Category: News

¡Brigada! The 2024 Short Course on People’s Agroecology in Vermont

From October 3 to October 9, dozens of local farmers, farmworkers, organizers and activists gathered in Greensboro Bend, Vermont, for the 2024 Short Course in People’s Agroecology, with participants from Rural Vermont, the National Family Farm Coalition, the Farmworkers Association of Florida (FWAF), the National Farmers’ Union (NFU) of Canada, Union Paysanne in Quebec, Organización Boricuá from Puerto Rico, and the Institute for Agroecology of the University of Vermont. This short course was based on the agroecological work brigade methodology that has been led by Boricuá and other organizations across the world. Learning by doing and learning through solidarity were two major pedagogical dimensions of the course.

The brigade gathered on the land of small farmers and agrarian leaders across Vermont, forming dialogue, often through opening and closing circles in which people shared their voices and developed their listening skills. Experienced practitioners spoke on themes including building and sustaining cooperatives; racial justice in Vermont and the US; mutual aid networks; challenging heteropatriarchy in farming communities; building courage and solidarity against colonialism, apartheid and genocide; integrating affordable housing into agroecological farms; harm reduction and healing from trauma; closing nutrient cycles in the food system; hen, goat, and earthworm raising; field preparation, post-harvest management; small business management; beginning carpentry; and scaling agroecology at the community level.

Preparing for garlic planting.

From marching on the picket lines of Migrant Justice in support of its demands for Hannaford to join the Milk with Dignity program, to joining Northeast Kingdom Organizing (NEKO) in packing a showing of the housing crisis documentary Just Getting By, the presence of the brigade was an important means of living into solidarity with the struggles for social justice in the state.

Participants learned about the housing and food crisis widely experienced by Vermont communities, struggles with land access for young farmers, and different frameworks for liberatory movements. They made art together, commemorating those killed in the Palestinian genocide and condemning the continued, direct US support of Israel through weapons, intelligence and logistics. Together, they rebuilt part of a sugar shack, planted hundreds of pounds of garlic, mucked out goat sheds, and harvested squash. They moved a lot of firewood, in true brigade formation, as the leaf colors stunned their eyes and the Northeast Kingdom received the first fall frosts. Some participants even witnessed the northern lights!

Stacking wood with a chain of participants. Many hands make light work. 

With brigade visits to Wheelock Mountain Farm, Black Dirt Farm, Dawn Land Farm, Riverside Farm, Ezili’s Respite Farm and Sanctuary, Crystal Ledge Farm, Cedar Mountain Farm, and the Quechee Abenaki Gardens, there was both a tremendous generosity of time, wisdom and spirit on the part of farmers, and a new sense of movement-capacity to bring labor to concrete situations, highlighting solidarity as a real factor in small farm survival in the hostile political economy of a corporate, colonial food system.

It truly does take a village.

Wheelock Mountain Farm played the crucial role of providing shelter, kitchen, discussion space, library access, stoves and firewood, and a sense of home before, during, and after the entire Short Course.

Dawn Land Farm, Ubuntu Freedom, Black Dirt Farm and Riverside Farm offered educational content and teaching time. Riverside Farm, FUSDA, Bear Roots Farm, and Sweet Rowan Farm provided healthy and delicious food. Russell Maroon Shoatz III provided cooking expertise throughout the week. Sage Mountain offered a passenger van for transportation across the state. The Institute for Agroecology (IFA) provided logistical, programmatic and pedagogical support throughout. The member organizations of Via Campesina North America and Via Campesina Caribbean Region made a major effort to be present, even as a hurricane was bearing down on the US South and Caribbean geographies. And of course, many people who were not present gave their time to taking care of children, homes, organizations, families and farms so that those who were there could be present. A large part of building change from the grassroots is learning and understanding how many actors must come together, give the best of themselves, and feel good about a process.

tanamá varas teaches the brigade about garlic planting, and everyone gets to work!

The participants in the 2024 Short Course in People’s Agroecology learned with and from one another while deepening their relationships and connection through shared work, political analysis, and a vision for a better world.  Together, they wrote a declaration following the time they spent together.

DECLARATION OF THE 2024 SHORT COURSE IN PEOPLE’S AGROECOLOGY:

This past week the People’s Agroecology School, a project of Rural Vermont, held the 2024 Short Course in People’s Agroecology – a place where people from Vermont, Florida, California, Quebec, Ontario, Bkwejenong, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico and beyond congregated to discuss Agroecology and its political implications. 

We visited and worked side by side with farmers from Barre, Groton, Greensboro Bend, Stannard, Bethel, Hartland, and Queechee, where we were able to hold spaces of hard work, play, reflection, and exchange of ideas. 

Working together shoulder to shoulder, we realized that we all share similar struggles. 

No matter where we come from, we are affected by the 800 military bases that the US has around the world, with their price tag and their impact on global peace, global resistance, and global warming. US-initiated wars since 2001 have caused the death of over four million human beings, and there have been 250 US military operations since 1992, causing untold suffering. The US military alone emits more CO2 than any other single entity on the planet. 

The US commitment to war, domination of land and water resources, and profit margins for corporations, is suffocating our planet. Since January 2023, there have been 153 declarations of major disaster in the United States alone. Climate-driven disasters are on the rise at an astonishing rate across the world. The determination of the United States to prevent alternatives to the capitalist model takes place as the planet’s self-regulating mechanisms are being overwhelmed. Tax dollars kill!  

