The Montado do Freixo do Meio is a space for cooperation, inclusion, personal development, work, and community building.

In 1990, a new generation took on the challenge of managing Herdade do Freixo do Meio, following the reversal of the expropriation resulting from the 1975 revolution.

Agroecology was chosen as the guiding ethic, returning to the medieval agroecosystem of the Montado as a way to address the present and build the future.

The Montado do Freixo do Meio is a space for cooperation, inclusion, personal development, work, and community building. Its mission is based on excellence, transparency, knowledge, and innovation within an agroforestry model enriched today by the perspectives of science, permaculture, and food sovereignty.

Daily, the goal is to improve the relationship between human activity and resources: water, soil, biodiversity, energy, science, and culture. The focus is clearly on the real efficiency of processes and the use of natural resources, as well as on reducing waste and ecological footprint.

A team of 30 collaborators interacts with the ecosystem, producing over 300 own-grown organic food items, processed on the estate and distributed through a model of agroecological production and consumption close to the community, including an online store, a physical store located on the estate, and a stall at the Montemor-o-Novo Producer’s Market.

The estate includes twelve micro-agro-industries, a restaurant/canteen, and rural accommodation.

In terms of management strategies, Montado do Freixo do Meio is composed of four types: a central area of traditional Montado with 300 ha (52% of the total) with a focus on production, another southern area of 97 ha (17%) of mixed Montado with a focus on conservation and biodiversity, four areas of plant production and experimental agroforests totaling 44 ha (8%), and a northern area of 135 ha (23%) for future Montado, where various techniques for establishment and maintenance of plantings will be tested to minimize the effects of climate change.

In addition to the productive and social components, there is also a strong experimental and demonstrative component. In this sense, efforts have always been made to host and promote various research activities that allow, on one hand, validation or counteraction of implemented actions and, on the other hand, better understanding of the repercussions of these actions on the various systems that make up this territory.

Montado do Freixo do Meio has been and continues to be the subject of numerous studies, investigations, collaborations, and projects, currently maintaining various partnerships with universities and other entities such as the University of Évora, the University of Lisbon, the University of Coimbra, the Catholic University of Porto, INIAV, etc. It is also a Learning Center of the University of Gastronomic Sciences – Slow Food (UNISG).