XXV th ESRS Congress 29 July – 1 August 2013 in Florence, Italy 1 Sustainable local food systems for rural resili- ence in time of crisis. The case of the Solidarity Economy Rural Dis- trict of the Southern Agricultural Park of Milan Alessandra Corrado 1 Abstract – In time of crisis changes in agriculture and farming as well as the emergence of grassroots in- novations based on social cooperation and collective learning are contributing to the organization of local food systems, oriented to a multidimensional sustain- ability. This paper analyse the case of the Solidarity Economy Rural District of the Southern Agricultural Park of Milan as an example of this kind of process of transition in agriculture in time of crisis. If on the one hand these changes are boosted by the growing de- mand for quality life expressed by citizens, or by crit- ical consumers, in the other hand the reproduction strategies of small and medium scale farms appear to be fundamental for the resilience of rural and peri- urban areas 1 . INTRODUCTION The transition process in agriculture is made up of differentiated trajectories of development. Repeas- antization and relocalization of food production and consumption characterize one of them. Changes in agriculture and farming as well as the emergence of grassroots innovations (Seyfang and Smith 2007) based on social cooperation and collective learning are contributing to the organization of local food sys- tems, oriented to a multidimensional sustainability, that is economic, environmental and social. These process are related on: a) the resilience of the economic, social and environmental fabric of rural and peri-urban areas, that is strictly connected to the reproduction of small and medium scale farms and, as a consequence, to their income sustainability and generating capacity (Dewulf et al. 2009); b) the growing demand for quality life expressed by citi- zens, in terms of food security, viability of rurality, leisure and sociability, well-being. This hypothesis will be test by the analysis of the case study of the Solidarity Economy Rural District (Distretto di Economia Solidale, DESR) of the South- ern Agricultural Park of Milan (Parco Agricolo Sud Mi- lano, PASM) in Italy. METHODOLOGY The empirical research has been carried out by qual- itative methods in order to investigate and under- stand subjective process and dynamics of collective 1 Alessandra Corrado is from the University of Calabria, Department of Political and Social Sciences, Rende, Italy (a.corrado@unical.it). organization that have been hypothesized to be the factors sustaining changes in food production and consumption process at local level. The main re- search focus has been on farmers localized in Milan province - in particular in the Ticino Park and the Southern Agricultural Park of Milan - collaborating inside the DESR-PAMS by the participation in food networks, collective projects and production plat- forms. The DESR has been created in 2008, by the common initiative of one of the first organic farm inside the PASM, the Solidarity-based Purchase Group(Gruppo di Acquisto Solidale, GAS) Baggio (the name of a neighborhood localized in the south-west zone of Mi- lan), the national Network of Solidarity Economy. Today the DESR has 20 organic farms (certified, not certified and in conversion), more than 40 GAS, eth- ical finance associations, 6 Municipalities and other actors. The aim of the Distretto di Economia Solidale (DES) is to build a local network of different subjects pro- moting critical consumption and solidarity economy, that is alternative economic circuits, inspired to soli- darity, reciprocity, ethic principles and sustainability. This system of relations aims to valorize local re- sources, sustain incomes, create labor opportunities and to ensure Milan food sovereignty, that is the satisfaction of food and quality life needs in the met- ropolitan area by the reconstruction of the urban-ru- ral relationship and local markets. The specific aims of the DESR-PASM is the safeguard and requalification of the Agricultural Park – the big- gest in Europe, with 47.000 hectares, 61 Municipali- ties, 1400 farms. The main risks for it are the urban sprawl, the deactivation and abandon of agriculture, the new infrastructures, the agro-fuels speculations, the structural (agro-food) crisis, the demand for changing the boundaries of the Park, the land-rent escalation (a lot of farmers as tenant). According to the 2010 census, of 1400 farms just 576 are into action. The most representative have 10-50 hectares (15% of the total SAU inside the Park). The farms biggest than 100 hectares are 84 (16% of the total) but represent the 55% of the to- tal SAU. In order to sustain the agriculture of the Park and the income of local farms, the requalification of agri-