Agroecology is so much more than farming; it’s about building community. We are all part of something much bigger than ourselves. This is why we cannot turn away from the fact that our brothers and sisters in Palestine need our support. As Rural Vermont clearly articulated in its Letter to the Editor to the Vermont weekly Seven Days on October 9, asking local organizations to show support for Palestine, we need to open our hearts and have honest conversations around this issue. The Israeli occupation must end, and US support for Israeli apartheid and genocide are unconscionable. 

Agroecology connects us with community, in equality and solidarity, as well as with our surroundings and the land. When we take care of the living soil sponge, of our Earth Mother and our kind, together we can have bountiful crops, absorb atmospheric carbon and rainfall, and work towards decolonization of our minds and practices. The mindset of domination, elimination, and othering can be countered by a belief in ourselves, our diversity, and the fertility of our world. We need each other, just as we need the microbial communities in our bodies and in our soil. We need the vast variety of life and landscape, fields and friends, pollinators and people, to remember who we are and where we belong.

Vermont has experienced three hundred-year floods in 13 months, Florida has been hit by two major hurricanes in 13 days, and Puerto Rico has been impacted year after year with increasingly severe tropical storms. Droughts are longer, floods are more severe. All of our territories are being affected, and this is just the beginning of the terrible changes to our climate that colonialism and capitalism are unleashing. We choose agroecology as a means to keep being human and take care of our families and communities as our climates change. 

Housing is a human right. Our food is our freedom. We are our environment. When we struggle for our own rights to access land, nourish each other without toxic chemicals, ban cancer-causing pesticides, practice natural and traditional medicine, speak from the heart, take care of our neighbors no matter where they were born or what languages they speak, demand that police end their reign of terror against black and brown communities, organize for the release of political prisoners, and put forward a platform for a just transition from the extractive, fossil fuel economy to a regenerative, loving and restorative model, we grow in humanity, health, and responsibility. Vermonters, please support your local farmers and join groups supporting mutual aid networks and working towards our collective wellbeing. 

Members of the People’s Agroecology School of Vermont will be facilitating a workshop at the October 19 Conference for the Struggle for Land and Liberation, hosted by the Vermont Coalition for Palestinian Liberation, from 10am to 7pm at the Old North End Community Center in Burlington. The workshop will be focused on land struggles, food sovereignty, movement building, and solidarity from farmers’ perspectives. Other workshops will be led by groups in Vermont working in prison abolition, migrant justice, LGBTQIA+ liberation, and more. Everyone should leave this conference with at least three concrete actions they can take to materially impact the situation in Palestine. Each group leading workshops will make clear how the struggle for Palestinian liberation is relevant to the people who organize with them – nothing is relevant if you do not take action. 

The 2024 Short Course in People’s Agroecology reminded us of a phrase of Rachel Carson– the sense of wonder. After these days of collective labor, deep conversation, and community caretaking, we stand in awe of all of you, the forests, and of ourselves, as we carry so much history in our hearts and responsibility in our hands. We can support each other to build a new way forward, with food sovereignty, agroecology, land to tend, and love in our eyes. Being together on this Earth is enough reason to celebrate, cooperate, commemorate, and fight like hell for an end to war, occupation, abuse and exploitation. Vermont, may you sing a rebel song!

The crew gathers for a photo after a day of building community and supporting one another.

Weaving Just and Sustainable Food Futures: Regional Approaches and Strategies

Among the bucolic hills of Knoll Farm in Waitsfield, Vermont, 45 researchers, organizers, policymakers, and civil society actors gathered for a workshop in pursuit of building a just and sustainable food system, work that is more critical than ever.

Organized by the UVM Institute for Agroecology, Food Solutions New England, and Agroecological Transitions for Territorial Food Systems (ATTER) the insightful workshop, “Weaving Just and Sustainable Food Futures: Regional Approaches and Strategies,” was held on July 15 and 16.  The focus centered on governance, power, and equity in regional food systems and leveraged participants’ experiences, case studies, and knowledge to explore transformative concepts such as the Right to Food, Agroecology, Food Sovereignty, and a Just Transitions.

Workshop participants gathered in front of the historic barn at Knoll Farm. The Knoll Farm Barn was salvaged, taken down, moved piece by piece by oxen and resurrected on its current location in 1923 by the McLaughlin family.

“Regional approaches to organizing food systems have received a lot of attention and we are interested in centering these concepts and their focus on holistic approaches to systems change, human rights, equity,” says Colin Anderson, associate director of the Institute of Agroecology at University of Vermont. “In this way, we can address the root problems that are undermining sustainability and justice in the food system and work towards the social and political transformation needed to foster just and sustainable food systems”.

Specifically, the workshop delved into regional governance across all of its discussions, emphasizing multi-actor and cross-sector coordination. As discussed, this approach leads to new institutional arrangements, visions, policy changes, and markets while fostering democracy, justice, innovation, and strengthening civil society. A particular focus was placed on understanding issues of governance, power, and equity in the region through novel research approaches that can be leveraged by on-the-ground actors to effect change.

While New England was the focal region, the workshop included case studies, perspectives, and participants from other geographies. Several case studies from the International ATTER Project, which explores efforts to scale up agroecological transitions in European, American, and Brazilian territorial food systems, were discussed.

Left: Fran Miller, senior staff attorney and adjunct faculty member at the Center for Agriculture and Food Systems (CAFS) at Vermont Law School (VLS), speaks with Katie Horner (center), Postdoctoral Associate at the UVM Institute for Agroecology. Right: Emilie Inoue, Plant Health Section Chief with the Vermont Agency of Agriculture (right), picks organic blueberries at Knoll Farm with Theresa Ong, Assistant Professor of Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College. 

