Organic vegetables, carefully grown and harvested just 30km from Bucharest (Romania), delivered to consumers in the city on the very day they are picked. ‘bio&co’ farm applies an inspiring social farming model, creating jobs for disadvantaged people in the local area, “The human being is at the centre of everything we do; our vegetables have a taste of work, of dignity, of solidarity, of nature and of the land from which they grow.” Explains Damien Thiery, Director general of Ateliere Fără Frontiere.

Social farming is an example of diversification in farming which combines agricultural production with the development and promotion of social services such as training and employment. This leads to economic growth and social inclusion and therefore contributes to the local development of rural areas.

Ateliere Fără Frontiere (‘Workshops without borders’) is a Romanian not-for-profit organisation working for the social, professional and civic integration of vulnerable and marginalised people. It has three main ‘workshops’: recycling electronic equipment; transforming waste advertising banners into bags and accessories; and, bio&co social farm. “In all three of our social enterprises, our focus is the fight against exclusion, poverty and discrimination as well as the fight against waste and pollution. We build solidarity and support local education and development” Damien further explains.

The aim of the bio&co project is to test and prove the efficiency and transferability of a social farming model which can be scaled-up elsewhere in Romania. Ateliere Fără Frontiere began bio&co in 2015 inspired by the Jardins de CocagneOpen link in new window social farming network in France. They started the farm from scratch, renting an area of farmland in the Ciocănari village, hiring an agricultural specialist.