlo, at the heart of the Veio Natural Park. Spanning 22 hectares, the farm uses agroecological practices (low-input agriculture that regenerates the surrounding environmental integrity through crop production), producing everything from eggs, heritage grains, and legumes to winter and summer produce.
As well as sustainable agriculture, Co.r.ag.gio follows a multifunctional model; this means the cooperative contributes to local food systems by promoting local products, sharing experiences with neighboring farmers, and hosting educational workshops. With a recently renovated farmhouse, this will soon expand to primary food processing (including a flour mill and olive press), retail, a local food concept restaurant, educational spaces in the form of a “Università della terra” (Earth University), and agritourism hospitality spaces.
Co.r.ag.gio stewards the land as part of an agreement with the local municipality under a project that revitalizes some of the 48% of Rome’s land area that is agricultural, providing local food to the city, connecting young people with agriculture and generating long term sustainable economic and environmental gains from a previously disused space.
AUR’s partnership with the Cooperativa Agricola Co.r.ag.gio enables students in the Food Studies MA to access first-hand experience of local food systems, covering:
- Educational field trips to learn about agroecology in practice, the impact of climate change on farming, and multifunctional agricultural models
- Contextualized understanding of challenges in the food system and experience of the holistic solution proposed by Co.r.ag.gio
- Volunteering opportunities, including helping to plant, tend, and harvest crops, as well as in the developing multifunctional spaces
- Internship opportunities for social agroecological farming
You can read more about the work of Cooperativa Agricola Co.r.ag.gio here