Over the two days, participants focused on Co-learning, Connecting, and Collaborating. They deepened their understanding of transformative approaches to regional food systems with one another; built and strengthened their relationships across the region and the country, including dialogue, food, outdoor activities, and field visits; and explored opportunities for new partnerships, projects, publications, and lines of work.

For example, we will be holding an online seminar on regional food systems where Claire Lamine and Karine Nunes will be presenting about work on territorial food systems and agroecology in France and Brazil (sign up for our newsletter to receive notices about this event and others like it).

Among the notable outcomes was the design of a new project on food democracy experiments. This initiative brings together five ATTER partners: National Research Institute for Agriculture, Food and the Environment, France (INRAE), the University of Vermont (UVM), Urgenci International Network for Community Supported Agriculture, Food First Information and Action Network (FIAN), and Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ), plus Food Solutions New England (FSNE), thanks to the exchanges held during the workshop. Claire Lamine, the principle investigator of this project explained, “This project will carry out action research on efforts in Brazil, the USA and France to deepen democracy in food systems by creating new ways for citizens to participate in designing and making decisions on policy and programs that shape their food systems.”

Left: Graham Unangst-Rufenacht, policy director for Rural Vermont (left), speaks with Amber Tamm, head florist at the Catamount Farm, and tanamá varas, Catamount Farm Manager and FTP Lead Instructor. Right: Participants meet in the barn at Knoll Farm for a breakout session. (Left to right: Ulum Pixan Athoil Suk’il, Education Director at NOFA/Mass (Northeast Organic Farming Association); Karen Spiller, Thomas W. Haas Professor in Sustainable Food Systems and Affiliate Assistant Professor in the Social Work Department at University of New Hampshire, Durham; Karine Nunes, PhD candidate in sociology at the School of High Studies on Social Sciences in France; Karen Nordstrom, Policy Program Co-Director, Food Solutions New England; and Anni Bellows, Professor of Food Studies and Graduate Program Director at Syracuse University.

Organizing Committee and Support

The workshop was organized by Colin Anderson, UVM Institute for Agroecology, Molly Anderson, Middlebury College, Karine Nunes, INRAE and Monts d’Ardèche Regional Natural Park (France), Karen Nordstrom, Food Solutions New England at the University of New Hampshire Sustainability Institute, and Claire Lamine, INRAE (France).

The event received financial support from:

Participants gather on Tuesday evening for a final round of reflections before heading home.

Bridging Political Ecology and Agroecology: Insights from the POLLEN Conference in Lund

Members of IfA recently presented at a political ecology conference in Lund, Sweden, adding an agroecological perspective to the rich discussions and debates of the event and holding up our own ideas to a political ecological lens. Attending conferences like these allows us to engage with and build understanding among like-minded disciplines.

 

POLLEN (Political Ecology Network) is a global network of researchers, groups, projects, and networks, organized around geographical ‘nodes’. The network uses conferences as a point of encounter between diverse traditions and to advance political ecology research and social movements.

 

Read on for a quick recap of the inspiring presentations and discussions from the conference and the thematic areas in which these fields mutually reinforce one another.

 

Left: This year, the POLLEN was held at Lund University, one of the oldest public universities in Northern Europe. Center: The IfA team enjoying some delicious Danish smørrebrød (open faced sandwiches) at a market in Copenhagen before the conference began. Right: Andrew giving a talk on financing transformative work in Agroecology.

Presentations

🎤 Janica’s Presentation: Janica explored how agroecology and food sovereignty (FS) offer transformative solutions to environmental and socio-economic crises in our food systems. She emphasized the importance of understanding farmers’ definitions of FS in different contexts, highlighting a case study from smallholder coffee farmers in Chiapas, Mexico. Through focus groups and surveys, these farmers defined their FS and contrasted it with their actual food production and consumption practices, demonstrating principles of epistemic justice.

 

🎤 Andrew’s Presentation: Andrew briefly described research exploring practitioner ideas of how donor support for agroecological transformations would need to look qualitatively different from the conventional mechanisms of resourcing agricultural and rural development. This research draws heavily on recent efforts to address the relatively meager investments in agroecology on the global stage despite its popularity in the rhetoric of international institutions. And it’s informed by the experience and insights of donors and grantees on how grant-making protocols can incorporate decolonial principles of justice and plurality.

 

🎤 Roundtable with Janica, Martha, Katie, and Michelle: The roundtable delved into how political ecology can deepen the impact of agroecology across four dimensions: soil health, agroforestry, agricultural diversification, and education. They discussed coalition building, integrating diverse types of knowledge, and tackling tensions in research. Central themes included epistemic justice, pluralism, social-ecological sufficiency, redistribution of natural resources, and the role of mental models in identifying complementary approaches to radical systems change.

Left: Lund cathedral. Right: Andrew, Janica, and Katie waiting for a bus in Lund (public transportation is great!).

Key Themes

We identified some key themes connecting Political Ecology and Agroecology:

 

Food Sovereignty: Empowering communities to define their food systems and ensuring sustainable and culturally appropriate food production. Through dialogues and encounters at the conference, diverse global perspectives on food sovereignty were shared, enriching collective understanding and practice.

 

Right to Food: Advocating for the fundamental human right to access nutritious food. Engaging with critical social scientists deepened our understanding of the connections between food rights and broader social justice issues.

 

Justice: Promoting social, economic, and environmental justice within food systems. The conference facilitated transdisciplinary dialogues that bridged the gaps between academia, activism, and art, advancing collective commitments to justice.

 

Pluriverse: Recognizing and respecting diverse ways of knowing and being in agroecological practices. POLLEN 2024 provided a platform for pluralizing knowledge, challenging dominant paradigms, and fostering intercultural and transnational solidarities.

