Baling Naturally

Project

293516

Status

Submitted

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NEW EUROPEAN BAUHAUS AWARDS: existing completed examples

Project title

Baling Naturally

Full project title

Description

Baling Naturally is an environmental awareness campaign which seeks to replace the polypropylene yarn with sisal yarn, a natural fiber that is completely biodegradable. This campaign is directed at farmers and other members in the distribution channel of agricultural materials.

What was the geographical scope of your project?

Does your project address mainly urban or rural issues?

Does your project refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations?

Has your project benefited from EU programmes or funds?

Has your project won an EU prize?

Your project is fully completed?

When was your project implemented?

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes ?

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?

Please provide a summary of your project

“Transition to an Ecological Agriculture” is a movement created by AEPGA – an association aimed at preserving the Miranda Donkey breed. The movement promotes new, more sustainable and compatible practices that maintain biodiversity and respect environmental boundaries.

Hay bales are indispensable for AEPGA given the fact that it has donkeys under its charge, therefore representing a fundamental part of the animal’s upkeep. Conventional hay bales are wrapped with a polypropylene yard that is highly polluting and typically left behind on the fields. It’s in this context that “Baling Naturally” is born as a part of the movement “Transition to an Ecological Agriculture”. The campaign’s goal is to substitute the polypropylene yarn used in hay bales with sisal yarn, following the EU’s intentions to reduce plastic. Sisal is a completely biodegradable fiber (drawn from the Agave Sisalana plant) that has very interesting characteristics regarding its resistance, texture and flexibility. It has also been recognized as a fiber of the future by FAO.

The “Baling Naturally” campaign is based on demonstration, promotion and educational activities targeted mainly at farming associations.

Please indicate the main themes of your project with 5 key words

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of sustainability (including circularity) and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

1. Raise awareness of sellers and farmers who use polypropylene yarn for baling, in order to reduce plastic consumption, with concrete examples of its impact at a local and global level, to encourage and awaken a more conscious view of nature;

2. Carry out actions that demonstrate that the alternative - a natural and biodegradable fiber - is a substitute material with environmental benefits, at regional and national levels;

3. Contribute to changing farmers' perception of nature conservation. By replacing the yarn in their cereal production, the farmers can inspire others to adopt agroecological practices; 

4. Raise awareness in the school community to the problem of plastic in agriculture; 

5. Contribute to reaching goals set for Portugal regarding plastic reduction in the EU.

Results:

-1 website, created with an appealing visual identity and a clear and informative language;

-5 posts on social media, having exceeded the indicator of the number of shares (300);

-Production of 2 posters + 3 stickers (awareness material) that included information relevant to the plastic problem and very appealing illustrations;

-5 local demonstration actions carried out in Nordeste Transmontano, having applied all the sisal spools acquired and produced around 2,000 rolls of forage;

-60 membership certificates delivered;

-40 farmers reached and educated, between the demonstrations and the normal activities of the association, that include several field trips within the scope of environmental projects, and animal welfare campaigns with donkey breeders;

-30 surveys carried out with local farmers and donkey breeders;

-9 news articles on the project published in the media, including an educational poster in the printed version of Público newspaper;

The project's sustainability will be ensured through the "Farmers' Network for Ecological Transition".  

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience beyond functionality and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

The reduction of plastic in agriculture is the core aspect of this project. One of the purposes of eliminating the polypropylene yarn is to clean up the landscape and the environment. In addition to chemical pollution, polypropylene yarn visually pollutes the natural environment, degrading its aesthetic.

The technical team involved in this project included trained professionals in design and film-making, with a strong anthropological component. Their presence on the team allowed the production of appealing and good quality educational material, such as videos, posters, and information flyers, which, due to their aesthetic qualities and clarity of information, appealed to a wider audience, of different generations and social contexts.

The designers and film-makers include:

Illustraror Rui Ricardo - http://www.rui-ricardo.com/

Designer Vitor Claro - MAAN - https://www.behance.net/MAAN 

Video Gonçalo Mota - https://vimeo.com/atomgobi

Please give information about the key objectives of your project in terms of inclusion (equal opportunities, public participation, citizen engagement, co-design, universal design, accessibility, affordability, etc.) and how these have been met.
Please highlight how the project can be exemplary in this context

Objectives:

The project seeked to inform as much farmers as possible (as well as schools, municipalities and the general public) and include them in the ecological transition european countries are currently implementing. Planning to provide several practical demonstrations of the qualities of sisal yarn and encourage its use.

