Slow Food is a global, grassroots organisation, founded in 1989 to prevent the disappearance of local food cultures and traditions. Slow Food has grown into a global movement involving over 160 countries. As part of the organisation, the Slow Food’s Earth Market programme creates a commercial channel for local ecotypes, suited to limited demand, bringing together producers and artisans who can interact directly with customers, explaining who they are, how they make their products and how they set their prices. 

In Slovakia, the 'Slow Food Pressburg' pioneered application of the Slow Food Earth Market Code in 2014 thanks to funding from the EU LIFE programme. A few years later, the association was approached by farmers and activists from Bátovce who wanted to find solutions for some of the difficulties in this rural area, in particular ensuring food self-sufficiency of the local population, providing access to high-quality food and a niche market for local farmers to sell their products, and attracting visitors.

In the municipality of Bátovce, the Local Action Group (LAG) Tekov Hont and local farmers associations joined forces to develop a project aiming to:

Local farmers associations approached the LAG Tekov Hont in 2019 asking for support to establish a new market to satisfy the needs of the village. The LAG engaged the municipality of Bátovce in the process of finding common solutions, including finding the right place for the market. The municipality offered the use of an old, empty farmhouse and yard building, previously reconstructed with funding from the EU Rural Development Programme for Slovakia for 2007-2013. 

In addition to local cooperation between public and private organisations, Bátovce received support from 'Slow Food Pressburg' to learn how to replicate the Earth Market Code. Capacity building provided by the LAG to local farmers was key to ensuring implementation of the code. 

The market opened in 2019 and the process to obtain the code started, including its incorporation into the legal framework of the municipality and application of the principles. The process of obtaining the final code certificate and full recognition of the Slow Food global network ended in May 2022. 

The Bátovce farmers' market principles imply that all products come directly from farmers and producers in the region, who guarantee the products’ origin and quality, not only from the agri-food sector, but also others such as natural cosmetics. 

This initiative is based on the needs, skills and resources of the local population which make it sustainable. The knowledge transfer from the Slow Food association in Bratislava shows that replicating good practices on a small scale in other territories can be very beneficial to build sustainable initiatives based on success stories. 

The capacity building provided by the LAG and the political will of the municipality have paved the way for local producers to apply the Slow Food code and establish a market where residents can find local products of guaranteed quality and give a new life to an empty building.