 

Decoloniality: Challenging and dismantling colonial legacies in agricultural systems and funding models. The conference provided space to unpack entangled inequalities and explore non-dominant epistemologies, moving towards decolonial futures based on mutualism and cooperation.

 

Our lasting impression? We’re more excited than before to continue to dialogue with political ecology across the geographies and societal boundaries in which agroecology is taking hold. We’re also grateful for the ways in which this encounter deepens the IfA’s capacity to promote transdisciplinarity, plurality and critical perspectives through its research and education. 

 

After leaving the conference in Lund, the team took some time to visit Finland and the stomping grounds of our dear colleague Janica and to lend a brief hand on the farm that has been in her family for many generations. More on that to come in our next post.

Left: Exploring Lund. Right: One of the many interesting sessions at the conference.

Left: Janica and Diana (from Stockholm Resilience Center) sharing insights from their work with Mexican coffee farmers. Right: Michelle, Janica, Martha, and Katie before their roundtable discussion.

Announcing 2024 IfA Small Grants Cohort

The University of Vermont’s Institute of Agroecology (IfA) is excited to announce the recipients of a new, small grant program: Community-Engaged Research in Agroecology and Food Systems. With funding from the Office of the Vice President for Research, these grants will support a cohort of UVM faculty undertaking community-engaged research projects related to agroecology and sustainable food systems.

 

 

 

“These projects bring UVM faculty and students together from different colleges across campus with community partners in meaningful and impactful action research projects,” Colin Anderson, the IfA’s Associate Director, said. “We are excited to engage with all project partners in this year-long learning cohort. By meeting together throughout the year to share experiences and to learn together, we will deepen our understanding of agroecology and our practice of community-engaged participatory research.”

 

 

 

Beyond the awarded funding, this grant program will offer months-long engagement, bringing together faculty and co-investigators into a shared space of co-learning and reflection. The cohort’s first meeting took place on Friday, May 24 to share research experiences, practice active listening, and discuss the pillars of agroecology. Representatives from all six projects joined the first meeting; their projects include evaluating ecosystem health through citizen science, exploring agroecological practices in traditional working landscapes, linking conservation efforts and food security through agroecology, participatory pre-breeding of culturally significant crops, examining community health and Black agrarian agroecology, and a pilot project with trans, queer, and BIPOC farmers through the UVM Food Justice Lab. These smaller grants are pivotal in enabling innovative research that connects academic inquiry with real-world applications, fostering sustainable practices and enhancing food security across various communities.

 

 

Left: Anaka Aiyar, Quinn DiFalco, M. Salim Uddin, and Josh Farley participate in the discussion. Center: Harvest at New Farms for New Americans, Burlington, VT, photo courtesy of Quinn DiFalco. Right: Katie Horner, Krizzia Soto-Villanueva, Andy Kolovos, and Teresa Mares listen while Michelle Nikfarjam summarizes her segment of research for the “Histories and continuities of working landscapes and livelihoods in New England: Agroecological case studies of agroforestry, fiber farming, and hunting” project.

Project Summaries

Building a Baseline: Evaluating Ecosystem Health at NFNA through Citizen Science      

This grant — led by co-principle investigators Quinn DiFalco (CALS) and Joshua Farley (CDAE) — will address a number of concerns with the New Farms for New Americans (NFNA) program, in which intergenerational families, the majority of whom are resettled refugees, grow crops each year at the Ethan Allen Homestead in Burlington, Vermont. While the NFNA is successful, several aspects of the program will be addressed, including conservation and soil management, reduced till land access, climate-smart education, and perennial agriculture. While DiFalco’s and Farley’s project will directly benefit the NFNA — with resilient farming and training opportunities — there will also be an effort to analyze and assess the ecological health of the floodplain.

Histories and continuities of working landscapes and livelihoods in New England: Agroecological case studies of agroforestry, fiber farming, and hunting

How does agroecology help us to bettered understand the histories and continuities in agroforestry, fiber farming, and hunting in the Northeast? Teresa Mares (CAS) aims to find out with their project. Understanding that while the Northeast food system is a mosaic of traditional, technological, and emerging practices for sustaining livelihoods, it’s also grappling with significant ecological, economic, and sociopolitical changes impacting the relationships between people, place, and our animal and plant relations. Mares’ lab plans to trace these impacts across three case studies: subsistence hunting, agroforestry, and fiber farming.

No Monkey Business – Linking Conservation of Gibbons, Agroecological practices, and Food Security among tribal communities living in a bio-diversity hotspot in India
While most of the projects awarded from this grant are focused on agroecology practices in the Northeast, Anaka Aiyar (CALS) and co-principal investigator Divya Vasudev (Conservation Initiatives) strive to develop a framework to understand and strengthen the linkages between agri-food systems, the health of gibbon populations (an Apex biodiversity species), and food security concerns of the forest-dwelling community living in a biodiversity hotspot in a resource-constrained context in the hilly and densely forested north-east of India. Ultimate, Aiyar and their partners want to understand the challenges of agroecological practices, conservation, and socio-economic considerations for local communities and develop a framework where goals for sustainable agrifood systems can be coupled with social–ecological systems and conservation.
Participatory pre-breeding of culturally significant crops, Sorghum and Mungbean

In the global south, participatory plant breeding (PPB) has historically been prioritized and pursued. Daniel Tobin (CDAE) and co-principal investigator Jasmine Hart (CALS) propose to examine the “intermediate zones,” areas with fewer agroclimatic stressors but barriers to end user adoption of improved plant varieties. By collaborating with the BIPOC-led organization, Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance, Tobin, Hart, and their partners will address the lack of literature prioritizing PPB with a culturally meaningful perspective for the diaspora of many cultures found in the US.

