“Imagine a world where we did not impoverish the earth by producing and consuming the way we do. A world where we had not disconnected from the pace of harvests or forgotten the freshness of food. Imagine a world where we did not heap our plates with sad, pale and insipid produce”. This is the start of the manifesto by Arrels, “the world’s largest farmers’ market”, according to its backers from the SOM group. The initiative aims to tap this online project to connect farmers and stockbreeders from the countryside directly with consumers.

L’Olivera is one of the producers that has signed up to this project developed in the midst of a pandemic in response to the obvious need to reach out to nature and consume local, quality food.

But what is Arrels? Arrels is a collective endeavour, an online farmers’ market that with just one click can put small producers from around the country in contact with us all. Arrels is also keen to build a strong, critical and organised community with state-of-the-art technology to help change the world while there is still time. To that end it is also a website, a quarterly magazine and an online radio station. In short, it is an outreach platform for a lifestyle based on the values of nature and the rural world for everyone who feels part of it.

Arrels is a meeting place currently seeking its first 5,000 founders to form the basis of a strong community that can make the project feasible and ensure it does not need to depend on external investors and can be at the service of producers and consumers. Once it reaches 5,000 partners, Arrels will go to market and we will all be able to shop online.

It is very easy to join. More information can be found at ARRELS.