CERTRA

The production of cereals for bread-making declined in the 1980s because Portugal entered the  European Community and local actors, their structures, and organisations were unable to compete in the open market.

This project aims to lay the foundations for the return to local production of cereals for human consumption in Portugal, and to support an integrated process for developing value chains based on traditional germplasm, establishing relationships among production, processing, transformation, and quality consumption.

This project also intends to test ways to make family farming viable by developing a production differentiation strategy (organic production methods, use of traditional varieties, terroir). These forms involve new approaches to the market, aligning production with new trends, building a short food supply chain, and targeting quality markets. One possibility for adding value to traditional cereals is integrating high-quality bread (traditional-variety cereal, organic production method) into public procurement processes for schools and other institutions.

This dynamic opens the door to continuing educational work with children, young people, and adults on healthy eating, sustainability, agrobiodiversity, and informed and responsible consumption.

Keywords: Sustainable food; Traditional cereals

Principal Investigator: Vânia Ribeiro (vania.ribeiro@ipleiria.pt)

Research Team

• ciTechCare: Cidália Pereira (cidalia.pereira@ipleiria.pt)
• LSRE-LCM-IPLeiria – Laboratory of Separation and Reaction Engineering – Laboratory of Catalysis and Materials: Daniela Vaz,

Duration: 60 months (2023 – 2028)