Associação Terra Sintrópica

Website: Terra Sintropica

Terra Sintrópica is an organisation based in Mértola, Portugal, which works to regenerate the semi-arid region through agroforestry, local food production and community action. We were founded to address the challenges posed by the climate crisis, desertification and rural depopulation, creating solutions that regenerate soils, strengthen communities and produce healthy food.

Mission Statements

Personal Mission: To foster interaction between nature, agroecology, food and local communities in semi-arid regions through demonstration, research, monitoring, cooperation and education activities.

Project-Specific Mission: Terra Sintrópica’s mission to demonstrate that agroforestry can be productive, ecologically regenerative, and economically viable in Europe’s most climate-stressed drylands is inseparable from Root2Fork’s core ambition. We generate the foundational experimental data in the Mediterranean context, embody the multi-actor participatory model the project champions, and ensure that Root2Fork’s scientific findings translate into landscape-scale policy change across the Iberian Peninsula - precisely where the need is most urgent.

Project Role

Lead partner for the Living Lab approach in the Root2Fork consortium

Consolidating msAFS designs for maximized productivity.

• Mapping existing systems and developing a shared typology and glossary for msAFS designs
• Co-design and implementation of new msAFS
• Assessing the impact of biostimulants on plant resilience to hot drought under field conditions

Related projects and networks

• TUI Field to Fork - Alentejo Regenerativo

A three-year territorial development project launched in October 2024, led by Terra Sintrópica in partnership with TUI Care Foundation, the Municipality of Mértola, ESDIME, Cooperativa Chamar o Futuro, and Design Possibility, focused on promoting regenerative agricultural practices, strengthening the local economy, and revitalising social dynamics in the Baixo Alentejo through a multisectoral process covering agriculture, food, tourism and community. Activities include a food entrepreneurship incubator for regenerative business models, a food evolution training programme for farmers, cooks and school educators, regenerative food tours, and farmer exchange visits to pioneering regenerative projects in Portugal and Spain. This project is the direct operational expression of the stakeholder integration and multi-actor co-creation approach that Terra Sintrópica will apply in Root2Fork.

• La Red Ibérica de Territorios Regenerativos

An Iberian network of regenerative territories and landscape initiatives acting together to restore ecosystems, strengthen local economies, and foster social cohesion across Spain and Portugal, co-founded with Commonland, Fundación Aland, and ESDIME. Terra Sintrópica hosted the network’s second annual gathering in Mértola in 2025, where over 30 landscape leaders and practitioners from across Iberia met to exchange knowledge and co-design shared strategy - and through the network, Terra Sintrópica and ESDIME are co-developing a holistic landscape restoration plan covering more than 400,000 hectares in the Baixo Alentejo.