Network for the Promotion of Small-Scale Food Processing (RITA)

Innovation and relocation are fundamental aspects for the viability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) and individuals involved in food processing. Shared workshops, small slaughterhouses and cutting rooms, and other facilities adapted to artisanal and small-scale processes are innovative and, in many cases, pioneering initiatives for the sustainable development of the SME sector. These innovative practices address important technical aspects, but also social, management, and governance aspects that are necessary, among other things, to provide healthy food, achieve fair prices, and positively impact rural employment.

The Network for the Promotion of Small-Scale Food Processing seeks to foster a supportive ecosystem for those who process food on a small and medium scale, and to improve the population's access to healthy, quality food that is environmentally friendly and fair to the people who produce it and to promote the socio-economic development of rural areas.

RITA is a project promoted by 6 entities with extensive experience in initiatives for the development of territorialized food systems, the articulation of collective processes and the promotion of agroecology: ARCA (Associació d'Iniciatives Rurals i Marítimes de Catalunya), Germinando, Extremadura Alimenta, Sindicato Labrego Galego, SEAE (Sociedad Española de Agricultura Ecológica y Agroecología) and ISEC-UCO (Instituto de Sociología y Estudios Campesinos – Grupo PAIDI SEJ 179 de la Universidad de Córdoba).