Relationship between Black Agrarian Agroecology and Community Health Outcomes: A Place Based Pilot Study Among African American Women

Using a holistic approach with both quantitative and qualitative data, Teresa Leslie (CALS) plans to explore the perceived health outcomes of the African diaspora. Specifically focusing on African American women in the Boston region, Leslie will utilize a community engagement framework to compile deep and embedded insights into perceptions of health and well-being, understanding and experiences with agroecology, and the perceptions and beliefs around the influence of agroecology on food systems and health. Ultimately, Leslie anticipates these insights can inform and establish culturally appropriate health hubs within urban agricultural spaces.

Three UVM Food Justice Lab pilot projects with trans and queer farmers and farmers of color in New England

Agroecology programs at universities in the United States are increasingly focusing on the social side of agroecology, often framed as “food sovereignty” and studied with community or participatory action research. However, many of those universities have yet to integrate and institutionalize these frameworks to their potential. The IfA’s own mission emphasizes this participatory action research method to advance just transformations in food systems. Working within that framework, and understanding that food justice scholarship must be grounded in community practice, Ike Leslie (CALS, UVM Extension) will use this award funding to develop three pilot projects with trans and queer farmers and farmers of color in New England, ultimately establish long-term relationships and support UVM-community collaborations centered on applied food justice, agroecology research, teaching, and practice.

Article in Nature Food Published, Featuring University of Vermont’s Institute for Agroecology Co-Directors/Professors

Burlington, VT – In an article published today in Nature Food, a team of international experts delves into the urgent need for democratizing knowledge to revolutionize global food systems. Titled “Knowledge Democratization Approaches for Food Systems Transformation,” the article emphasizes the necessity of incorporating traditional, Indigenous, and place-based knowledges into decision-making processes to address blind spots in current food system policies and actions.

Diverse knowledge sources for sustainable and equitable food systems. Adapted with permission from ref. 12, Copyright © 2021 Global Alliance for the Future of Food.

Burlington, VT – In an article published today in Nature Food, a team of international experts delves into the urgent need for democratizing knowledge to revolutionize global food systems. Titled “Knowledge Democratization Approaches for Food Systems Transformation,” the article emphasizes the necessity of incorporating traditional, Indigenous, and place-based knowledges into decision-making processes to address blind spots in current food system policies and actions. A consortium of experts from diverse backgrounds, including V. Ernesto Méndez and Colin R. Anderson, professors at the University of Vermont and co-directors of the UVM Institute for Agroecology (IfA), shed light on the critical role of democratizing knowledge in transforming global food systems.

 Méndez emphasizes the human significance of this research, “Until now we have privileged western scientific knowledge, and this article urgently calls for us to include different types of knowledge and to recognize the people who have developed it.”

The article advocates for a shift towards participatory and transdisciplinary approaches that integrate a wide array of knowledge systems, including those of Indigenous, scientific, and traditional understandings. By embracing this diversity of practices, researchers can generate contextually relevant solutions and foster more inclusive and equitable food systems. The authors also suggest that this is of primary importance when developing policy that impacts food systems.

Led by Samara Brock from Yale University, the article is an outcome of an international process convened by the Global Alliance for the Future of Food on the Politics of Knowledge that brought together food systems leaders to strategize on advancing research and evidence for agroecology. Drawing from case studies worldwide, the authors highlight innovative approaches that involve local actors in knowledge production and exchange. Examples include farmer-managed natural regeneration in sub-Saharan Africa, the 1,000 Farms initiative in the USA, and the Hua Parakore system in Aotearoa New Zealand. They also provide examples of policy groups who are using this co-creator model to improve outcomes and increase adoption of innovative approaches.

Despite the breadth of disciplines of the authors Méndez points to the cohesive perspective of the paper’s contributors, “It is key to note the diversity of sectors represented in the authorship- we have scientists, practitioners, staff from non-profit organizations and philanthropists- all making an urgent call for us to democratize our knowledge base as the foundation to attain an equitable and sustainable food system transformation.”

The principles outlined in the article emphasize the importance of epistemic justice, intercultural co-creation, and knowledge mutualism and exchange in democratizing knowledge-policy processes. These principles, the authors argue, are essential for addressing biases and empowering marginalized communities in shaping food system transformations.

Members of a farmer research network use mobile phone photos to monitor and report potato pests and diseases in Cotopaxi, Ecuador as part of the McKnight Foundation’s Collaborative Crop Research Program. Photo credit: Israel Navarret.
Members of a farmer research network use mobile phone photos to monitor and report potato pests and diseases in Cotopaxi, Ecuador as part of the McKnight Foundation’s Collaborative Crop Research Program. Photo credit: Israel Navarret.
The Farmer Research Team members of the Soils, Food and Healthy Communities program run a bokashi fertilizer training, Malawi, Fall 2020.
The Farmer Research Team members of the Soils, Food and Healthy Communities program run a bokashi fertilizer training, Malawi, Fall 2020.
Andhra Pradesh Community-Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) is studying the true costs and benefits of natural farming against other counterfactual farming methods by measuring all major economic, social, and health impacts.
Andhra Pradesh Community-Managed Natural Farming (APCNF) is studying the true costs and benefits of natural farming against other counterfactual farming methods by measuring all major economic, social, and health impacts.
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 About Nature Food: 

Nature Food is a monthly online journal publishing top-tier original research, reviews, comments and opinions on the theme of food, crossing the disciplines of food-related research in the natural, applied and social sciences. With a comprehensive scope, Nature Food provides researchers and policy-makers with a breadth of evidence and expert narratives on optimizing and securing food systems for the future.  