Outcome:

To date, it has been possible to educate 40 farmers through face-to-face demonstrations of the material.  Regarding publicizing the project through digital platforms, the project had a considerable impact, namely 665 likes and 301 shares in the 5 posts alluding to the project;  12,846 website views. The news article regarding the project in Público newspaper, had a circulation of 40,000 copies nationwide, and it was featured in many digital media platforms. 

Bearing in mind that polypropylene thread is widely used by all producers of forage species and that the plastic problem is on the order of the day and is a concern of Portuguese society, this project has an enormous potential for projection and multiplication.  Awareness material and the website will be available so that the project can progress and reach more people. Furthermore, if the COVID-19 pandemic didn´t hit our world, we would have been able to promote the project in our own cultural activities, since we reach many farmers at these events, namely at Feira do Naso (Miranda do Douro), Feira do Azinhoso (Mogadouro), Festival Sons&Ruralidades (Vimioso), National Horse Fair (Vale de Santarém), Feira da Golegā, Agro International Fair of Agriculture, Livestock and Food (Braga).

Please explain how these three dimensions have been combined in your project.
Please highlight how this approach can be exemplary

The project combined sustainability with social inclusion and aesthetics through the involvement of farmers with different backgrounds in agricultural training, school communities and municipalities in the project and providing them with an interesting, simple way to produce less waste and maintain the natural, unaltered beauty of the region's landscape.

Please give information on the results/impacts achieved by your project in relation to the category you apply for

?Quantas bobinas de sisal foram adquiridas?

All the sisal spools purchased were used, and around 2,000 rolls of hay and straw from oat and wheat were produced.  Most of these rolls were later purchased by the association from local producers who used the sisal thread in their balers. Regarding the awareness material produced during the project, it has had a greater reach on digital platforms than anticipated. In addition, we have received excellent feedback, given the amount of shares and comments made in regards to the project.

 

Please explain how citizens and civil society were involved in the in the design and/or implementation of the project.
Please also explain the benefits that derived from their involvement.

Citizens were mainly involved in the implementation phase of the project:
- Farmers were involved in the awareness and training actions;
- The school community (pupils and teachers) were involved by receiving the pedagogical kits;
- Municipal communities and various non-governmental entities were associated with the project, to which information was shared;
- The general public was involved by sharing content on the project's social networks and website.

Please explain what kind of global challenges the project addressed by providing local solutions

At a global level, cereal used to be an annual crop that was carried out by local farmers and was an extremely demanding activity dependent exclusively on human and animal strength. Recent agricultural mechanization has brought undeniable benefits in the efficiency of agricultural production, although, having an enormous impact on the environment.  The rye stalks previously used to close the cereal bunches, were replaced by machines that use an agricultural thread, commonly known as a string, composed entirely of plastic (polypropylene), whose decomposition in nature can take a long time (tens to hundreds of years).  It is estimated that around 120,000 tonnes of agricultural yarn are used annually within the EU and it can hardly be recycled after being used.  This thread is scattered across the Portuguese countryside, invariably ending up breaking into small fragments that originate microplastics.  Being aware of this problem and also having animals whose feeding requires the use of agricultural thread, we want to contribute to the creation of an alternative agriculture.  Thus, “Baling Naturally” emerged with the aim of encouraging the replacement of polypropylene yarn with sisal yarn among farmers and other stakeholders in the process of acquiring agricultural material, through the development of an environmental awareness campaign.

Please highlight the innovative character of the project as compared to mainstream practices in the field of the project.

The main innovation presented by this project is the replacement of a harmful material used daily in the farming activity with a biodegradable material. Another important aspect of the project was the way in which the demonstrations were implemented, through awareness activities and demonstrations on site with farmers which is a rare opportunity for education. It is also of importance to state that there were several local and national bodies involved in the implementation and exposure of this project.

Please explain to the potential of transferring the projects’ results or learnings to other interested parties and contexts.
Please provide clear documentation, communication of methodology and principles in this context.

Sharing the project results with the farming community and other public bodies will demonstrate the level of adherence and interest of the participants in ecological initiatives. In this sense, the surveys filled in at the end of the project are an important methodological tool, for the evaluation and drawing of conclusions, that can be transmitted to other interested parties.
Sharing this knowledge, both on community engagement and on the difficulties and opportunities encountered during project preparation and implementation can be useful for the improvement of future initiatives by AEPGA or by other entities, maximizing their potential and reducing setbacks.

Is an evaluation report or any relevant documentation available?

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