by Karen Karp
When a colleague noticed on Instagram that I had taken a lot of pictures of Portugal over the last year, he referred KK&P to a Spanish-Portuguese company that develops regional branding strategies all over the world. They are working with the Mayor (or “President”) of the county of Idanha-a-Nova, in Portugal’s Castelo Branco district, located in the North Region and Beira Interior Sul, on a comprehensive strategy to bring new residents (or bring previous residents back) to the area. In the 1970s, the region boasted nearly 37,000 people, and by 2011 less than 10,000 remained.
The strategy is being built on the rich agriculture history and conditions from which a range of delicious specialty items are produced: wine and olive oil, of course, as well as soft ripe cheese, organic beef, watermelons, and blueberries. I will be mentoring the sustainable beef company as part of my introduction to the broader work of the region, hoping to soon become part of the Mayor’s team. The social and environmental conditions are perfectly aligned to revive Idanha-a-Nova as a vibrant region and economy for agriculture and food, and I am honored and excited to be a part of this work.
Below are some photos I took during my visit to the area.
-
Social Media Expands our Footprint: Working in Portugal
-
A typical rural landscape view in the area, with valleys with mountains surrounding the region.
-
The region is a “frontier,” of 1416 square kilometers and 17 parishes. Romans, Visigoths, Moors and Spaniards (among others) have passed through or settled here, with many influences still present today. The regional map illustrates the specialty foods produced here.
-
While cork is not a dominating crop in this region, as it is in Alentejo, there are cork forests all throughout Portugal. The numbers indicate the year it was last harvested—and when they can be harvested again.
-
Spring wildflowers are also prolific in the region, adding color to the dynamic landscape.
-
Beef herds are small and varied, and a local slaughterhouse accommodates every farmer - with room to grow.
-
One of the cow breeds I came across was Limousine, a breed that’s certainly worth a closer look.
-
This is the Business School of Idanha-a-Nova, which is hosting the accelerator program run by BGI, which is a business acceleration institute affiliated with MIT, located at a technical college in Lisbon.
-
One of the Idanha accelerator businesses is an incubator farm. The farm manager grew up in the region and has returned to run the farm. His t-shirt hails from his time working for Microsoft in Seattle.
-
Arlindo Cardosa is the founder of Natures Field, currently the name of the organic beef company. Here Arlindo is showing the class his packaging.
-
Another gorgeous view of the region. The mountain in the background is Monsanto, with a town of the same name. “The most Portuguese of Portuguese towns,” I’m told. I hope to visit next time I’m there.
-
Gonçalo Amorim and Ana Oliveira, a blueberry farmer who is in the accelerator to fast-track a special grafting process she’s designed to build hardiness and expand yield of her mirtolos (blueberries).
-
This year’s crop, ready to ripen. They harvest in June and August. (We also had some of last year’s blueberries, frozen, which made for a terrific snack on a hot day.)
-
Fruit trees proliferate the region. Here some peaches were forming in an orchard in mid-May.
-
And this is the entire class, comprising 6 businesses who will be working hard for 12 weeks this summer and fall to accelerate the growth of their Idanha-a-Nova agriculture and food enterprises. With us here (wearing the suit!) is the Mayor of Idanha-a-Nova, Armindo Jacinto, who himself is a farmer.
