Author: Ernesto Mendez

Reforzando Conexiones y Desarrollando Redes Globales para la Agroecología Transformadora

Ernesto Méndez, Director Docente del Instituto para la Agroecología de la Universidad de Vermont (UVM)
Patio histórico en la Sede Antonio Machado de la Universidad Internacional de Andalucía, en Baeza, España.

Fue hace diecinueve años que pisé por primera vez el hermoso patio histórico de la Sede Antonio Machado de la Universidad Internacional de Andalucía (UNIA), ubicada en la localidad de Baeza. La UNIA es un consorcio de ocho universidades de la región de Andalucía, en el sur de España, que ofrece cursos continuos y a distancia, generalmente desarrollados a través de colaboraciones entre las 8 instituciones. En el momento de mi primera visita, yo era un candidato doctoral que estaba terminando mi grado en agroecología en la Universidad de California, Santa Cruz, trabajando con mi mentor Stephen R. Gliessman. Steve había logrado traer a media docena de sus estudiantes doctorales para que lo ayudaran a enseñar y co-aprender con los profesores y participantes del programa de maestría en Agroecología: Un Enfoque para la Sustentabilidad Rural. Estaba muy agradecido por la oportunidad y profundamente impresionado con el plan de estudios transdisciplinario y la amplia variedad de personas representadas en el alumnado. Fue una muy profunda experiencia de aprendizaje para mí.

Estudiantes de la maestría trabajando en sus presentaciones de grupo.

Unos años más tarde, cuando empezaba como un nuevo profesor de agroecología en la Universidad de Vermont, Estados Unidos, nuestros colaboradores, los profesores Manuel González de Molina (Manolo) y Gloria Guzmán Casado, de la Universidad Pablo de Olavide, en Sevilla, me invitaron a unirme a ellos para enseñar un módulo similar.  Desde entonces, la invitación está abierta todos los años, y voy tanto como puedo. Obtengo mucho al participar en esta colaboración a largo plazo. Interactúo con estudiantes latinoamericanos y europeos de una amplia diversidad de orígenes, desde activistas de movimientos sociales hasta legisladores y jóvenes académicos. También me permite afinar mi enseñanza en español y aprender de diversas experiencias y perspectivas. Este año tuvimos estudiantes de Brasil, Colombia, Argentina, México, Austria, Chile, Ecuador, Alemania, Guinea Ecuatorial y España. También pude interactuar con cuatro iniciativas agroecológicas en Andalucía, como parte de un viaje de campo dirigido por mi colega Gloria.

Concha, agricultora y dueña de El Cortijo del Pino, una finca de frutas y de turismo rural, muestra a los estudiantes una trampa que utiliza para controlar plagas en sus peras, manzanas y albaricoques.

Este año tuvimos estudiantes de Brasil, Colombia, Argentina, México, Austria, Chile, Ecuador, Alemania, Guinea Ecuatorial y España. También pude interactuar con cuatro iniciativas agroecológicas en Andalucía, como parte de un viaje de campo dirigido por mi colega Gloria.  Para el módulo de este año, los estudiantes usaron un marco de principios de agroecología para caracterizar cualitativamente las iniciativas que visitamos, las que incluyeron El Cortijo del Pino, una operación de turismo agrícola y rural; Valle y Vega, una cooperativa agroecológica en la ciudad de Granada; La Retornable, una industria agroecológica centrada en bebidas vegetales locales, y servidas en contenedores reutilizables; y “Salvemos la Vega”, un grupo de defensa ciudadana para salvar el patrimonio agrícola de la Vega de Granada.

El valle de la Vega de Granada, con la Sierra Nevada al fondo.

Aquí discutimos con agricultores, consumidores y ciudadanos preocupados por los desafíos que se han convertido en condiciones cotidianas de nuestro mundo: impactos del cambio climático; barreras para cadenas de suministro de alimentos más cortas; y la invasión del desarrollo urbano en tierras agrícolas, que a su vez limita el acceso a la tierra para aquellos que aspiran a convertirse en nuevos agricultores y agricultoras.

De gran importancia en este viaje fue poder conversar con mi compañero Manolo y mi compañera Gloria. Ellos me compartieron sobre Alimentta, el nuevo tanque de pensamiento que ha surgido recientemente, y que tiene una agenda de acción para la transformación hacia sistemas alimentarios sostenibles en España. Además, y de gran relevancia para nuestro nuevo Instituto de Agroecología (IFA, por sus siglas en Inglés) en la Universidad de Vermont, fueron las conversaciones sobre la necesidad de construir un “frente unido” de instituciones académicas afines que buscan institucionalizar y promover una agroecología transformadora, basada en la equidad, la investigación transdisciplinaria y participativa, y el análisis de factores políticos y estructurales. Además del Laboratorio de Historia de los Agroecosistemas, en la Universidad Pablo de Olavide y Alimentta en España, el Instituto de Agroecología ha establecido colaboraciones con socios de todo el mundo, incluyendo al Centro de Agroecología, Agua y Resiliencia (CAWR) de la Universidad de Coventry, en el Reino Unido, y El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), en Chiapas, México.

Fachada de la sede Antonio Machado de la UNIA, en Baeza.

Rekindling Connections and Global Networks for Transformative Agroecology

Ernesto Méndez, Faculty Director of the UVM Institute for Agroecology
Courtyard in the Antonio Machado campus of the International University of Andalucía, in Baeza, Spain.
It was nineteen years ago when I first stepped into the beautiful historical courtyard of International University of Andalucía’s (UNIA) Antonio Machado campus, located in the town of Baeza. The UNIA is a consortium of eight universities from the Andalucía region in southern Spain, which runs continuing and distance courses, usually developed through collaborations among the 8 institutions. At the time of my first visit, I was a graduate candidate finishing up my doctoral degree in agroecology, at the University of California, Santa Cruz, working with my mentor Stephen R. Gliessman. Steve had managed to bring half a dozen of his graduate students to help him teach and co-learn with the professors and participants of the master’s program in Agroecology: An approach for Rural Sustainability. I was very grateful for the opportunity and deeply impressed with the transdisciplinary curriculum and wide variety of backgrounds represented in the student body. It was a deep learning experience for me.
Master’s students working on their group presentations.
A few years later, as I was establishing myself as a new professor of agroecology at the University of Vermont, our collaborators, professors Manuel González de Molina (Manolo) and Gloria Guzmán Casado, from Universidad Pablo de Olavide, in Sevilla, invited me to join them to teach a similar module. Since then, the invitation is open for me to come every year, and I go as much as I can. I get a lot from engaging in this long-term collaboration. I interact with Latin American and European students from a wide diversity of backgrounds, ranging from social movement organizers and activists to policy makers and young academics. I also hone in on my teaching in Spanish and learn from diverse experiences and perspectives. This year we had students from Brazil, Colombia, Argentina, Mexico, Austria, Chile, Ecuador, Germany, Equatorial Guinea, and Spain. In addition, I interacted with four agroecological initiatives in Andalucía, as part of a field trip led by my colleague Gloria.
Concha, farmer and owner of El Cortijo del Pino, a fruit and rural tourism operation, shows students some of the traps she uses to control pests in her pears, apples, and apricots.
For this year’s module I had students use an agroecology principles framework to qualitatively characterize the initiatives we visited, which included El Cortijo del Pino, a farm and rural tourism operation; Valle y Vega, an agroecological cooperative, in the city of Granada; La Retornable, an agroecological industry focusing on local vegetable drinks served in reusable containers; and “Salvemos la Vega” a citizens advocacy group to save the agricultural heritage of la Vega de Granada. Each student group assessed the strengths and weaknesses of one of the initiatives, using agroecology principles, and presented their analysis to the rest of the class. We visited the “Vega de Granada”, a rich, fertile valley where agricultural activities increasingly compete with the urban sprawl of the nearby city of Granada, home to the famous Alhambra palace.
La Vega de Granada valley, with the Sierra Nevada mountains in the background.
With farmers, consumers and concerned citizens, we discussed the challenges that have now become a staple of our world- impacts of climate change; barriers to shorter food supply chains; and the encroachment of development on agricultural land, which in turn limits the access to farmland for young aspiring growers. One of the most exciting things that happened on this this trip was to catch up with my colleagues Manolo and Gloria. They were able to share about Alimentta, a new think tank that has recently emerged with an action agenda for sustainable food systems in Spain. In addition, and, of great relevance to our new Institute for Agroecology, were conversations about building a strong united front of like-minded academic institutions seeking to institutionalize and advance a transformative agroecology- one grounded in equity, transdisciplinary and participatory research, as well as engagement with political and structural factors. In addition to the  Laboratory of the History of Agroecosystems at Universidad Pablo de Olavide and Alimentta in Spain, the IFA is discussing collaborations with partners from around the globe, including the Center for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) at Coventry University, and El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), in Chiapas, Mexico.
Facade of the UNIA’s Antonio Machado campus in Baeza.

