SINDICATO LABREGO GALEGO - COMISIONS LABREGAS

Their core work

Sindicato Labrego Galego (Galician Farmers' Union) is a trade union representing small-scale farmers and rural workers in Galicia, northwest Spain — one of Europe's most agriculturally distinct and rural regions. Their day-to-day work involves defending farmers' rights, supporting the formation of cooperatives, and advocating for sustainable land management practices. In EU research consortia, they function as a practitioner end-user partner: they bring direct access to active farming communities, ground-level knowledge of rural social dynamics, and the credibility to test, validate, and disseminate research findings among real farmers. They are not a research body — their value is the authentic farmer perspective and the organised rural constituency they represent.

What they specialise in

How they've shifted over time

SLG's first H2020 project (RESFARM, 2015–2017) placed them in the energy-agriculture intersection, likely contributing as a farmers' representative on the practical and financial barriers to renewable energy on farms — a topic somewhat outside their organisational core. Their second project (BOND, 2017–2020) pulled them squarely back to their institutional identity: cooperative development, social capital, and collective organisation of farming communities. The shift from energy-adjacent participation toward social and organisational research reflects either a deliberate return to their natural expertise or simply that BOND was the better strategic fit for their mission.

Their trajectory points toward being a specialist practitioner partner in projects about rural organisation, collective governance, and cooperative development — not a technology or engineering partner.

How they like to work

SLG has never coordinated an H2020 project — both participations are as consortium partners, which is consistent with their profile as a practitioner organisation rather than a research or management body. Despite only two projects, they accumulated 28 unique partners across 13 countries, reflecting their willingness to join large, multi-country CSA consortia. Working with them likely means a responsive stakeholder who can mobilise farmer networks for surveys, pilots, and dissemination, but who will not drive technical work packages.

With 28 unique consortium partners across 13 countries from just two projects, SLG has a broader European footprint than their small portfolio suggests — a direct result of the large multi-country formats of both CSA projects they joined. No geographic concentration is identifiable beyond their Galician base.

What sets them apart

SLG is a genuine agricultural trade union, not an academic or consulting body, which makes them a rare and credible practitioner voice in farming research consortia — reviewers and project evaluators value this authenticity. They are rooted in Galicia, a peripheral Atlantic region with strong small-farm culture and distinct agri-food traditions, giving them access to rural communities that mainstream Spanish or Central European partners cannot easily reach. For consortium builders needing a Spanish farmer organisation that can facilitate community engagement, co-design, or dissemination among actual land managers, SLG is a pragmatic fit.

Highlights from their portfolio

• BOND
  SLG's highest-funded project and the one that most directly aligns with their organisational mission — building cooperative social capital and network capacity across European farming organisations.
• RESFARM
  Demonstrates SLG's cross-sector reach into the energy-agriculture nexus, showing their ability to represent farmer interests in discussions about renewable energy financing and rural investment barriers.