About the Authors:  

The study was led by Samara Brock at Yale and the authors of the article represent a diverse group of experts from academia, research institutions, and civil society organizations worldwide. Their collective expertise spans fields such as agroecology, Indigenous knowledge systems, participatory research, and food sovereignty.

 Samara Brock, Lauren Baker, Amanda Jekums, Faris Ahmed, Margarita Fernandez, Maywa Montenegro de Wit, Francisco J. Rosado-May, V. Ernesto Méndez, Colin R. Anderson, Fabrice DeClerck, Molly D. Anderson, Rachel Bezner Kerr, Brendan Hoare, Hannah Wittman, Amaury Peeters , Peter Gubbels, Cerasela Stancu, Stéphane Bellon , Jonathan G. Lundgren, Swati, Vijay Thallam, Jane Maland Cady, Paul Rogé 

 About the UVM Authors:  

V. Ernesto Mendez is Professor of Agroecology in the department of Agriculture, Landscape and Environment and co-director of the Institute for Agroecology (IfA) at the University of Vermont. His research and teaching focus on agroecology, agrifood systems, smallholder coffee systems, participatory action research (PAR), and transdisciplinary research approaches. He also serves as vice-president of the board of directors of the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (SOCLA).

 Colin Anderson is an Associate Research Professor in the department of Agriculture, Landscape and Environment at UVM, and the Associate Director of the IfA. His work focuses on community- and people-led processes of transformation for resilience, social justice and well-being. Colin is committed to engaged and participatory research, learning and action in his methodology and pedagogy. This is anchored by a commitment to knowledge mobilization, which involves a political and social process of co-producing and deploying knowledge.

About the IFA at UVM:

The UVM Institute for Agroecology (IfA) is seeding more equitable and sustainable food systems. IfA uses a systems approach that addresses the root causes of problems in the food system. We seek to center equity, participation, and social transformation in our research, learning, and action programs across diverse geographies.

For media inquiries or further information, please contact:

Reid Parsons, Reid.parsons@uvm.edu

Ren Dillon, Director of Strategic Communication, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Ren.Dillon@uvm.edu, 802-793-2209

Reference:

10.1038/s43016-024-00966-3

https://www.nature.com/articles/s43016-024-00966-3

IfA’s publications page: https://www.uvm.edu/agroecology/publication/knowledge-democratization-approaches-for-food-systems-transformation/

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Announcing a New Partnership to Support Just Transitions in Food Systems in the Northeast Kingdom

Hardwick Community Garden shared potato bed harvest 2022. In September 2022 community gardens gathered at Atkins Field for a unique potato harvest. This was part of a pilot program to collectively grow a crop using a no till approach. Participants who helped plant, water, weed, and/or patrol for bugs were able to bring them home. They even had enough to send some surplus to the Hardwick Area Food Pantry. The team harvested 225lbs of edible potatoes, weighed after composting the ones that animals got to first! They grew a number of different varieties including the classic white flesh types, a variety of red skins, purple potatoes, and some fingerlings. Photos by Hayley Williams, featuring the bounty of potatoes, and community gardeners Bethany, Bob, Judith, and Katherine!

We are excited to announce that we have been awarded a Seed Grant from the Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships on Agroecology and Just Transitions research in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom (NEK). This grant will support a cooperative project between the UVM Institute for Agroecology, Center for an Agricultural Economy (CAE), Northeast Kingdom Organizing (NEKO) and Rural Vermont, with the goal of seeding an ongoing program of collaborative research, action and learning.

This initiative will engage with local communities to analyze regional food systems using PAR (participatory action research). In addition to promoting community engagement and collaboration, the project will support a program of community engagement around flagship programs of the CAE (Yellow Barn, Atkins Field and Farm Connex) and NEKO (the Barton Hub).

The NEK, like many rural areas, faces complex issues exacerbated by recent global events, underlining the urgency for innovative, community-led solutions. The goals of the project are to work together to increase the visibility of current food systems work in the area, develop a Food Systems Scorecard to identify critical factors in thriving food systems, and provide in-depth analysis to inform future strategy for regional organizations.

This project is linked to the UVM Institute for Agroecology’s ongoing work to support agroecology transitions in communities around the world through research, learning and action. In this context, we are eager to connect the local with the global, for example through our participation in the international ATTER project – a global network of partners working on territorial food systems and agroecology. We anticipate that the learnings and innovations from the NEK can offer provocative and relevant insights for related efforts in other geographies and, conversely, that our work in Vermont will draw inspiration and learnings from related initiatives elsewhere.

