Looking for help starting a food forest in Spain

Hello dear permies,

We are 2 best friends from the Netherlands. We started a food forest (1.4 ha) here and we had a course/help on how to do it and have since planted a lot with great joy.
We wanted to start another in the Netherlands, however, prices are rather extreme here. (80.000,- per ha).

Our biggest motivation is to help the climate, and provide healthy/sustainable food for future generations and wild animals.
Since the prices are that much cheaper for farmland in Spain, we are thinking to have much more impact there and maybe buy something like 20 ha in the north of Spain. However, we know nothing of how to do this in Spain, regarding what kinda trees/plants/pioneer. We also don't know the regulations and how to deal with water.

We are looking for an organization/person that can help us with all the steps of making a food forest (search for land and design and build/plant).

Since we already have some experience, we would love to connect with somebody to ask questions about how to start a food forest in (north) Spain. We of course would pay for the help.  

We would like the help from local Spanish people, however, we only speak English.

Thank you very much in advanced.

Marielle & Simon

 

Hi, I'm from Andalousia, so different climate.
I know there's an active group in Catalonia, their climate might be more similar to yours.
They might have someone who speaks english.

https://www.permacultura-es.org/

Hi Abraham,

Thank you for your suggestion, we will try to contact them.

Abraham Palma wrote:Hi, I'm from Andalousia, so different climate.
I know there's an active group in Catalonia, their climate might be more similar to yours.
They might have someone who speaks english.

https://www.permacultura-es.org/

Many thanks Abraham for passing Simon our contact data!!!

Don't mention it.
I hope you can help better than me.

Research the Dehesa agriculture system. It is Spain's ancestral dry land agriculture and is basically an oak savannah where they run hogs and sheep between the trees. You want to focus on acorn oaks and cork oak as a foundation species. Without knowing a specific location, hardiness zone or annual rainfall, I can't really give any more specific plant types. Also do you have a commitment to natives or are you willing to use anything that works?

Contact https://bosquescomestibles.es. They're an organization specifically working on food forests in Spain. They are knowledgeable, have all the info you may need, and best of all, if you contribute to the org with 1 euro/month they personally help you design your food forest, taking into account the specificities of the zone your piece of land is located on (is not the same Andalucia than Galicia, for example). They do a great work!

Good morning,
We moved from Portugal to north Spain and we started a food forest here in Galicia last autumn. The climate is just amazing here for doing so. I just stumbled up on your post - I know it is from last year but we might be helpful if still needed? We are "permaculturegalicia.com".
Also we met Diego and Bosque, they run the YouTube channel "Foresnauts" and are english-speaking. They are placed near Pontevedra, Galicia, and have an over 10 year old, stunning food forest. They also do consulting.
If you are in the area, we would love to get in touch with you. It's great that more and more people are like-minded.
Cheers
Johanna and Benjamin

Look up Jaime Otero Páramo and Proyecto Dispersor on social media, etc. Syntropic farming, food forests, regen ag, etc. etc. in Galicia. A wealth of knowledge and contacts.