The Farm Reviving Agriculture in Party Capital Ibiza

There’s a place in Europe where the shift away from agriculture is painfully clear: Ibiza. On the island where over 90% of food is imported, Juntos Farm is trying to restore agriculture and strengthen communities.

Ibiza is a stage where the world’s contradictions play out in miniature. The wealthy perch in their seaside fortresses, the hippies, old and new, parade their caftans and shamanic uses of ayahuasca. Clubs are filled with the energy of the youth and the indulgence of the rich, while families on package tours seek temporary escape to a corner of paradise. Meanwhile, ibicencos–once largely people of the land–have abandoned their fields for the promise of better wages serving cocktails or driving taxis.  The island serves as a mirror of the forces tearing the seams of the modern world: inequality, the fading of local culture, and the commodification of livelihoods for the highest bidder.

Farming in Ibiza is under threat

Since 2017, Ibiza has welcomed more than 2,000 tourists for every 100 residents. Largely because of this massive tourist trade, real estate and infrastructure development has surged by nearly 61% between 1990 and 2012. Meanwhile, agricultural production has plummeted. Only 11% of the island is currently used for agriculture, compared to 46.6% just four years ago. As centuries-old farming wisdom vanishes, the island becomes entirely dependent on food imports.  According to some estimates, only 2% of the food consumed in Ibiza is actually produced on the land.¹

In response to this crisis, Christian Jochnick, a Swedish entrepreneur, and Finn Harries, a British architect and environmental advocate, are looking to rebuild the agricultural sector on the island.  I first set foot in Ibiza for our documentary Farming, Redefined, in order to interview them both. Christian was born into a wealthy family, and after finishing a degree in finance and a couple of years walking the corridors of Goldman Sachs’ mergers and acquisitions department, decided to move to Ibiza to give his children a better life. Together with Finn, he founded Juntos Farm, an organic and regenerative farm project. Their vision is rooted in the idea that the island’s miniature blend of social, economic, and environmental systems could serve as a laboratory for global change.

Regenerative farming aims to produce food while improving the health of the land. Find out more here.

In our conversations, both Christian and Finn shared their insights on the challenges of revitalising Ibiza’s agricultural sector.  “Out of all the land available in Ibiza, only 10% is being farmed. The rest is left fallow,” Finn explained. “That’s because farmers can no longer afford to farm it.” The island, which once thrived on self-sufficiency, now imports around 90% of its food.^2,3 “So if we were to see any sort of disruption, then we would find ourselves in a really vulnerable place where we have maybe two or three days of food left,” said Finn.

"If we were to see any sort of disruption, then we would find ourselves in a really vulnerable place where we have maybe two or three days of food left."

Before the boom in tourism in Ibiza, the island’s main exports included almond, carob, olive oil and salt (pictured). Photo via El Salinas, Ibiza. 

The abandonment of agriculture is not unique to Ibiza. Across Europe, only 4% of the workforce is involved in agriculture. In the US, just 2%. Christian emphasised that this shift is not just about lifestyle changes; it’s about an agricultural system that drives farmers into monocultures and dependency on supermarkets, creating a structure that makes small, diversified farming unfeasible. “If you’re a diversified farmer with livestock, grains, and vegetables, you simply can’t run to seven different cooperatives,” he said. Without access to a central cooperative, small farmers are left isolated, unable to tap into shared resources, better pricing, and distribution networks that would help them achieve economies of scale. Without these, it becomes nearly impossible to sustain diverse operations and earn a living wage.^4,5

In 2023, tourism accounted for 84% of the island’s economy with a record 3.7 million people visiting the Ibiza and the smaller, neighbouring island of Formentera, whose combined population is around 160,000. Photo via Getty. 

The importance of networks for regenerative farmers

Juntos Farm seeks to become that central hub, connecting all of the farms on the island to purchase, process, and sell together. As well as a working farm, Juntos aims to become a centre providing tools, infrastructure, and a scalable model for other farms. Christian believes this new cooperative model can connect small-scale farms to a larger network that feeds into international markets. After all, it’s much easier for a company to source regenerative ingredients from Ibiza when they can connect with a group of collaborating farms rather than having to build and manage individual relationships with many smallholders.

Yet, I couldn’t help but wonder: could such a model work in regions without so many wealthy tourists coming to visit? Finn directly addressed this concern. “The key to success is tapping into the tourism industry,” he said. “Ironically, tourism has contributed to the decline of agriculture here. We are trying to reverse that—to make tourism one of the main drivers of agriculture in Ibiza.” Christian, too, is hopeful that this kind of change often starts in wealthier communities before eventually becoming accessible to broader populations.

“Ironically, tourism has contributed to the decline of agriculture here. We are trying to reverse that—to make tourism one of the main drivers of agriculture in Ibiza.”

Wealthy tourists and value-added goods 

Christian offered an example of how small changes could transform the economic prospects for farmers. “When we sell artichokes at the market, we get 1.50 euros per kilo. But if we put 250 grams of artichokes in a jar with olive oil, rosemary, and garlic and add a beautiful label, we can sell it for 12 euros. That’s 48 euros per kilo instead of 1.50,” Christian explained. 

The key idea is to shift from selling raw products to offering value-added goods, which can significantly increase profit for farmers. Juntos is part of a larger movement known as "new-generation cooperatives." These cooperatives focus not on raw commodities but on value-added products. For example, they help farmers turn their harvests into processed goods like jams, cheeses, or artisanal products, which can command higher prices. This model is more market-oriented than traditional cooperatives, which often have limited access to profitable markets. New-generation cooperatives offer a solution to the economic challenges faced by small farmers, creating sustainable opportunities in rural areas.

With regenerative farming, adaptation is key

Considering 35% of the global population already can’t afford a healthy diet, a 12 euro jar of artichokes isn’t going to be on most people’s shopping lists.⁶ But for the wealthy tourists that are coming to Ibiza with money to spend, this kind of value-added product can help them invest in food security and support traditional livelihoods. In different contexts, a business model like this might not work. But Juntos cooperative seems to be thriving - partly thanks to the tourist industry that had once made being a farmer in Ibiza so hard. 

This adaptation to the context in Ibiza could be seen as one of regenerative farming’s strengths. Rather than a strict set of rules to follow, small-scale farmers can use the guiding principles of better land management and workers’ fairness to uplift communities and protect the local environment––even on the island of a thousand contradictions.