Stills from filming Farm Connex in 2022. By Elizabeth Rossano. Images include photos of: Michael Bellizzi (tan coat) Don Maynard, Neal Renaud (black vest and shorts), Robert Duggan (bob)
Stills from filming Farm Connex in 2022. By Elizabeth Rossano. Images include photos of: Michael Bellizzi (tan coat) Don Maynard, Neal Renaud (black vest and shorts), Robert Duggan (bob)
Stills from filming Farm Connex in 2022. By Elizabeth Rossano. Images include photos of: Michael Bellizzi (tan coat) Don Maynard, Neal Renaud (black vest and shorts), Robert Duggan (bob)
Stills from filming Farm Connex in 2022. By Elizabeth Rossano. Images include photos of: Michael Bellizzi (tan coat) Don Maynard, Neal Renaud (black vest and shorts), Robert Duggan (bob)
Northeast Kingdom Organizing
Northeast Kingdom Organizing
Northeast Kingdom Organizing
Northeast Kingdom Organizing
Northeast Kingdom Organizing
Northeast Kingdom Organizing
Students from Reach! Hardwick work with Emily Cayer of the Northeast Grainshed Alliance to learn about local wheat, and plant a grain patch at Atkins Field. The SQFT Garden - Atkins Field 2022 1x 16SQFT Loaf of Bread and 4x 4SQFT Muffins were planted.
Students from Reach! Hardwick work with Emily Cayer of the Northeast Grainshed Alliance to learn about local wheat, and plant a grain patch at Atkins Field. The SQFT Garden - Atkins Field 2022 1x 16SQFT Loaf of Bread and 4x 4SQFT Muffins were planted.
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Leahy Institute for Rural Partnership Grant Program

Last week, the Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships announced the funding of grants totaling over $1.7 million to more than a dozen deserving projects around the state.  Vermont organizations representing a broad spectrum of diverse interests including community school building, clean energy, flood resilience, regenerative agriculture and health care access will be lifted by the first round of grant funding.

Our project will be one of thirteen partnerships funded across the state of Vermont that will be addressing a broad suite of rural challenges.

“Grant funding through the Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships is a shining new example of the potential for innovation in UVM’s land-grant mission of service to Vermont,” said UVM President Suresh Garimella. “These grants will connect our faculty experts and students to groups with ideas for transformative projects that will make a direct impact for communities throughout Vermont. These collaborations deepen and reinforce the bond between the success of our state and the success of our university.”

Under terms of the grants, UVM faculty experts and students will work with partner organizations through student internships and service-learning experiences. Tricia Coates, Director of the Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships believes collaboration between local stakeholders and the university will result in lasting relationships that will build long-term capacity.

“We had an extraordinary response when we announced this grant program late last year,” said Coates. “With the help of our Institute board of advisors we selected 13 projects we believe will move the needle on some key challenges facing our communities.”

We are eager to work with the Leahy Institute for Rural Partnerships as a part of this wider effort to strengthen our Vermont communities.

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Agroecology Extension (AX) Summer Research Fellowship

Exploring Sustainable Agriculture: The AX Summer Research Fellowship at UVM

Are you passionate about sustainable agriculture and eager to dive into hands-on research? Look no further than the Agroecology Extension (AX) Summer Research Fellowship at the University of Vermont. This fully-paid, 10-week fellowship offers undergraduates from across the United States the opportunity to immerse themselves in the vibrant world of agroecology in the heart of Vermont.

Apply Here - Applications Due March 15, 2024

Program Overview

The AX Fellowship is a collaborative initiative between UVM Extension and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, spearheaded by the Institute for Agroecology situated on UVM’s main campus in Burlington, VT. The fellowship pairs students with mentors involved in diverse applied research and outreach projects, ranging from pest management to ecological landscape design. With UVM providing the projects, mentorship, and research sites, participants bring their enthusiasm and willingness to engage under the warm Vermont summer sun.

Program Goals

The AX Summer Research Fellowship is designed to achieve several key objectives:

Transdisciplinary Learning

Participants gain hands-on experience and develop adaptable research, leadership, and outreach skills by engaging with real-world agricultural challenges.

Career Preparation

The fellowship prepares students for careers and further education in agroecology and extension, equipping them with the tools and knowledge needed to thrive in these fields.

Faculty Collaboration

Fellows are matched with UVM faculty and staff, offering them the opportunity to work within Vermont’s multifaceted agricultural landscape and contribute to new and ongoing Extension outreach projects.

Community Engagement

The program is committed to addressing issues of power and privilege in agroecology and extension. Through collaboration with a diverse network of stakeholders, including researchers, farmers, and organizational leaders, participants explore complex contemporary issues through the lens of agroecology.

POWER AND PRIVILEGE

While we are a largely white-led program in a predominantly white state, we work diligently to address topics of power and privilege in agroecology and extension. To do this, we collaborate with a broad and diverse network of researchers, farmers, organizational leaders, and academics. We invite them into the program to address complex contemporary issues through the lens of agroecology. In partnering with UVM Center for Cultural Pluralism, UVM Identity Centers and the Living Well Program, we further facilitate students’ connections with campus resources focused on wellbeing and belonging.

Join Us!

The AX Summer Research Fellowship offers a unique opportunity for students to deepen their understanding of sustainable agricultural practices, develop valuable skills, and engage with extension work in Vermont. Whether you’re interested in environmental science, sustainable cropping systems, or ecological landscape design, there’s something for everyone in this dynamic program.

Ready to take the next step in your academic and professional journey? Apply now and be part of a transformative summer experience with the AX Fellowship at UVM.

Learn More and Apply Here

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Written by Reid Parsons.

Final Call for Proposals: Institute for Agroecology Small Grants

Final Call for Proposals -
Institute for Agroecology Small Grants (2024)

The UVM Institute for Agroecology is now accepting grant applications for the 2024 calendar year. Five grants, ranging from $5,000 to $15,000, will be awarded to community-engaged research projects led by UVM faculty. Projects must be related to agroecology and sustainable food systems, and funds must be used before December 31, 2024. Full information here. 

Apply Here

Deadline Extension

New Deadline: We have extended the application deadline to 11:59pm Tuesday March 5th 2024, providing applicants with additional time to refine their proposals and ensure their alignment with the program’s objectives.

