María (she/her) holds an MSc in Urban Environmental Management with a minor in sustainable food policy from Wageningen University & Research. With a finance background, she currently works as a Junior Officer for Circular Food Systems at ICLEI World Secretariat, where she translates theory into policy-informed recommendations for equitable urban system transformations.

Image of graffiti on a wall in Almeria, written in Spanish, 'no hay mejor regalo que el futuro' - there is no better gift than the future
Essay
The hidden cost of Europe’s affordable food: a story of informality and resilience
Affordable food, particularly fresh produce, is a key feature of food system goals in the EU, but the provision of year-round fresh fruit and vegetables relies on a growing system that offers little stability to its workers. Researcher María Alonso Martínez asks what we can learn from the resilience of the workers in this community, and how to reconcile affordability with the precarity it seems to require. María Alonso Martínez is Junior Officer in Circular Development at the ICLEI World Secretariat. This research was carried out at Wageningen University & Research, Netherlands. 
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