Understanding
Understanding digs deep into the root causes of inequality in agriculture by mapping the barriers and strengths that women-led and queer farming initiatives face. Grounded in feminist and human rights-based research, this work uncovers how power, identity, and resistance shape rural life. Through life histories, intergenerational dialogue, and participatory methods, we center the lived experiences of Women-Led Initiatives (WLIs) to build a shared, transformative vision for just and inclusive food systems.
Kicking Off with Collective Power: 2023 Agres Inception Workshop
The SWIFT project began in open dialogue—with farmers, activists, researchers, and organisers from 26 Women-Led Initiatives (WLIs) across 15 countries coming together for the Inception Workshop in March 2023. Held in Agres, Spain, this dynamic gathering set the tone for the entire project: participatory, feminist, and grounded in lived experience.
Over five days, participants co-created the values, concepts, and priorities that shape SWIFT’s work. Through collective mapping, storytelling, and strategy sessions, they identified shared challenges—like structural exclusion, lack of visibility, and extractivist food systems—as well as the transformative power of feminist agroecology, mutual care, and grassroots resistance.
The workshop laid the foundation for long-term collaboration and research. It sparked connections among WLIs for future peer exchanges, clarified how feminist and human rights-based approaches will guide the work, and helped select 10 initiatives for deeper study.
This wasn’t just a meeting. It was a moment of political alignment, setting the stage for collective transformation in Europe’s agri-food systems.
Explore the outcomes, voices, and energy that emerged—this is where SWIFT truly began.
Soil Sisters Podcast Series: Voices Rooted in Resilience
Soil Sisters is a podcast series born from the SWIFT project, where farmers, activists, and feminist researchers share grounded stories from across Europe and beyond. Each episode brings listeners into the lived realities of women and queer people shaping agroecology—from migrant farmworkers in Galicia to feminist seed keepers in Georgia. Produced in multiple languages with local soundscapes and original music, Soil Sisters is as polyphonic as the movements it reflects. Tune in for stories of care, struggle, innovation, and hope—rooted in land, and rising toward justice.
