Own currencies can help protect local and regional offerings in the TEIKEI Agora from direct price comparability.
This is not about abolishing the euro.
It’s about making visible that a product in a community-supported supply system is not simply the same as a product in a supermarket.
A bell pepper from a local farm structure is not just a bell pepper.
It embodies soil care, relationships, planning, labor time, membership, responsibility, risk, and a different form of agriculture.
When this bell pepper is directly compared to one from a supermarket, a false comparison quickly arises.
An own currency can help interrupt this comparison.
A problem arises in many local supply systems:
Products are displayed in euros.
As a result, people automatically compare them with market prices.
For example:
This comparison seems simple but is often misleading.
Because many things are not visible in the supermarket price:
An own currency can change this logic.
It makes clear:
Here, you’re not just buying goods.
Here, you’re supporting a supply structure.
One example is alfalfa as a farm’s own currency.
Alfalfa can be used so that products are not directly compared with the euro price in the supermarket.
If a bell pepper costs €2.50 in the supermarket and a bell pepper from a local farm structure is valued differently, a comparison immediately arises.
This comparison usually only asks:
What is cheaper?
But it doesn’t ask:
When a farm represents its products in its own currency, such as alfalfa, perception changes.
Then it no longer just says:
This bell pepper costs €2.
But, for example:
This bell pepper has a value of 2 alfalfa units.
This makes visible:
This product belongs to its own farm cycle.
It is not simply compared on the market but is placed within its own supply logic.
An own currency does not protect by hiding something.
It protects by making the context visible.
It says:
This product belongs to this community.
This value is created within this farm structure.
This currency does not just describe a price but a relationship.
This prevents a local offering from constantly being compared with products from other markets.
The protection lies in the fact that the own currency asks a different question.
Not:
Where can I get it cheaper?
But:
Which supply system do I support?
You can think of an own currency like play money, but for real responsibility.
In a game, each game has its own rules.
If you take Monopoly money, you can’t just pay with it in the supermarket.
But within the game, it makes sense.
It’s similar with a local currency.
It applies in a specific context.
For example:
It helps make values visible within this context.
A liter of olive oil from a Europe-regional TEIKEI harvest share, a bell pepper from a local farm structure, and a loaf of bread from a regional bakery do not automatically belong to the same pricing logic.
They have different backgrounds:
When everything is just placed side by side in euros, everything seems directly comparable.
An own currency can help make these differences visible.
Own currencies can be considered on several levels:
These levels correspond to the four supply levels in the TEIKEI system.
A local currency belongs to a specific farm, CSA, food co-op, pickup location, or local community.
Example:
A farm uses its own currency to represent its products internally.
This currency can show:
A local currency protects the local offering.
It prevents the farm’s products from constantly being compared with supermarket prices.
A local currency can help with:
A farm could establish:
These values do not have to function like supermarket prices.
They describe the value within the farm community.
A regional currency can emerge when multiple farms, pickup locations, food co-ops, or projects in a food region collaborate.
Then it’s no longer just about one farm.
It’s about a shared regional supply space.
A regional currency can help represent cooperative offerings.
For example:
Then a shared clearing system is needed.
A regional currency can make visible:
A regional currency can help with:
A regional currency must not displace local currencies.
It should connect local structures, not dissolve them.
If a farm has its own currency, this local currency remains valid.
The regional currency can then serve as a bridge.
The national level connects multiple regions within a country.
Here, an own currency or clearing unit can help organize balancing between regions.
For example:
At the national level, it’s less about individual farm prices.
It’s more about balancing, stability, and joint planning.
It can help with:
The national level must not replace local and regional offerings.
It is a stabilization level.
It should help when a region needs support.
The Europe-regional level connects different cultivation regions and climate zones.
For example:
Here, the euro remains important.
Because Europe-regional collaboration often requires:
Nevertheless, an own clearing level can help.
It can make visible:
A regional community could work internally with a regional currency.
A liter of olive oil is cleared Europe-regionally in euros.
In the local or regional community, this value can then be translated into the own currency.
This way, Europe-regional clearing remains possible without losing the local logic.
For different currencies to work together, conversion factors are needed.
A conversion factor states:
How is a value translated from one currency to another?
For example:
This conversion must be carefully designed.
It must not simply recreate the supermarket price.
It should meaningfully connect the different supply levels.
Conversion is necessary.
But it must not make everything directly comparable again.
The difference is important:
A price comparison asks:
What is cheaper?
A good conversion asks:
How can a value be fairly transferred between different supply levels?
This is a big difference.
The own currency does not protect by never converting.
It protects by designing the conversion consciously.
A technical tool is needed for own currencies.
One possible tool is Cyclos.
Cyclos can be used as a system for community currencies, local payment systems, accounts, and transfers.
In connection with the TEIKEI Agora, the basic logic could look like this:
Important:
Cyclos does not replace the TEIKEI Agora.
Cyclos can be a complementary payment layer.
The Agora shows what is offered.
Cyclos can represent how accounting, transfers, or payments work within own currencies.
A possible structure could look like this:
How It Could Work: What the Agora Shows and Where Cyclos Connects
What Cyclos Could Represent
How to read the diagrams: Blue represents the TEIKEI Agora, green represents Cyclos as a possible currency system. The green boxes in the first diagram are the same as in the second diagram. The two systems are connected as follows:
| From the Agora | leads to (in Cyclos) |
|---|---|
| Harvest shares and offerings | Value of an offering → Conversion logic → Local currency accounts |
| Pickup locations and communities | Regional or local currencies |
| Orders and coordination | Transfers between members |
How it could work: The currency tree shows how own currencies can be considered on multiple levels. Levels 1 to 4 correspond to the four supply levels in the TEIKEI system. The euro (5) remains alongside them.
| No. | Level | What it represents |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Local currency | Farm currency, pickup location currency, food co-op currency, member account, local harvest shares |
| 2 | Regional currency | Food region, regional cooperative offerings, regional bundling, shared distribution points, balancing between projects |
| 3 | National clearing level | Balancing between regions, national storage, stabilization during shortages, shared standards |
| 4 | Europe-regional clearing | Connected cultivation regions, olive oil and citrus fruits, euro clearing, conversion into local or regional currencies |
| 5 | Euro | Legal payment level, invoices and contracts, transport and external costs |
One level up: Cooperation and Offering Structure
Author: Felix Schröder, with the help of AI (ChatGPT)
Created: Written by Felix Schröder › formatted in Markdown by ChatGPT › published by Felix Schröder › layout adjusted by Claude
Created: 2026-04-24 · Last updated: 2026-04-24 · Questions or feedback? support@teikei.us