News and activities

Seminari Rabassa morta y rabassaires (Siglos XVIII-XX)

(26-27/01/2017) January, 26 and 27 (2017) took place the Seminario Rabassa morta y rabassaires (Siglos XVIII-XX), Josep Colomé Ferrer and Francesc Valls-Junyent, coordinators. Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Barcelona.

Helena Perxacs defended her PhD dissertation

(13/01/2017) January, 13th (2017) Helena Perxacs Motgé defended her PhD dissertation Agricultura i comunitats urbanes en transició cap a la sostenibilitat: Estudi de casos i avaluació agrourbà de Girona, directed by M. Àngels Alió in the context of the Doctoral Program in Geography, Land Planning and Environmental Management of the Faculty of Geography and History, University of Barcelona (UB).

The project SFS participates as advisor in the new Urban Development Plan (PDU) of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona

(22/12/2017) Enric Tello has been invited to participate as one of the nine external collaborators of the Drafting Commission created by the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) to discuss, define and propose the main criteria and guidelines of the new Urban Master Plan of the AMB. This metropolitan area assembles the city of Barcelona and other 35 neighbouring municipalities in order to pool services and jointly implement public policies of land-use planning, public transport facilities, water services, waste treatment and recycling, and environmental management. The 36 municipalities have a joint spatial extent of 636 Km2 and a population of 3,239,337 inhabitants. 48 % of this territory is built-up land, and the rest is horticultural, cropland, forestland and beaches. Within these 52% of mainly agroforest lands, there are three natural protected areas and one agricultural park also protected as a strategic provider of near fresh food for the metropolitan area. The main aim of this Drafting Commission is to include in the current public land-use planning new sustainability criteria and guidelines which take into account the role that agricultural and woodland areas play as providers of ecosystem services that need to be preserved, interconnected and reinvigorated. Other membres of this SFS research project, like Joan Marull and Elena Domene, have also presented in one of the sessions of this AMB Debates on the Metropolis Landscae. Ecology, Receration and Production.

Carme Font defends her PhD dissertation

(17/11/2016) Carme Font Moragón defended her PhD dissertation Mathematical Models for Energy and Landscape Integrated Analysis in Agroecosystems, directed by Aureli Alabert and Joan Marull in the context of the Doctoral Program in Mathematics of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (UAB).

Andrea Montero's new post in the NICHE blog

(09/12/2016) Last 9th of December, Andrea Montero Mora published the post Coffee Modernization: The Green Revolution and Market Regulation in Costa Rica (1950-1980) in a series of SFS posts hosted by the NICHE blog.

Global Land Programme: 3rd Open Science Meeting in Beijing

Enric Tello, Joan Marull, Claudio Cattaneo and Olga Delgadillo participated in the «Global Land Programme: 3rd Open Science Meeting» held during the 24-27 of October (2016) in Beijing (China), in which they presented various contributions regarding the ELIA (Energy-Landscape Integrated Analysis) methodology. October of 2016.

SFS Project meeting in Mallorca

(28-30/06/2016) During the 28, 29 and 30 of June (2016), the fifth annual meeting of the SFS Project was held in Santuari de Cura in the Randa mountain (Algaida, Mallorca). Organized by the Catalan and Mallorquin group, 41 researchers assisted from the groups that constitute the project in Canada, Colombia, Austria, USA, Czech Republic, Costa Rica, Andalusia, Catalonia and Mallorca.
During the three days of the meeting, assistants shared the findings and updates of their respective groups, especially in terms of the common metodology and the innovations in this field.

This meeting is the fifth that the project has held, after Bogotá, Colombia (2012); Munich, Germany (2013); Guimaraes, Portugal (2014); and Montefrío, Spain (2015). Some of the agreements of this meeting were the publication of a special number of Regional Environmental Change presenting the results obtained in the various agrarian systems in a historical perspective, and a book to be published by Springer about agrarian food systems. In a field trip, the assistants visited the agroecological enterprise of Son Vell (penultimate foto) and the old posessions of Randa and Planícia (last photo).


Photos by various project members

Dissemination workshop in Sa Riera (UIB)

(27/07/2016) Last June, 27th (2016) a dissemination seminar by the title The role of agriculture in the sustainability of cultural landscapes and biodiversity took place in the Sa Riera building of the University of the Balearic Islands (UIB), organized by the Catalan and Mallorquin team of the project. Once the presentations by the group members ended, a debate open to the public was held in which various topics were discussed, including the abandonment and marginalization of agriculture in the island, the role of agricultural policy, biodiversity conservation policies, the role of site-specific traditional knowledge, or how to design agricultural policies incorporating an ecosystem services perspective, among others. It was a rich and lively debate, where the members of the SFS research team were able to pick up many ideas of the participants, while offering at the same time some practical suggestions on how the results obtained by this research project could be applied on public policies and private decisions so as to improve ecological services in the island.

