Expo / Ibiza
Going to ground
Though more readily associated with clubbing than growing crops, the Balearic island of Ibiza is experiencing an exponential growth in small-scale agricultural activity, the seeds of which are mainly being sown by expats disillusioned with the corporate grind and wasteful lifestyle of mainland Europe and beyond. These new smallholders are investing their time and money in sustainable and biodynamic practices, typically influenced by age-old, organic and collaborative concepts. Monocle crisscrosses the White Island to visit these innovative farms and meet the growers whose fertile imaginations could offer solutions for how food is produced and consumed across the world at large.
There’s a seductive, mythological side to Ibiza. Readily embraced, earnestly retold, many of the stories have a self-fulfilling sparkle to them. The multitudes gathered to gaze at the rocky islet of Es Vedrà, for example, say that it’s magnetic. Another much-loved maxim claims that Ibiza accepts or rejects people according to their intentions, while others quote the probably apocryphal line from Nostradamus: “Ibiza will be the final refuge on Earth.” Indeed, every time the world seems to teeter on the brink, the island welcomes waves of second…
