Carmen Staats, agroecological farmer at Lousã and vendor at Mercadinho do Botânico – Lousã, Coimbra

Carmen, a 64 year old German and former medical student, comes from a long line of farmers. In the early 1980s, she and her partner made the unconventional choice to settle in the Lousã mountains of Portugal, first farming for their family and later for commercial purposes. At a time when many rural Portuguese were emigrating to Switzerland, Germany, and France, the arrival of two Germans in a remote village left locals puzzled.

She was one of the first people in the region to practise organic farming, something that initially seemed “out of this world”. She recalls an episode of an octogenarian neighbour who, in an attempt to help, applied chemicals to her vegetable garden during the night. Over time, she has noticed a shift in attitudes, as her neighbors now seek her advice, saying, “We don’t want to use so many pesticides anymore.”

Carmen is mainly dedicated to small-scale horticulture, favouring diversity over large volumes. This variety, she explains, helps to mitigate risks and sustain the ecosystem. An advocate of short circuits, she sells directly to the consumer: “It’s fairer for both me and the consumer.” She is critical of supermarket chains, which she believes have exploited farmers unfairly: “What they’ve done to farmers is practically a crime.”

Carmen also values collective work. She helped organize a farmers’ sales and exchange market in Lousã, which later expanded to the Mercadinho do Botânico in Coimbra, held at the city’s Botanical Garden. The Mercadinho featured 16-20 producers, both men and women, some certified organic and others adhering to ecological practices. To maintain product quality and consumer trust, the farmers implemented a participatory certification system, where they visited one another’s farms. This system, Carmen notes, “worked very well.”

The Mercadinho closed during the COVID-19 pandemic and has not been revived, but some of its vendors, including Carmen, now sell at the Calhabé Market in Coimbra.

Carmen says she didn’t face significant barriers as a woman in farming. “They didn’t exist for me, they didn’t.” Initially, some tractor drivers hesitated to take orders from a woman, but she quickly earned their respect. She acknowledges that being a foreigner may have given her a special status: “They accepted behaviour from me that they certainly wouldn’t accept from their wives.”

Over the years, Carmen has observed a cultural shift in gender roles within rural communities. When she first arrived, women rarely entered cafés, a reflection of broader societal norms rather than rural life specifically. In small-scale farming, she sees more women than men, especially in tasks like horticulture and fruit growing, which involve smaller-scale, labor-intensive work. Men typically handle tractor operations and other heavy-duty tasks, while women manage the home and vegetable gardens. “Women are fantastic at multitasking,” Carmen says, juggling fieldwork, domestic responsibilities, and market sales.

Among older generations, she notes a clear but respectful division of labor between men and women, with tasks complementing each other. Younger generations, however, show more equitable distribution of responsibilities. “The spirit is very different among the young,” she observes.

Carmen is critical of agricultural policies that prioritize imports and exports at the expense of local food systems. She opposes exporting to poorer countries in ways that undermine their agriculture. Instead, she advocates for policies that support direct sales and short supply chains, which she sees as a sustainable path forward for small-scale farmers.