New post in the NICHE blog by Inés Marco

(30/05/2016) Last May, 30th (2016), Inés Marco Lafuente published the post Social Metabolism, Agricultural Produce and Labour: Conceptualizing a Biophysical Approach to Social Inequality in Sentmenat, Catalonia, c.1860 in a series of SFS posts hosted by the NICHE blog.

Old and New Worlds: the Global Challenges of Rural History a Lisboa

Several researchers and PhD students of the SFS project participated in the international conference «Old and New Worlds: the Global Challenges of Rural History» of SEHA/RuralRePort, University of Lisbon, which was held between the 27 and 30 of January (2016) in Lisboa (Portugal). January of 2016.

Paola Rocchi defends her PhD dissertation

(30/11/2015) Last November, 30th (2015), Paola Rocchi defended her PhD dissertation Essays on atmospheric emissions and environmental policy, directed by Mònica Serrano and Jordi Roca in the context of the UB Economics Doctoral Program in the Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Barcelona (UB).

LandUse6k in Paris

Enric Tello participated on the LandCover6k Meeting LandUse6k Putting History to Work on Climate Change held in the University of Chicago Center in Paris (France) (22-23/10/2015).

Vinyes, vins i cooperativisme vitivinícola a Cataluya

New book by Colomé, J.; Planas, J,; Valls-Junyent, F. (eds.): Vinyes, vins i cooperativisme vitivinícola a Catalunya, Barcelona: Publicacions de l’Abadia de Montserrat. October 2015.

XVIIth World Economic History Congress in Kyoto

Some of the members of our SFS project participated on the XVIIth World Economic History Congress held in Kyoto (Japan) (3-7/08/2015).

8th ESEH Conference in Versailles

Some of the members of our SFS project participated on the 8th ESEH Conference held in Versailles (France) (30/06-03/07/2015).

Sustainable Farm Systems Project 2015 Annual Meeting

(26-27/06/2015) we celebrated the Sustainable Farm Systems Project 2015 Annual Meeting in Montefrío, Granada. .

Working Paper: A proposal for a workable analysis of Energy Return On Investment (EROI) in agroecosystems. Part I: Analytical approach

Our working paper A proposal for a workable analysis of Energy Return On Investment (EROI) in agroecosystems. Part I: Analytical approach is now available.

Elena Galán del Castillo defended her PhD Thesis

(27/02/2015) Elena Galán del Castillo defended her PhD Thesis Socio Ecological Transition of Organic Agricultures in Catalonia (late 19th-20th century), directed by Enric Tello.

Interviewing Enric Tello

Our main researcher Enric Tello has been interviewed on ruedha, the Sección Ibérica de la Sociedad Europea de Historia Ambiental/Seção ibérica da Sociedade Européia de História Ambiental. The interview was carried out by Roc Padró and Inés Marco.

Elena Galán del Castillo wins the IX Premio de Historia Agraria

The Sociedad Española de Historia Agraria awarded Elena Galán with the IX Premio de Historia Agraria for her work Rabassaires, formiguers and caganers: comparing two nutrient balances c.1860 and c.1920 in the northeast of the Iberian Peninsula.

Andrea Montero Mora joins our SFS team in Barcelona

Andrea Montero, professor at the Universidad de Costa Rica, joins the Economic History PhD Programme of the University of Barcelona and the project Sustainable Farm Systems, carrying out a research on the coffee sector in Costa Rica.

Bruno Vittoretto joins our SFS team in Barcelona

Bruno Vittoretto, PhD student at the Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (Brazil), comes to the Economic History and Institutions Department of the UB as visiting predoctoral researcher. He will stay for the 2014/2015 academic year, linked with the project Sustainable Farm Systems.

The Basic World of Environmental History

New book by Agnoletti, M. and Neri Serneri, S. (eds.), The Basic World of Environmental History, Berlin: Springer, 2014. With the collaboration of Enric Tello and Gabriel Jover Avellà.

Sustainable Farm Systems Project 2014 Annual Meeting

(13-14/07/2015) we celebrated the Sustainable Farm Systems Project 2014 Annual Meeting in Guimaraes, Portugal. .