New Edition of Agroecology Textbook Features ALC Co-Authors

Hot off the press! The new edition of the foundational textbook “Agroecology” is now available! Congratulations to co-authors Ernesto Méndez (ALC), Vic Izzo (ALC), Steve Gliessman, and Eric W. Engles, and to Andrew Gerlicz (ALC) who provided editorial support!
 
This edition focuses on the transformations necessary for achieving a just and sustainable food system, capturing agricultural, ecological, economic, social, cultural, and political elements of agroecology. It includes new chapters of relevant topics, such as ‘Ecological Pest, Weed, and Disease Management’, ‘Agriculture and the Climate Crisis’, and Urban and Peri-urban Agriculture.
 

The ALC Receives Regional Award for Excellence in Community Engagement Scholarship

The Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU) today named the University of Vermont (UVM) as regional winner of the 2022 W.K. Kellogg Foundation Community Engagement Scholarship Award in recognition of the extraordinary community engagement of the Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC), as a community of practice working to advance participatory action research (PAR) and agroecology around the world. Read the full article by CALS Communications Manager Rachel Leslie, here. View the video produced as part of the award competition below.

EVENT & MORE: State of the Smallholder Coffee Farmer: Webinar, online platform and report

October 20, 2021 | 11:00 – 12:00 EDT | 10:00 – 11:00 CDT (register below)

With a wealth of available information, has anyone really connected the data dots in coffee? The State of Coffee Smallholder Platform, an open access data resource for coffee farmers and other actors along the coffee value chain, seeks to remove barriers from equitable information sharing to help all value chain actors better assess socio-economic and environmental gaps, outcomes and trends. The platform, along with an accompanying report, will paint a more holistic picture of smallholder coffee farmer livelihoods and communities, while doing so in a way that’s less cumbersome for those gathering and reporting information. Stemming from a partnership between the Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative at the University of Vermont, Lutheran World Relief, Heifer International and Statistics for Sustainable Development, this initial pilot focuses on Honduras, Nicaragua and Guatemala, with the goal of expansion into a larger effort with broader industry support.

Panelists:

  • Rick Peyser, Senior Manager for Coffee and Cocoa, Lutheran World Relief
  • Carlos Barahona, Managing Director at Statistics for Sustainable Development (Stat4SD)
  • Janica Anderzén, PhD candidate in Agroecology, Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative, University of Vermont
  • Ernesto Méndez, Professor of Agroecology and Co-Director, Agroecology & Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC) at University of Vermont
  • Ciara McHugh, Statistician at Statistics for Sustainable Development (Stat4SD)
  • Cory Gilman, Strategic Initiatives Manager: Coffee and Commodities at Heifer International
Link to the open access, online platform and research report: https://coffeesmallholder.org/
LINK TO WEBINAR REGISTRATION

BLOG: An Urban Farmer’s Perspective on Agroecology

By: Gabrielle Hayes
Gabrielle Hayes interned with the Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative and the Gund Institute for Environment at UVM this summer as part of her degree from Columbia University. Before attending graduate school, she worked in urban agriculture and outdoor education in New York City for 6 years, farming in every borough but Staten Island. She is a founding member of the NYC chapter of the National Young Farmer’s Coalition and lives in Crown Heights, Brooklyn.

In March 2020, soon before New York City businesses and schools were shuttered for a long siren-filled spring, I went to my local Trader Joe’s in downtown Brooklyn. The freezers and many of the dried goods shelves were empty. An employee had filled a large section of the produce area, labeled as potatoes and yams, with artichokes. In the mad dash to fill refrigerators and pantries inspired by an unfamiliar pathogen spreading throughout the city, artichokes were apparently the one vegetable New Yorkers were unfamiliar enough with to ignore.

At the time, I was managing and teaching an urban agriculture program for high school students. With the ground still frozen, this meant traveling through the Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn to teach students the basics of plant and soil science and to show them seed catalogues with pictures of the purple carrots, red lettuce, and yellow cucumbers that we could grow in whichever community garden they’d be working in. “Tell me what you want to eat! We can grow anything! Except those artichokes. Our growing season is getting longer because of climate change but it’s still too short to start those now.”

I also taught them the difference between local and industrial food systems. Many students were first-generation Americans with family in Ecuador or Trinidad or Mali. They told me stories of the local market or the fruit trees and chickens outside their family’s home in the place they called “my country”. The students whose connections outside of the U.S. had been severed had a harder time visualizing a local food system. But they understood what I meant when I explained that the burdens and benefits of the industrial system are not evenly distributed. Many had been to the Upper East Side of Manhattan on school trips or had witnessed opulence on their television screens. Yet they lived with the pollution-filled air that results from the Bronx being the entry point for most of New York City’s food or they shopped at supermarkets that restock the produce section so infrequently your chances of finding carrots or an unwrinkled pepper are slim to none.

I taught them that growing your own food means gaining power. It frees you from reliance on the international supply chains that restrict the varieties sold in supermarkets to ones that travel well and that are subject to break down, as they did during the early days of the pandemic. I dreamed that some may become interested in farming as a profession and hoped more realistically that they may learn to love their local community garden or to experiment with growing tomatoes on their fire escape.

The experience of farming in food apartheid[i] neighborhoods shaped my understanding of the American food system. I received a daily reminder that this system, while lauded for its productivity, has succeeded neither in

 eliminating hunger nor providing universal access to the nutritious food needed to maintain bodily health. In my classes at Columbia University, where I am currently studying in pursuit of a Master’s in Public Administration – Development Practice, we talk of “structural transformation”. This is the idea that for a country to escape widespread poverty, there must be an increase in agricultural productivity such that labor is freed up to work in other industries. This spurs urbanization and, ultimately and desirably, reduces the number of farmers, and the value to the economy of their agricultural labor, effectively to zero. Disregarding that the equivalence of economic growth to progress is a Western invention, the assumption that farmers inevitably disappear in the process of raising living standards is a fallacy. To provide one example: Ireland, whose GDP per capita is higher than that of the United States, recently enacted a sustainable food policy intended to increase the value of its agricultural sector by providing support to, not encouraging the elimination of, family farms[ii]. The share of employment in agriculture there is 4.8%, compared with 1.4% in the United States [iii].

The ethos of structural adjustment, this idea that rural areas should be emptied, underpins much of the funding, research and efforts that have been devoted to agricultural development over the past several decades, despite the evidence provided by the United States that a likely outcome is inequitable and unsustainable food systems. The Green Revolution in Asia, while rightfully praised for reducing hunger and perhaps saving the lives of millions through increased agricultural productivity, also led to the suicides of an estimated 15 million farmers over the past 60 years [iv]. The Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, which has received roughly $1 billion in funding over the last 15 years, has failed to improve food security in the relevant countries, and failed to increase yields by even one third of their original goal [v]. It is clear that the assumption that we need only to create high yielding seeds or provide fertilizer to increase agricultural productivity and therefore improve lives, is not accurate.

This is why I find hope in agroecology. Its adaptable principles that lead, over time, to increased yields and improved ecosystem health, align with what I was taught at The Farm School, where I completed a year-long residential and experiential learning program. Central Massachusetts receives enough rain that we had no need for irrigation save in emergency situations. The specific practices that we used will not apply in arid environments. But the agroecological principles used to design those practices (such as nutrient cycling, promoting biodiversity, and integrating animal and vegetable growing systems) translate to diverse settings.

The agroecology movement, exemplified by the work of La Via Campesina, aims to advance food sovereignty by addressing political and economic factors that limit its existence. Defined in the 2007 Nyéléni Declaration as “the right of peoples to healthy and culturally appropriate food produced through ecologically sound and sustainable methods, and their right to define their own food and agricultural systems”, a world in which food sovereignty is realized looks nothing like the United States.

Garden education programs like the ones I’ve managed exist in urban areas as an antidote to the crises of physical, mental and environmental health wrought by structural transformation pushed to its maximum degree. The industrial food system of the United States is not broken. It was designed to exploit land, resources and bodies in pursuit of productivity and profit and it has succeeded spectacularly. It is not a system that requires only tweaks to become “climate-smart”. It is not a system that can be replicated in every climate, landscape and form of government. It is not a system that should be replicated at all. Agroecology provides a path to designing food systems that are culturally and environmentally appropriate, sustainable for people and the planet. In this time of increased focus on food systems and their interaction with our rapidly changing climate, may those with the power to shape the future learn from the past.

