Projecto Agroecológico do Soajo
Projecto Agroecológico do Soajo is a community initiative in the Peneda-Gerês National Park promoting agroecology, permaculture training and…
Permaculture
Permaculture found fertile ground in Portugal, from Várzea da Gonçala's smallholding in the western Algarve to Terra Alta's courses near Sintra. Design with nature, learn by doing, and visit the places where it works.
Projects in this focus
Encosta do Paço
Encosta do Paço is a permaculture and environmental education project on a biodynamic wine estate near Arcos de Valdevez, in the Minho regio…
Peneda Eco Farm
Peneda Eco Farm is a certified organic family farm and ecotourism project located near Peneda-Gerês National Park, offering B&B accommodatio…
Atelier Terra Viva
Quinta Terra Viva is an agroecological farm in Baião that produces a wide variety of certified organic seasonal vegetables using soil regene…
Permaculture in Portugal
Permaculture arrived in Portugal with the people who came looking for cheap land and long growing seasons, and it stayed because the design problems here are real ones: thin soil, hard summer rain that runs off instead of soaking in, and five dry months to plan around. Swales, keyline design and water retention landscapes get used here because they have to be.
Várzea da Gonçala works a smallholding in the western Algarve. Terra Alta teaches courses near Sintra. Between them sit farms, land projects and design practices at every scale, several of which run the full Permaculture Design Certificate.
If you want to learn rather than read, the project pages list who teaches and who takes volunteers, and our events calendar carries the courses with dates attached. Related focuses: regenerative agriculture, syntropic farming and agroforestry.