i This document resulted partially from the participation of its author in a training program LEAP – Policy Development Initiative of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. The content and opinions expressed in this document are the sole responsibility of its author and do not necessarily reflect the policy or position of the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation. From this research project several articles have been published (Delgado, 2021a, 2021b).

ii The Portuguese expression coined by the National Portuguese Statistics Institute is “Superficie Agricola Utilizada” and it means the amount of agricultural land farmed.

iii Existing data goes back to 2009, i.e., the last Agro-food national census.

iv Portugal lived a dictatorial period from 1933 to 1974, known as “New State” (Estado Novo).

v Source: http://www.cm-tvedras.pt/economia/ (accessed in January 2021). (accessed in January 2021).

vi Each Portuguese municipality is administrative structured in several civil parishes, which have a deliberative and executive body. Civil Parish ruled several sectors as, e.g., local roads, social care, public kinder gardens, local green spaces, etc.. In some cases, they manage land as well.

vii In 2005, Mouans-Sartoux (France, 10 000 inhabitants) bought a 4ha of land to build a municipal land reserve. Four years later, the municipality started a vegetable garden to supply three local school canteens. After a successful first year, the municipality hires a farmer under the status of “municipal agent”. In parallel, the municipality invested in farm equipment (tractor, irrigation, greenhouses, cold room, etc.). In the first year (2009), the production – 10ton of vegetables – covered 30% of the needs of the school canteens. In 2012, it amounted to 50% (15ton). In 2015, it covered 85% of demand (based on 1400 daily meals). In 2016, the municipality bought two more hectares of land to produce 100% of the vegetables consumed in school canteens (Rodrigo & Rioufol, 2017).

viii For better understanding of common land ownership, we suggest reading the paper A legal anthropological approach to communal lands in Portugal (Brouwer, 1999).