__________________

Footnotes

[i] I use the term “food apartheid”, coined by farmer and food justice activist Karen Washington, instead of the more commonly used “food swamp” or “food desert” to connote the man-made nature of this phenomenon.  Swamps and deserts are vital ecosystems.

[ii] Though positive in comparison to what is happening in the United States, this is not an agroecological policy and it  has been criticized for not doing enough to address water pollution or to protect biodiversity.

[iii] https://foodsystemsdashboard.org/countrydashboard

[iv] Ayanthi Karunarathne, David Gunnell, Flemming Konradsen & Michael Eddleston (2020) How many premature deaths from pesticide suicide have occurred since the agricultural Green Revolution?, Clinical Toxicology, 58:4, 227-232, DOI: 10.1080/15563650.2019.1662433

[v] Wise, Timothy A. . “Failing Africa’s Farmers: New Report Shows Africa’s Green Revolution Is ‘Failing on Its Own Terms.’” Global Development and Environment Institute – Tufts University, July 2020. Working Paper No.20-01. https://sites.tufts.edu/gdae/files/2020/07/20-01_Wise_FailureToYield.pdf

BLOG: Designing functional PAR processes: the perspective from NFNA

Designing functional PAR processes: the perspective from NFNA

By Martha Caswell, ALC Co-Director

One of the most important components of participatory action research (PAR) is the Action. Where it falls in the cycle varies: sometimes the action can emerge as a result after careful analysis of the data; or it can be a catalyst earlier in the process, centering the value proposition that both the researchers and community members should be receiving real benefit from the effort. 

On a sunny Thursday morning in June, at the New Farms for New Americans (NFNA) farm near the Ethan Allen Homestead, Action rolled in. There it was, hitched to the back of a red pickup. To most eyes, it looked like a simple structure. A shed maybe? Or, as one farmer remarked walking by, “a break room?” But, as with most things, there is more to this structure than meets the eye.

Carpenter Linsey Brunner (left) and NFNA Program Specialist Alisha Laramee (right), discuss the best placement for the shade structure (Photo credit: Martha Caswell)

For the past three years, Alisha Laramee, program specialist for NFNA, has been participating in the Urban and Peri-Urban Agroecology initiative with UVM’s Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC). We are currently in the second year of a USDA Hatch grant to explore the expression of agroecological principles in urban and peri-urban spaces in Burlington. Our partners include NFNA, the Vermont Community Garden Network, UVM’s Catamount Farm, and the Intervale Center. Alisha has been cautiously interested in this project but is also judicious with her time and energy. She gives all she has to the farm and farmers. When we have been able to fit into that equation, it’s been great. But Alisha has been a strong advocate for her priorities, and there isn’t a lot of room for theoretical conversations about whether or not what’s happening on the farm counts as agroecology. 

For those of you who aren’t familiar with it, New Farms for New Americans (NFNA) is an agriculture program for refugees and immigrants based in Burlington, VT. NFNA supports farmers and gardeners to grow culturally significant crops, increase access to food, land, and agricultural resources, and learn about growing food in Vermont. They facilitate ongoing work with over 275 refugee clients from various countries in Africa and Asia. NFNA has sites in multiple locations, including the Ethan Allen Homestead (2.5 miles from downtown Burlington) and the Intervale (among others), representing mostly peri-urban contexts.

The Ethan Allen site is a secluded, peaceful spot along the Winooski River, with full sun and the rich alluvial soils that come from being in the flood plain. The drawbacks of this site include a high risk for floods and the fact that it is difficult to access without your own transportation. Early on, Alisha mentioned the problems they faced with flooding, pointing out the eroding riverbank, asking if buffer strips or hedgerows might be effective adaptations to consider. As conversations continued, we worked to align what Alisha was identifying as needs with the dimensions of agroecology as defined through the CIDSE principles, and discussed two priorities: the first was improving pollinator presence (an environmental consideration), and the second was the need for a shade/supply area to encourage gathering and sharing tools/knowledge (socio-cultural consideration). 

Partnering with co-PI Stephanie Hurley and ten of her students from the Ecological Landscape Design course in the Plant and Soil Science Department worked with Alisha and developed designs for the NFNA farm site and its surroundings. Student designs included options for creating riparian buffers, floodplain wetlands and earthworks to increase flood resilience; pollinator gardens provide nectar and pollen to a biodiverse array of pollinator species and potentially increase crop production; and ideas for structures to provide much-needed shade for the farmers, and to be multifunctional for equipment storage, group gatherings and a safe place for children to play. 

Alisha reviewed the design options considering which would meet the criteria that the community had shared; they wanted shade, but since many of the participants carry trauma from their time in refugee camps visibility (being able to see what was going on inside of the structure at all times, from all sides) was also critical. The potential cost of a shade structure with these many benefits was a significant concern. The Winooski Park District required that the structure be mobile, for seasonal use and in the event of floods. Graduate Student Josh Taylor, has been working closely with Alisha as part of his dissertation research, and he and Alisha applied for and were awarded a City Market Seedling Grant to support the construction of the shade structure. That’s when the wheels really started rolling. Originally the project was going to be a community build with the farmers, but COVID-19 removed that possibility. In an effort to see the shade structure through to completion, Alisha contracted RG Builders LLC, a small, local business to complete the build. Carpenter Linsey Brunner (pictured above) donated all of the hours she dedicated to this project, and after recently completing the UVM Master Gardeners program, is eager to consider other ways she can contribute to NFNA’s mission. 

Farmers picking up donations from Red Wagon Plants (Photo credit: Martha Caswell)

Sounds good, you might say to yourself, but how does this connect to research? There are several answers to this. The first is that we have found that the most important research question isn’t always the first to emerge. I was visiting Alisha on the day when the shade structure was delivered, but instead of talking about the shed, we talked about the devastation farmers were facing from pest and disease pressures in their plots. We realized that VEPART could potentially work with NFNA to identify ecological and integrated pest management (IPM) strategies that would help them be more resilient to the threats they are facing. We also hopeful that the shade structure will be a site for future workshops and focus groups, which will give us the opportunity to assess participant opinions about how the structure impacts their time at the farm. Because of all of this, we see this Action as a catalyst, that has been participatory, and has provided us good cause for reflection and reassessment of our research directions.

We also value in the co-production of knowledge that has happened among all of us throughout this process. NFNA has just been awarded a highly competitive USDA Urban Agriculture Grant and in the coming year, they will partner with VCGN to develop a leadership and mentorship program. We see lots of potential for continued cross-pollination among people and ideas as this PAR process continues to unfold. It’s not unusual for PAR projects to diverge slightly from their original paths. As noted in a recently published paper “…participatory research projects, which aim at transformative impacts in complex settings beyond knowledge products and learning, need to sustain high intensities of actor interactions in knowledge coproduction throughout all research phases to achieve their sustainability impact goals.”1

That’s our end goal. Prioritizing research, and learning alongside our partners, but never at the expense of the community. Alisha says working with the ALC and thinking about agroecology helps her to ‘see with new eyes’, and she also continues to say – “call it what you want, I just want to do right by the farmers.” 

1 Tribaldos, T., C. Oberlack, and F. Schneider. 2020. Impact through participatory research approaches: an archetype analysis. Ecology and Society 25(3):15.https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11517-250315

NEWS: ALC Antiracism and Justice Statement

ALC Antiracism and Justice Statement

Being part of the ALC means committing to a process of inquiry and reflection that is both individual and collective. For several years, we have worked as a community of practice (CoP) to define norms, interrogate our own positionality and responsibilities, and make commitments to be agents of change both in our personal and professional realms. Given the growing awareness about systemic racism, we thought it was a good time to write a public statement about our position on broad issues of justice. We wrote the following statement together, as a community of practice, which reflects our values and articulates our commitments.

The Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative is a community of practice where we strive to understand systems and, in this work, we are confronted with our individual and collective roles in oppression and destruction. We hold ourselves and each other accountable as we work to transform and heal our agrifood system – using collaboration to find co-liberation. This requires us to confront our discomfort and set aside our egos, with the goal of living our values instead of just talking about them. We know this takes time, energy, effort, humility, and, above all, deep listening and reflection. 

 We center anti-racist work while challenging all forms of oppression. We commit to following the lead of our BIPOC members, supporting the collective protagonism of those that have historically been excluded or marginalized, responding to the demands and calls for social change, showing up in solidarity, and striving to be accomplices in this long-overdue transformation of society. We will learn, unlearn, and imagine with genuine curiosity and care, we will remember that joy and struggle must accompany each other, and we will stay true to this process recognizing that it is not a destination, but a journey.