Second World Congress of Environmental History in Guimaraes

Some of the members of our SFS project participated on the 2nd World Congress of Environmental History held in Guimaraes (Portugal) (8-12/07/2015).

Lecture by Francesc Valls-Junyent

El comerç atlàntic. El bacallà i l'alimentació a Barcelona, s. XVII-XIX; at the Centre de Recerca i Debat, Diàlegs d'Història Urbana i Patrimoni, MUHBA. (16/07/2014)

Lecture by Raimon Soler

Rabassaires i Republicans. La mobilització pagesa al districte del Vendrell, 1931-1936; at the Arxiu Comarcal del Baix Penedès.(13/06/2014)

Lecture by Raimon Soler

Vilafranca al primer terç del segle XX; at the Arxiu Comarcal de l'Alt Penedès.(18/03/2014)

Lecture by Josep Colomé

Vilafranca i el Penedès en el segle XIX (economia i societat); at the Arxiu Comarcal de l'Alt Penedès.(12/03/2014)

Sustainable Farm Systems Project 2013 Annual Meeting

(25-26/08/2015) we celebrated the Sustainable Farm Systems Project 2013 Annual Meeting in Munich, Germany. .

ESEH 2013 biennial conference ‘Circulating Natures: Water-Food-Energy’

Our research project Sustainable Farm Systems organized two sessions on "Socio-ecological transitions in agricultural systems, Part I and Part II" at the ESEH 2013 biennial conference, which will be celebrated in Munich, Germany (20-24/08/2013).

Comptes de senyor, comptes de pagès. Les comptabilitats en la història rural

New book by Saguer, E.; Jover, G.; Benito, H. (eds.), Comptes de senyor, comptes de pagès. Les comptabilitats en la història rural, Girona: Associaciód’Història Rural/Documenta Universitaria/Universitat de Girona, 2013. With the collaboration of Jordi Planas and Enric Saguer.

XIV Congreso Internacional de Historia Agraria.

XIV SEHA International Congress (Badajoz, 7-9/11/2013).

De la vinya a la fassina. JORNADES D'ESTUDI. Vinyes, vins i cooperativisme vitivinícola a Catalunya

L'Espluga de Francolí. 27-28/09/2013.

Collaboration University of Barcelona - Institute of Social Ecology (IFF) in Viena

Enric Tello (University of Barcelona) will carry out a 6 month stay (from january to july 2013) at the Institute of Social Ecology (IFF) - University of Klagenfurt in Viena.

Viticultura i cooperativisme. La comarca d'Igualada, 1890-1939

New book by Jordi Planas, Viticultura i cooperativisme. La comarca d'Igualada, 1890-1939, Barcelona: Publicacions de l'Abadia de Montserrat, 2013.

Collaboration University of Barcelona - University of Saskatchewan

Geoff Cunfer (University of Saskatchewan) has finished a research stay of 6 months (gener-juliol 2012) at the Departament History and Economic Institutions of the University of Barcelona.

Sustainable Farm Systems Project 2012 Annual Meeting

In the month of June we celebrated the Sustainable Farm Systems Project 2012 Annual Meeting in Bogota, Colombia. .

PhD dissertation

Last 14/06/2012, Lluís Parcerisas defended his PhD titled "Land use changes and landscape evolution in El Maresme County (Barcelona) from 1850 to 2007", and directed by Enric Tello.

Fourth Workshop on Social Metabolism of Agricultural Systems

(University of Barcelona, 9-10/02/2012)

XIII Congreso de Historia Agraria

Congreso internacional de la SEHA
(Lleida, 12-14/05/2011)

Workshop Investigaciones de Historia Ambiental

(Zaragoza, 16-17/12/2010)

Vè congrés d'Història Agrària dels Països Catalans

Els usos de l'aigua en la història.
(Barcelona, 15-17/12/2010)

Third Workshop on Social Metabolism of Agricultural Systems

(Social Ecology Center IFF Viena, Austria, 18/11/2010)

Ester Boserup Conference 2010

A Centennial Tribute: Long term trajectories in population, gender relations, land use and the environment
(Viena, Austria, 15-17/11/2010)

Rural History International Conference 2010

(University of Sussex, Brighton, UK, 13-16/09/ 2010)

Book tribute to Ramon Garrabou

Ricardo Robledo (ed.): Sombras del progreso. Las huellas de la historia agraria, Barcelona: Ed. Crítica, 2010.

Second Workshop on Social Metabolism of Agricultural Systems

(University of Barcelona, 27-29/05/2010)