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NEWS: ALC Coffee Diversification Project featured by the UVM College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS)

For Coffee Farmers, Diversification Key to Sustainability​​

The UVM College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), recently featured the work of the ALC’s project ‘Assessment of Diversification Strategies in Smallholder Coffee Systems of Mesoamerica’, a Participatory Action Research (PAR) and agroecology process, in collaboration with a diversity of partners from Mexico, Nicaragua and the U.S. Please visit the CALS website to read more.

Statement and Petition in Support of the Movement for Black Lives from The Agroecology Research-Action Collective (ARC)

Statement and Petition in Support of the Movement for Black Lives from The Agroecology Research-Action Collective (ARC):

The ALC has had a relationship with the Agroecology Research-Action Collective (ARC), since its early beginnings around 2016. ARC and ALC share very similar missions and principles. We join our ARC colleagues today in expressing our grief and solidarity with the racial and social injustices against people of color in the United States and the world. These feelings are eloquently presented in the recent statement and petition by ARC “In Support of Black Lives”. We invite you to read the essay and sign the petition in the ARC website by clicking on the link below: https://agroecologyresearchaction.org/in-support-of-the-movement-for-black-lives/

Blog on the ALC’s ‘Assessment of Diversification Strategies in Smallholder Coffee Systems of Mesoamerica’ project

Blog on the ALC’s ‘Assessment of Diversification Strategies in Smallholder Coffee Systems of Mesoamerica’ project

ALC Coordinator Martha Caswell and the ‘Coffee Diversification’ team just published a blog on the website of the French Agropolis Foundation, one of the funders of the project under the umbrella of the ‘Thought for Food Initiative’ Check it out here

The ALC has been working with a diversity of partners, including coffee cooperatives in Mexico (CESMACH) and Nicaragua (PRODECOOP), the Community Agroecology Network (CAN), a grassroots NGO based in California, and faculty and students from the following universities: 1) the ALC at the University of Vermont; 2) Santa Clara University, in California; 3) members of the Agroecology Group at El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) in Chiapas, Mexico; and 4) the Universidad Nacional Agraria (UNA) in Nicaragua. Using a Participatory Action Research Approach (PAR), we are collectively working and co-creating knowledge on how different diversification strategies may affect food security, climate change resilience, livelihood performance and gender inequity at the household, community and regional scales.

Voices from the Fall 2019 Advanced Agroecology Class- Fourth delivery

Voices from the Fall 2019, Advanced Agroecology Class, at the University of Vermont (UVM)- fourth delivery

Every fall, for the last 10 years or so, I have been learning with the Advanced Agroecology class, at the University of Vermont (UVM). The course seeks to engage students in a diversity of learning experiences, ranging from scientific reading to farm work. One new addition this semester was to ask students to write a blog on an agroecology topic. In the next few weeks we will be sharing selected blogs from the class, providing an opportunity to glean into the bright minds and opinions of the young people that engaged with agroecology this semester. In this last contribution, Brianna Arnold  engages the movement dimension of agroecology and discusses the Milk with Dignity initiative, in Vermont, which focuses on supporting farm worker rights in the dairy sector.  Enjoy !!

Ernesto Méndez, Professor of Agroecology and ALC Co-Director, Department of Plant and Soil Science and Environmental Program

Got Milk with Dignity? Local Program Demonstrates Importance of Agroecology as a Movement

By Brianna Arnold, Plant Biology major and Anthropology minor

You may feel good about your dairy products coming from grass-fed, pasture-raised cows. But the cows don’t milk themselves. For decades, migrant dairy workers in Vermont have been overlooked and ignored. Migrant Justice is working to get their voices heard.

A crowd of about 50 gathered in Leddy Park on Thursday, October 3rd to celebrate and expand Migrant Justice’s Milk With Dignity (MD) – or Leche con Dignidad – campaign. Among those gathered were migrant dairy workers, dairy farmers, Migrant Justice employees, and supportive Vermonters and students. Several migrant workers, with the help of interpreters, praised the two-year old program for its accomplishments, including transitioning Ben & Jerry’s entire supply chain to operate according to the MD code of conduct and cooperate with the Milk with Dignity Standards Council (MDSC). The speakers also reminded us there is still much work to be done, namely getting more buyers of dairy products to participate in the MD Program. With that goal in mind, on the second anniversary of Ben & Jerry joining the program, Milk with Dignity announced its new campaign for Hannaford to sign on, too. So far, Hannaford CEO Mike Vail has made no response.

 

On October 3rd, 2019 a crowd united in front of Hannaford Supermarket to pressure the company to join the Milk with Dignity Program (Photo by Jacob Dawson/VTDigger).

So, why is the MD Program necessary to begin with? Too many migrant dairy workers in Vermont are overworked, underpaid, and underserved. According to Migrant Justice’s website, a survey of nearly 200 workers conducted in 2014 reveals that the average worker labors 60-80 hours per week and 40% of workers are not given any days off. 28% work for seven hours or more without having a break to eat and 15% are not afforded eight hours off work to sleep and rest. 40% of workers are paid less than Vermont’s minimum wage of $10.78 per hour and 20% have their paychecks withheld illegally. Inappropriate and irresponsible housing conditions is another major issue for migrant workers; 15% live in overcrowded housing and 15% lack adequate heating. At the Milk with Dignity event on Thursday, farmworker Jose Luis Cordova Herrera explained that he used to share a room with 2-3 other men in a house that hardly had any space to cook, eat, or rest. Though he wished to express his concerns to his boss, he was afraid that if he spoke up he could lose his job. Now, supported by the MDSC, farmworkers like Herrera are able to advocate for themselves without fearing persecution.

A diagram by Migrant Justice breaks down how Milk with Dignity operates through building working relationships with various actors while amplifying the voices of migrant farmworkers.

Unfortunately, the problems migrant workers face don’t end at the farm’s edge. In fact, for many, they get worse. Countless family members of farmworkers rarely or never leave their homes for fear of dealing with an unfamiliar world, failing to communicate effectively, and potentially getting detained or even deported. One woman I met recently told me that she never leaves her house, which, like many other migrant homes, is located right on the dairy farm. You can see the cows lined up in stalls from her kitchen window. Her husband does all the shopping and brings home groceries and any needed household items. Although this woman has lived in Vermont for nearly half a year, she’s not familiar with any of the surrounding area, and she’s not the only one. A friend of mine who visited a different migrant family’s home said the mother knew nothing about Burlington and was unaware that the University of Vermont even existed. The isolation migrant workers and their families experience is tragic, especially in a state that prides itself on its inclusivity for people of diverse backgrounds.

Though I’m sure there are exceptions, I would not describe most large dairy farms in the US as agroecosystems. They often lack diversification, fail to prioritize workers’ wellbeing, and are generally not all that sustainable. That being said, we can still use agroecological values to critically evaluate how such farms operate in order to locate opportunities for them to evolve. According to the CIDSE Principles of Agroecology, the socio-political movement dimension of agroecology encourages us to consider impacts of the production, processing, distribution, and consumption of food on both nature and society. It’s not enough to analyze dairy farming practices from ecological or economic perspectives; we must also pay attention to and support the lives and livelihoods of those most directly involved in and impacted by the industry. By creating safe spaces to hold conversations about farmworkers’ rights, advocating for improved worker livelihoods, and taking action within the migrant community and greater Vermont community, Migrant Justice is doing just that.

Voices from the Fall 2019 Advanced Agroecology Class- Third delivery

Voices from the Fall 2019, Advanced Agroecology Class, at the University of Vermont (UVM)- third delivery

Every fall, for the last 10 years or so, I have been learning with the Advanced Agroecology class, at the University of Vermont (UVM). The course seeks to engage students in a diversity of learning experiences, ranging from scientific reading to farm work. One new addition this semester was to ask students to write a blog on an agroecology topic. In the next few weeks we will be sharing selected blogs from the class, providing an opportunity to glean into the bright minds and opinions of the young people that engaged with agroecology this semester. In this third contribution, Zach Merson discusses the application of agroecological principles to aquaculture.  Enjoy !!

Ernesto Méndez, Professor of Agroecology and ALC Co-Director, Department of Plant and Soil Science and Environmental Program

Feed Fish to Feed Folks: Agroecological Principles in Aquaculture

By Zach Merson, Natural Resources major

I love fish: they are beautiful, they are nutritious, and they are so fun to learn from. I hold a deep interest in aquaculture, the domestication of fish for food, because of the potential to take pressure off of vulnerable ocean fisheries. However, when you read through the latest literature, most agroecological studies focus on terrestrial crops. Aquaculture is critical to the global food system because approximately 3 billion people, almost half of the world, rely on seafood as their primary source of protein, and farmed aquatic organisms contribute to nearly half of the global supply.[1] While aquaculture can reduce overfishing and habitat damage in wild fisheries, it can also be ecologically detrimental. In aquaculture farms, feed inputs and waste are often concentrated into one area of a river or coastline, degrading water quality and stimulating algae blooms. Fish populations, or stocks, are typically genetically uniform and have high rates of disease, which can spread to wild stocks. While there are groups that make recommendations on farmed seafood for consumers, I haven’t seen a clear and publicized set of principles adopted internationally for aquaculture, like agroecology has for land-based food systems.

Agroecology as a practice aims to reduce environmental damages of agriculture while enhancing social and economic vitality. International governance bodies such as the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) seek to share knowledge about and facilitate implementation of agroecological practices. The FAO’s 10 elements of agroecology are clearly targeted towards terrestrial crop and livestock systems, but I will use them as a framework to view how aquaculture can be more ecologically sustainable. Because aquaculture is still a form of farming, I believe the cultural and social elements remain unchanged between land and water, so I’m choosing to focus primarily on the FAO’s ecological elements. Specifically, I’m using the elements of diversity, efficiency, and recycling to examine contemporary challenges in aquacultural systems.

Example of an aquaculture system (photo by the Monterey Bay Aquarium)

You may be familiar with diversity-enhancing practices in terrestrial agroecosystems like intercropping, cover crops, agroforestry, and crop diversification,[2] but these practices can’t be expressed in the same manner in aquaculture. Many farms on land still only incorporate a single species (think big corn fields in the Midwest) and aquaculture is no exception. Within species, especially fish, little is done to preserve genetic diversity; often millions of fish are bred from just one pair.[3] Certainly, there are technical challenges to implementing diversity in aquacultural systems that don’t apply to terrestrial crops. For example, each species often requires different infrastructure to breed, grow, and harvest, and incorrectly constructed farms are the most common causes of aquaculture failure.[4] In China, we see some systems that integrate fish, aquatic plants, and waterfowl, but there is still little diversity within each group.[5] Concentrated and genetically uniform stocks eventually suffer health and growth impacts, which reduces productivity and yield for the farmer. Reared fish can also escape, degrade the genetics of wild stocks, and spread disease.[6] Diversity is one agroecological element that is noticeably lacking in nearly every aquaculture system. I would argue that aquaculture could benefit from diversity in the same manner as terrestrial farms: improving resilience, enhancing diets, reducing ecological harms, and increasing productivity.

Efficiency refers to practices and technology that maintain or increase productivity while decreasing external inputs, such as agrochemicals.[7] I believe that recycling is a necessary and integrated component of efficient food production, and both elements in aquaculture are linked to similar challenges, so I cover FAO’s recycling element along with efficiency. Recycling is when waste or excess products are reallocated to close input and output cycles.[8] Similarly to terrestrial farms, the inputs and waste products of aquacultural systems depend on the species grown. When comparing livestock and farmed fish, feed conversion ratio (FCR) is one metric that measures the required input materials per unit product.[9] The FCR on average is 12.5 for cattle, 3 for pigs, and 1.5 for poultry.[10] Many fish have an FCR below 2 (i.e. 2 kg of feed to grow 1 kg of fish meat), and some are very close to an FCR of 1.[11] On just FCR alone, you may think “wow! Fish are such an efficient food conversion stock!” And while it’s true that fish are more efficient per kilogram of input, what the input consists of should also be an important consideration.

A lot of fish feed is made from other fish: up to 80% fish products in addition to vegetable proteins and pigments.[11] The fish that go into feed are usually those not used for human consumption. Called reduction fisheries, they include species like herring, anchovies, and menhaden. Reduction fisheries are big business because they may account for up to a sixth of captured wild fish. These fish are usually lower down in the food chain, so overfishing them can reduce the food available for important top predators like tuna.[12] In short, it’s important to be aware of what farmed fish are fed. However, there are some alternative food sources that embody the agroecological element of recycling. One company turns agricultural waste, specifically rotting or damaged fruit, into fish food that’s as nutritious as standard feed.[13] Innovative solutions and restructured cycles are what we need to turn around some of the negative impacts of farmed fish and move towards a sustainable and healthy food system. Fish do most of the efficiency work themselves through their low feed conversion ratio, so now it’s up to use to make sure we give them the best and most sustainable inputs we can.

We’ve seen that aquaculture somewhat exhibits the ecological principles of agroecology already, but also has much room for improvement. I think the Food and Agriculture Organization or another well-known agricultural group should publish an international set of principles and practices that embody ecological steward, societal wellbeing, and economic vitality in aquacultural systems. I’ve seen on working farms how agroecology aligns the farm as a landscape with the farm as a livelihood. The same revolutionary approaches can feed the fish that feed us in a healthier, more resilient, and more synchronized way with the natural world.

For more information on sustainable seafood, check out Monterey Bay Aquarium’s Seafood Watch or the Marine Stewardship Council’s Fisheries Standards.

Cited Sources

1 – http://www.fao.org/3/ca0191en/ca0191en.pdf

2 – http://www.fao.org/agroecology/knowledge/10-elements/diversity/en/

3 – https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3382745/

4 – https://www.farmersweekly.co.za/animals/aquaculture/infrastructure-for-aquaculture/

5 – http://worldwideaquaculture.com/integrated-fish-farming-benefits-of-polyculture/

6 – https://www.seafoodwatch.org/ocean-issues/aquaculture/escapes

7 – http://www.fao.org/agroecology/knowledge/10-elements/efficiency/en/

8 – http://www.fao.org/agroecology/knowledge/10-elements/recycling/en/

9 – https://pdf.usaid.gov/pdf_docs/PA00K8MQ.pdf

10 – https://www.agrifarming.in/feed-conversion-ratio-formula-in-livestock

11 – http://www.fao.org/fishery/culturedspecies/Salmo_salar/en

12 – https://www.msc.org/en-us/media-center/blog/2019/09/03/are-reduction-fisheries-sustainable

13 – https://www.gainesville.com/news/20140821/gainesvilles-biotork-working-on-hawaii-expansions 

 

Voices from the Fall 2019 Advanced Agroecology Class- Second delivery

Voices from the Fall 2019, Advanced Agroecology Class, at the University of Vermont (UVM)- second delivery

Every fall, for the last 10 years or so, I have been learning with the Advanced Agroecology class, at the University of Vermont (UVM). The course seeks to engage students in a diversity of learning experiences, ranging from scientific reading to farm work. One new addition this semester was to ask students to write a blog on an agroecology topic. In the next few weeks we will be sharing selected blogs from the class, providing an opportunity to glean into the bright minds and opinions of the young people that engaged with agroecology this semester. In this second contribution, Lena Connolly offers us a glimpse of her experience with the Intervale Community Farm, located in Burlington, Vermont. Enjoy !!

Ernesto Méndez, Professor of Agroecology and ALC Co-Director, Department of Plant and Soil Science and Environmental Program

Community Resilience: Social Dimensions of Agroecology and Food Sovereignty at the Intervale Community Farm

By Lena Connolly, Environmental Studies major

During my second February, my family moved from Atlanta, Georgia, to Burlington, Vermont. After a harrowing first winter in the Northeast, one of the first things we did, when summer came, was join a Community Supported Agriculture program (CSA) at the Intervale Community Farm (ICF). This membership provided access to a full season of produce and value-added products to be picked up weekly from the Intervale’s lush peri-urban location, nestled between Winooski and Burlington on the banks of the Winooski River. Each week at pick-up, my family would bike, walk, or drive the half-mile commute from our house in the Old North End of Burlington to the vibrant haven of the Intervale. After making our way down a dirt road, dotted with signs stating “Dusty Road!” and “Drive Slow: Farmers Can’t Breathe!” we’d be greeted by the friendly faces of our farmers and the bustling community of ICF. There were tables of beautiful produce, a rainbow of colors. Ripe tomatoes, fresh french bread. There were families of all shapes and sizes. Children were playing on upcycled toys in fields of black-eyed susans and sunflowers. To a freshly transplanted family, this space not only provided locally grown food, just blocks away from our home, but it offered community. Through potlucks, dinners, parties, and play-dates during pick up hours, the Intervale quickly became a sanctuary for my family and me; it was the first seed in developing our new home and our place within this community. 

The Intervale Community Farm (ICF) shed (photo by Lena Connolly)

As a child growing up in a semi-urban town, the Intervale provided a place where I could get my hands dirty, climb trees, see how carrots grew, and watch bees pollinate flowers. Without knowing it, the Intervale taught me the fundamentals of ecology and agriculture; it taught me how the natural world works. The Intervale provided conversations with friends, or fiddle music on a warm summer day. Most of all, it provided the feeling of nourishment through both land and community–something that remains essential in a rapidly industrialized human world. Spaces like this–that remind us how the world works, and that vibrant communities grow from the ground up–are a crucial element of a resilient society as we move into a more climate-intense, anthropocentric future. Throughout the twenty years of my family’s membership at ICF, I have left pick-up each week feeling grounded, hopeful, and united within my community of people and within my sense of place in Burlington.  

As I have grown older, ICF continues to hold great importance in my life, and through my experiences in academia, studying environmental studies and human ecology, I have realized just how special the Intervale is. By taking courses like Advanced Agroecology, I am more able to understand the unique aspects and methods of community building that ICF implements. Within the social dimensions of Agroecology, there are several key principles that I have noticed at ICF: co-creation and sharing of knowledge, diversity, human and social values, culture and food traditions, and resilience. While ICF does promote and utilize agroecology in their farming practices, I have been more aware of and immersed-in the social dimensions of agroecology that are represented on the farm. 

Basket of fresh, colorful bounty, from the Intervale Community Farm (photo by Lena Connolly)

Agroecology is a concept that is rooted in applied local knowledge systems; in this, it depends on horizontal pedagogies of sharing knowledge and skills about communities and agriculture. This implies communication on multiple scales of the food system, mainly between producers and consumers. At ICF, this aspect of Agroecology is one of the first that comes to mind. The farmers at ICF regularly interact with the consumers; it is clear that the community is based on this type of communication and collaboration. Whether that is through farmers checking-in CSA members, restocking vegetables, or answering questions about the best ways to prep that week’s produce, it is clear who the people behind the food are. 

One of the core facets of any resilient system is diversity, which is another value that is apparent at ICF, within both the products and the community. The ICF community is home to many different identities. There are many families like mine, but there are also college students, newly immigrated Americans, older folks, children, and a number of other types of people. This diversity leads to numerous opportunities for co-creation, sharing of knowledge, and other types of communication as well as community building within different social groups in Burlington. The diversity at ICF also addresses issues of access and exclusivity in the local and organic food movement, which tends to only cater to people of higher socio-economic backgrounds. ICF seeks to bring local, organic food to every plate at the table and has community partnerships with gleaning organizations and other food-access groups in order to make this happen, which touches on another core element of agroecology: human and social values. 

Another component of Agroecology that ICF encourages is culture and food traditions. One of the core facets of a culture and community is gathering over food. Not only does ICF provide delicious local foods, a reason for any family to gather over the table, they also host a number of social events throughout the year including pizza parties and end-of-season dinners. One of my favorite traditions that has stemmed from my share at ICF is gathering friends, right around the first week of school, to bike down to the farm, pick up my share, and make a big dinner with our bounty. Local foods are the avenue for increasing community involvement with each other and in the local food system. It also encourages members to cook with seasonally appropriate, locally-oriented products; contributing to a sense of place in the food system. 

Finally, one of the most essential components of Agroecology that I have noticed at ICF is resilience. Resilience is the capacity of a system to bounce back to its original state after experiencing disturbance. In its ecology, ICF is an incredibly adaptable and resilient system, as it lies in the flood plains of the Winooski River and experiences seasonal fluxes of disturbance, meaning farmers have to alter their farming practices in order to accommodate environmental factors. The Intervale property, as a whole, also demonstrates resilience because it has gone from being a natural area, to a public and industrial waste site in the early 20th Century, to then being the largest agricultural area within the Burlington City Limits. The Intervale currently exists in a hybrid state of multiple uses, being a natural area, a public recreation site, and farmland. The ICF community also fosters resilience for its members. I have talked with a number of other CSA members who have all reported that ICF gives them hope for the future; that despite the formidable threats of climate change, political frustrations, or tumultuous home lives, the Intervale provides a space of community as well as a calm breath away from the chaos of life. It’s a simple reminder of the powerful and grounding effects of community, agriculture, and, most notably, cultivating roots in a place. 

Reference

“10 Elements of Agroecology.” 10 Elements | Agroecology Knowledge Hub | Food and Agriculture  Organization of the United Nations. www.fao.org/agroecology/knowledge/10-elements/en/.

 

Voices from the Fall 2019 Advanced Agroecology Class

Voices from the Fall 2019, Advanced Agroecology Class, at the University of Vermont (UVM)

Every fall, for the last 10 years or so, I have been learning with the Advanced Agroecology class, at the University of Vermont (UVM). The course seeks to engage students in a diversity of learning experiences, ranging from scientific reading to farm work. One new addition this semester was to ask students to write a blog on an agroecology topic. In the next few weeks we will be sharing selected blogs from the class, providing an opportunity to glean into the bright minds and opinions of the young people that engaged with agroecology this semester. This first blog is by Isabella Alessandrini and focuses on heirloom seeds. Enjoy !!

Ernesto Méndez, Professor of Agroecology and ALC Co-Director, Department of Plant and Soil Science and Environmental Program

Heirloom Seeds for the Future of Food Security

By Isabella Alessandrini, UVM Dietetics, Nutrition and Food Science major

Walk into a grocery store at any time of the year and the amount of choices can be borderline overwhelming… Massive pyramids of glossy apples, stacks of ginormous strawberries, thick bundles of dark leafy greens, bags of smooth baby carrots all neatly trimmed the same way. What more could a shopper ask for?! Yet in this time of seemingly excessive abundance, there are hundreds of plants we used to eat being excluded from the table. 

As agriculture and transportation have become more industrialized to grow food on enormous scales, many varieties of plants have been edged off our plates in favor of types that can withstand being transported long distances and look the same pretty much anywhere for shoppers everywhere. The tomato seems to be the emblem of the sacrifices that came with this transition because from a prized treat smacking of late summer, it has morphed into a round, tomato-like commodity encountered in supermarkets that yes, is still red, but has lost every other part of its identity in favor of shelf longevity. These gas-guzzling world travelers survive the endurance marathon from farm to produce aisle, but they often arrive without much flavor, freshness or nutrients to spare. 

Most fruits and veggies we buy have gone through a similar tract since the 1800s, leaving only the sturdiest varieties to stock the shelves and hundreds of others out in the cold. Just imagine the display if produce aisles were filled with all the ones we used to grow– frilly Redbor purple kale, charismatic red warty thing squash, lavender striped Rosa Bianca eggplants, deep indigo cobs of corn, teeny tiny cherry bomb peppers, each one ripening to the fullest before being consumed. We can all be advocates for plants by growing heirloom varieties. 

 Heirlooms Explained 

So what is an heirloom anyways? A porcelain tea set that came with your house? That wooden rocking chair beloved by Grandpa Joe? The vegetable world version of your great-great-great aunt’s brooch collection? Kind of, but way more useful, and they don’t take up nearly as much space in the attic. 

Heirloom corn seeds from Chiapas, Mexico (Photo by Margarita Fernandez).

Heirloom seeds are like the precious family jewels of humanity that fit in a seed packet and everyone has the right to inherit. Growing heirlooms is a delicious way to rebel against the bland and support what you want to protect. And! It’s only a one-time investment as seed-saving gives time and time again.

Heirloom seeds yield more than just food– they sprout resilience and protection of our history and the future. It has been proven historically that relying on a couple of crops to sustain us just does not work; it leaves us vulnerable to disasters like the Irish potato famine, fungal wipe-out of the banana industry and stem rust threatening wheat and barley crops.

Consider the Gilfeather turnip, our state vegetable. A large root with a sweet, rutabaga like flavor and lovely purple shoulders, the Gilfeather turnip was developed by John Gilfeather who intended for the variety to die with him. But a few seeds were thankfully squirreled away by someone who got the plant officially registered as an heirloom variety and now a part of the world’s edible history forever. 

The intention of this post is not to say that everyone must only ever buy produce like those strikingly lobed multicolored local heirloom tomatoes being sold for $6.99 a pound, as they can definitely be cost-prohibitive. If prices of heirlooms in farmers markets are too steep, seed catalogs and swaps are filled with lovely varieties that can easily thrive in community gardens, a porch, a window sill– anywhere they can be given attention and nutrients to keep on keeping on.

A great thing about our era of stunningly widespread global trade and hyper-interconnectedness is that we have so much more knowledge to exchange along with all those goods being shipped around.  For example, many of our favorite tomato varieties like Black Krim, Cosmonaut Volkov, and Red Siberian were bred in Eastern Europe over on the Crimean peninsula as sturdy plants that can brave a short growing season like Vermont’s. Imagine if the seeds weren’t saved one fateful growing season and the last tough yet flavorful tomato variety left couldn’t bear this zone, forever dooming us to tomato-like impersonators shipped from elsewhere… I don’t even want to go there. 

Social justice is a core pillar of the heirloom movement, as it seeks to involve and benefit everyone in the food system not just foodies concerned about flavor. One can purchase seeds of corn from Chiapas in solidarity with Zapatista farmers to show support of their traditional growing practices and resistance to the spread of GMOs. Or why not try finding out what crops were grown by the indigenous peoples who first lived on the land you call home and grow those to cultivate a sense of place? Initiatives like this enrich our meals, connect us with others’ experiences and often gives financial support to the farmers who are stewarding humanity’s future. 

Reference

IPES-Food (2016) From uniformity to diversity: a paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems. International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food systems (IPES-Food). 

 
 

An Afternoon at UVM’s Horticulture Research and Education Center

An Afternoon at UVM’s Horticulture Research and Education Center

By Ernesto Méndez (ALC/PSS) and Rachel Leslie (CALS)

Many UVM students take pride knowing that over 25% of campus food comes from local/community-based, fair, ecologically sound and humane food sources. What they may not know is that a portion of that food is cultivated by UVM students just a few miles from campus at UVM’s Horticulture Research and Education Center (HREC).

Last Friday, the Department of Plant and Soil Science hosted a tour of HREC, bringing students, facility and other visitors from across campus to see the facility in action and learn more about its various education and research programs. 

“I was surprised by the variety of plants and size of the farm, considering the location,” said plant biology major Mackenzie Laverick, who attended the HREC tour.

    

Nestled in the peri-urban/suburban landscape of South Burlington, VT, the nearly 100-acre facility revolves around a three-pronged mission of fostering research, education and specialty crop production. Having been purchased by UVM in 1952, the facility has a rich history of research and education in agronomy, horticulture, and more recently, in ecological agriculture and agroecology.

There are 15 research projects underway this year, including research on invasive pests and diseases that affect apples, grapes, and vegetables. For education, the HREC hosts the Farmer Training Program (FTP), a 6-month intensive program for aspiring farmers and food systems advocates, and several undergraduate courses use the farm as an outdoor classroom. Apples, grapes, organic vegetables and broiler chickens comprise the production portion – sold through a CSA, a farmstand, the Old North End Farmers Market and UVM dining halls.

“I know about CSAs, but I didn’t know that a UVM farm had one,” said Molly Mathes, a food systems major who first learned about the HREC through one of her courses and had never been to the facility before the tour. “I think taking a class there would be fun,” she said.

Upon arriving for the tour, HREC director and plant and soil science research assistant professor Terence Bradshaw introduced the farm and its mission. After enjoying fresh apples and carrots grown on the farm, the visitors learned about some of the research projects underway, including plant and soil science lecturer Annie White’s work establishing pollinator habitats at the farm.

Farmer Training Program co-director Rachel Stievater discussed the farm’s educational mission. The Catamount Educational Farm, which comprises approximately 10-acres of the HREC facility, offers students and faculty the opportunity to learn and research hands-on specialty crop production and marketing. Through summer courses at the Catamount Educational Farm, UVM undergraduate students work side by side with students in the Farmer Training Program gaining hands-on experience in organic farming, crop planning and diversified farm management – the foundations of agroecology. Bradshaw concluded the tour with an educational walk through the grape and apple research plots. 

“The objective of the tour was to show the farm, and the educational and research opportunities it offers, to members of the UVM and Burlington community who might not know of it,” said Bradshaw. “We were pleased to have students and faculty in attendance from many UVM programs and colleges.”

The Plant and Soil Science Department is working hard with Bradshaw, Stievater, and Farmer Training Program co-director S’ra DeSantis to strengthen programs at the farm.

“We want to continue the good work, but also expand and support other UVM research and education endeavors related to agroecology, sustainable food systems, and landscape management,” said Ernesto Mendez, chair of the department. “More specifically, we believe the HREC provides ample opportunities for High Impact Educational Practices (HIEPs) as well as outreach and non-credit programs.”

ALC and Groundswell International Co-Host Agroecology Conference at the University of Vermont (UVM)

ALC and Groundswell International Co-Host Agroecology Conference at the University of Vermont (UVM)

The ALC and Groundswell International are co-organizing the global conference on “Collaboration to Amplify Agroecology“. This event is the result of the formalization of a partnership between UVM’s Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC), in the UVM Plant and Soil Science Department (PSS), and Groundswell International. For several years, Groundswell and the ALC have been collaborating and working on strengthening our partnerships. Both organizations are committed to using agroecology to better understand and transform our current food systems into ones that are more sustainable and socially just. ALC has strengths in agroecology and participatory action research (PAR), while Groundswell conducts bottom-up, local agroecology projects with farmers and communities in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

This event will showcase some of Groundswell’s projects and people, and engage participants in a dynamic and reflective methodology to discuss how to deepen our collaborations in agroecology-related work. We hope participants will be able to collectively learn, network and genuinely connect with each other.

In addition to Groundswell and the ALC, the event has been generously sponsored by the following UVM units: The Plant and Soil Science Department (PSS), the Gund Institute for Environment, the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (CALS), the UVM Foundation and The Environmental Program (ENVS).

Re/New Alliances: Working towards farmer-scholar collaboration for food sovereignty in North America

Re/New Alliances: Working towards farmer-scholar collaboration for food sovereignty in North America (this blog is a re-post taken, with permission, from the AgroecologyNow! website)

Above: Street demonstration during the the IV National Assembly of the US Food Sovereignty Alliance in Bellingham, WA, October 2018 | Credit: David Meek

by Jahi Chappell, Saulo Araujo & Ernesto Mendez

The Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR) at
Coventry University (UK) recently hosted a workshop to “collectively
strengthen relationships, learning/analysis and collaboration for people
who are involved in research and knowledge work that advances movements
for agroecology and food sovereignty”. We are grateful to have
participated, and for the deep and thoughtful organization and
facilitation that allowed us to move this objective forward. As scholars
and organizers seeking to strengthen agroecology and food sovereignty
in the North American context, we used the workshop as an opportunity to
discuss potential actions for the future. This blog sets out some of
this thinking and highlights the need for renewing collaborations
between academic researchers and grassroots movements groups, based on
building trust and mutual understanding.

Read the first blog in this series on Indigenous Peoples by Carol Kalafatic here.

What is the relevance of agroeocology and food sovereignty in the North American context?

As a region, North America has always played a key role in the
implementation of food and agriculture policies worldwide. The
governments of Canada and the United States, for instance, have opposed
language around food sovereignty and agroecology in international
treaties and processes at the United Nations. Despite the views of
supposedly “efficient” food and agriculture policies in North America,
grounded on the trade agreements of NAFTA, the agricultural sector in
the region has been dominated by large agribusinesses producing commodities,
and not food. As a result of these policies, thousands of small-scale
and indigenous farmers from Mexico have left their plots to work in the
fields of the US and Canada in subpar living conditions, and many
working under the stress of being undocumented.

Farmers and fisherfolk in the US are also living under constant
threat of losing their land and boats to banks and other creditors.
Instead of providing a fair share to food producers, the current
policies only benefit banks, and international agribusinesses. Because
of these conditions, every year — since the 1970’s — fewer are able to
stay on the land, with farmers representing less than 2% of the US
population today.

The alternative political, ecological, and even epistemological
worldviews offered by agroecology and food sovereignty present key tools
for organizing and analyzing more equitable and just alternatives in
North America. In particular they provide effective ways to challenge
both the internal and external colonizing legacies of North America.

How have these movement(s) in North America advanced so far?

The real solutions to the growing food insecurity in North America
can be found, on the ground, across the region. However, these
initiatives receive little attention from policy makers and scholars.
Yet agroecological practices developed by small-scale farmers and
fisherfolk represent hope – a way to simultaneously end hunger and to
“cool the planet”.

From this perspective, alliances between grassroots groups,
supporting non-profits and scholars play an essential role to ‘scale
out’ — by supporting the leadership of food producers – and ‘scale up’ —
by building enough power to press for better policies. It is in those
spaces that rural and urban communities are working to build a path to
scale out agroecology towards food sovereignty in North America,
learning from the on-going work of following the same steps as others,
such as those aligned with La Via Campesina International and other
global social movements. These coordinated global efforts are at the
front and center of the struggle of millions of families worldwide, for
material gains (access to land and resources, healthy foods, and
stewardship of land, water and biodiversity) and immaterial necessities
(defending farming and fishing as a way of life).

Some of the initiatives that have been taking root in North America
include the People’s Agroecology Process, a grassroots-led space which
is currently formed by African American and Native American groups and
farmer and farmworker organizations from the US, Puerto Rico and Canada.
For the past ten years, the US Food Sovereignty Alliance (USFSA) has
brought together rural and urban organizations for the advocacy of food
sovereignty and agroecology. And the Agroecology Research and Action
Collective, a broadly defined scholars’ group, is dedicated to
coordinating respectful and effective efforts between researchers and
grassroots organizations.

How are scholars contributing to advancing agroecology and food sovereignty in North America?

In the U.S., agroecology has a long history within academic
institutions. Steve Gliessman, Miguel Altieri, Sunny Power, Deborah
Letourneau, Dick Levins, Ivette Perfecto and John Vandermeer (among
others), have represented pioneering agroecological thinking, based
within U.S. universities, since the 1970s. (And other U.S. pioneers who
may not have called themselves “agroecologists” are increasingly
recognized, from George Washington Carver to Booker T. Whatley and Owusu
Bandele.) However, the linkage between these scholarly efforts was not
historically linked to social movements in the U.S. More recently, a new
wave of agroecology scholars has sought to more intentionally make this
connection; an effort that resulted in the creation of the Agroecology
Action Research Collective (ARC).

The creation of ARC was spurred by conversations about an
“Agroecology Forum” in North America, and strong encouragement from
grassroots allies to “get our house in order” so that supportive
scholars can act collectively, and more effectively, in solidarity for
change. What are we willing to commit? What are our political
commitments? And how do we make sure we can be relied upon to show up,
and be collectively responsible, to frontline allies? These are several
of the questions ARC was formed to answer.

Since its creation several years ago, ARC has engaged in the
following activities: 1) convening sessions in academic forums for
dialogue between grassroots actors and scholars; 2)  Attendance at
coalition spaces such as the USFSA Meeting; 3) Creation of a document of
principles and protocols for engaged scholarship in agroecology; and 4)
the composition of an Open Letter on how a Green New Deal can
incorporate agroecology. Several groups have already reported making use
of ARC’s principles and protocols, with some seeking to adopt them for
their own work. In monthly calls and several working groups, ARC
continues to lay the foundations for ethical and effective solidarity
and action for agroecology and food sovereignty in the U.S.

What is the importance of scholar-grassroots organization collaborations?

For too long, institutions in academia followed a path defined to
protect the interests of few. Universities were built on ancestral lands
of indigenous people whose chances to enjoy the fruits of study and
reflection with others under the imposed systems were almost null.
Further, farmers, fisherfolk, indigenous people and pastoralists, whose
labor and knowledge is the basis of all sciences, have often had this
knowledge and labor captured, unrecognized and uncompensated, through
academic extractivism. It is unjust and intellectually inconsistent with
science’s supposed principles to take advantage of such knowledge and
labor. In other words, it is past time to advance free, prior, and informed consent for the nonmaterial world.[1]

The most important academic institutions are public and/or heavily
funded by taxes. Hence, the creation of all knowledges should be the
path to the benefit of all. It is the duty of all to redirect the path
of academia towards the building of a dignified life, grassroots
democracy and the Rights of Mother Earth.

What is the way forward?

There is urgency for the emergence of a broader coalition of allies
to advance food sovereignty globally. Farmworkers, farmers, fisherfolk,
indigenous people, scholars and consumers are building alliances towards
that goal. Their organizing efforts such as ARC, USFSA, Climate Justice
Alliance, HEAL Alliance, La Via Campesina and many others are important
political actors as well as building blocks of a path to reclaim land,
food, rights and knowledge from neoliberal policies and institutions.

A broader alliance between rural and urban people is also urgent and
necessary. The challenges imposed on us by the current ecological,
economic and political crises are destroying ecosystems, entire nations
and life on Earth. There is no other option left besides a stronger
commitment to build power from the bottom up and across nations.
Steadily, communities are finding that our differences are also our
strengths, and the urgency to defend our collective future outgrows our
challenges to build unity.

Such unity has never been more urgent, as we face continued climate
change and destabilization, and the global rise of authoritarian
populism. Organized proponents of agroecology and food sovereignty have
already made common cause with other social movements, such as the World
March for Women and the World Forum of Fisher Peoples, and some voices
from labor and anti-hunger groups; but much work remains to be done to
bridge the divides among the oft-disunited groups offering complementary
alternative visions to the domination of global capital. While there
have been opportunities for collective reflection and strategizing, a
whole new level of involvement is called for. Some of the actions
available to take in the United States include scholars, such as those
in ARC, “showing up” (when invited) to already-existing spaces, such as
convenings of the US Food Sovereignty Alliance; Farm Aid; MOSES (the
Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service); and continuing to
seek creative ways for empowered grassroots voices to not just speak,
but be listened to, in academic-convened spaces.

The CAWR meeting brought together scholars and grassroots actors to
plan concrete action and collaboration, supporting “dialogues of
knowledges”, mutual respect and accountability, and building power
together to take on the challenges before us. One participant commented
that it was way past time for scholars to stop using the phrase “giving
voice to the voiceless,” because the voices of so many grassroots actors
have been present and struggling for food sovereignty and agroecology
for a long time. Rather, the problem has been that these voices have not
been listened to, and in many cases, have been violently opposed. The
workshop helped to reaffirm the challenges and joys of working across
differences, undermining “privilege”, and the need for building power
together towards an agroecological future for all.

—

[1] Free, prior, and informed consent (FPIC) has been an important element of struggles for indigenous rights, as well as debates and resistance around “land grabs”.

UVM’s Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC) Strengthens International Collaborations on Transformative Agroecology

UVM’s Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC) Strengthens International Collaborations on Transformative Agroecology

The ALC is excited to share the news that we have signed collaborative Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) with 4 international organizations, as follows: Groundswell International, a network of organizations from Africa, the Americas and Asia, with a U.S. coordinating office, working on agroecology and sustainable local food systems; The Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience (CAWR), based at Coventry University, in the United Kingdom; The Agroecology Group, in the Department of Agriculture, Environment and Society at El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR), a research center based in San Cristobal de Las Casas, Mexico; and Statistics for Sustainable Development (Stats4SD), an organization based in Reading, United Kingdom. These collaborative pursuits were sought because of strong alignments in our mission and vision, as related to research, education and outreach in agroecology. All of us are committed to working on transformative and inclusive approaches to agroecology, which seek to achieve an ecologically sound and socially just agrifood system. We believe that this goal can only be reached through strong collaborations among like-minded people and organizations.

ALC co-organizes Mexico-Nicaragua learning exchange on smallholder coffee farm diversification

ALC co-organizes Mexico-Nicaragua learning exchange on smallholder coffee farm diversification

ALC members Ernesto Méndez, Martha Caswell, and Janica Anderzén spent last week in Chiapas, Mexico, exchanging experiences and ideas around livelihood diversification, agroecology, and Participatory Action Research (PAR) in smallholder coffee communities of Mesoamerica. The week was both exciting and inspiring as coffee producers, academics, representatives from coffee buyers and NGOs from Mexico, Nicaragua, and the US, reviewed two and a half years of participatory action research, and set the course for next steps. This was the 2nd Farmer-to-Farmer Exchange within a 3-year PAR project on livelihood diversification in smallholder coffee systems, co-led by ALC, Santa Clara University and the Community Agroecology Network (CAN). Attendees included representatives of smallholder coffee cooperative partners Cesmach SC Oficial (Mexico) and Prodecoop (Nicaragua), the Community Agroecology Network (USA), the Universidad Nacional Agraria – Nicaragua (Nicaragua), el Departamento de Agricultura, Sociedad y Ambiente, Ecosur(Mexico), UVM/ALC (USA), Equal Exchange (USA), and Food 4 Farmers (USA). #agroecologyandlivelihoodscollaborative#uvm#cesmachoficial#prodecoop#communityagroecologynetwork#ecosur#universidadnacionalagragia#equalexchange#food4farmers#participatoryactionresearch#gundinsitute

  • ALC team members Alejandra Guzman (Post-doc) and Janica Anderzén (PhD candidate) prepare materials for the exchange
  • Getting started in San Cristobal de las Casas, Chiapas, MX
  • Presenting findings
  • Group work
  • Sharing agrobiodiversity from Mexico and Nicaragua
  • Coffee and maize in the Sierra Madre de Chiapas
  • Doña Leticia shows a ‘quelite’, an edible wild plant that grows in the shade coffee farms of Chiapas
  • The PAR cycle in Mexico
  • Seed exchange
  • Discussing the PAR cycle in Nicaragua
  • Visit to the community of Zapata
  • Coming together in the community of Vista Alegre
  • Preparing the seed exchange workshop
  • CESMACH coffee
  • The PAR cycle in Nicaragua