New Option for Application

Community Partner Option: Recognizing the invaluable role of community partnerships in advancing agroecological research, we’re introducing a new option for signaling community support. As part of your application, you will now have the choice to include either a community partner letter of support, or a list with the name(s) and contact information for your community partner(s). If you opt for the second option and are a finalist, we will contact your partner(s) for a brief conversation.

Grant Details

Grant Objective: Community-Engaged Research in Agroecology and Food Systems, a small grants program, will support a cohort of UVM faculty undertaking community-engaged research projects related to agroecology and sustainable food systems.

Financial Details: Five grants, ranging from $5,000 to $15,000, will be awarded to projects demonstrating strong collaboration with community partners and a commitment to addressing systemic inequities in food production and distribution. Funds are made available from the UVM Office of the Vice President for Research.

Timeline: The deadline for application is March 15, 2024. Recipients will be notified of awards by March 30, 2024. The timeline to spend grant funds is calendar year 2024 (by December 31, 2024).

Eligibility: The principal investigator (PI) must be a UVM faculty member. Co-principal investigators and collaborators can include other faculty, staff and graduate students. An individual can only serve as PI for one active small grant award.

Further Information and Application

For complete grant details and application, please visit this site or click the button below.

 

Apply Here

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Written by Reid Parsons.

Update from the Field: Soil analysis in the coffee plots

Update from the field: Soil analysis in the coffee plots

Between March and June this year, as part of our soil health project in smallholder coffee plots in Guatemala and Mexico, our team returned to the farms to collect soil samples and some additional data. As in the first visits, we focused on the same two sites within each plot: those that farmer-participants considered most fertile and least fertile. In total, we visited 60 plots in Mexico and Guatemala, collecting 120 soil samples in total. From there, we’ve moved on to analysis, including several analytical methods that we’ve conducted within the cooperative offices. A new post in the blog we’ve created to follow this process details what we’ve been up to over the last few months and a bit more on why we’re doing it. 

Read on newest entry to learn more.

Agroecological education in the Andes: Strategies for community-centered co-learning 

Agroecological education in the Andes

Strategies for community-centered co-learning

Transitions toward just and sustainable food systems are complex processes involving evolving relationships between communities of plants, animals, fungi and bacteria, as well as conscious action by growing numbers of people with shared values. At the Institute for Agroecology (IFA), we focus on transformative learning as the fundamental component of building movements and co-creating understandings that can lead to positive change in agroecosystems, communities, territories and institutions.

Over the past two months the Institute’s Agroecology Support Team facilitated an online International Course on Agroecological Transitions with the participation of adult professional students from Bolivia, Ecuador and Peru.

Promotional poster for an agroecology course

The six-week course, entitled Agroecology for Life: Problem-solving in Transition Processes, was designed as a primer in Participatory Action Research for researchers, professionals and members of social organizations that accompany communities in processes of transformation using agroecological principles.

Taking full advantage of the tools of digital online education, the course combined lively synchronous discussion sessions with guest speakers, asynchronous forums, videos, readings from popular press and academic sources, songs and Andean prayers asking permission of Mother Earth.

Screenshot of participants engaging in online workshop
Screenshot of one of the many dialogues among participants throughout the course

As a formation (i.e. learning) process created to support the Andes Community of Practice of the Global Collaboration for Resilient Food Systems (CRFS), “the bedrock of this educational effort is the deep context of Andean agriculture, its peasant knowledge systems and indigenous cosmovisions,” according to course co-facilitator and IFA Research Associate Nils McCune.

This context includes the language and culture of Quechua and Aymara peasant farmers in the Andean region of tropical mountains and vertical archipelagos reaching from the Pacific Ocean to the Altiplano desert at elevations above 13,000 feet above sea level, as well as recent sociopolitical change emerging from new constitutions in 2008 and 2009 that recognized the “plurinational” character of Ecuador and Bolivia, respectively. In addition to the colonial language, Spanish, indigenous languages Kishwa and Shuar were recognized as official languages by Ecuador’s Constitution of 2008, while Bolivia’s 2009 Constitution recognized 37 official languages.

Visitors admire a corn and bean plot in Bolivian Andes
An agrobiodiverse plot in Bolivia

Indeed, the institutional context for agroecological transitions is unique in the Andes. Ecuador was the first country in the world to incorporate the Rights of Nature into its Constitution, and Bolivia followed suit in 2010 with the Law of the Rights of Mother Earth, which grants all nature equal rights to humans. Both countries have constitutions that recognize the state’s responsibility to guarantee food sovereignty, the right of peoples to build, control and defend their own food systems according to their knowledge and culture.

This context shows the need for “a more horizontal, humble approach that sees the relativity of academic knowledge and NGO practice, one that recognizes rural communities and food producers as the fundamental pillar of agroecology,” according to Freddy Congo, an Ecuadorean popular educator with the Union of the Peoples of Moreles (UPM) in Mexico, winner of the Rural Vermont’s Agroecology, Education & Organizing Fellowship Award, and participant in the course.

A small group having a discussion seated on the lawn
A meeting of the Andes Community of Practice in 2022 in Puembo, Ecuador

In all three countries, the Agroecology Support Team works directly with universities, research centers and local NGOs carrying out community- and territory-level processes of agricultural research using methods like farmer research networks, agroecology peasant schools, as well as seed-saving and agrobiodiversity research.

Knowledge co-creation, mobilization, and exchange among these projects is one of the goals of our work, so a central theme of the course in on fostering participatory methodologies.

quotation mark

We need spaces that connect us in a broad and diverse fabric, in order to recognize the diverse ways of perceiving agroecologies on the road to food sovereignty, the emancipation of our peoples, social justice and the good life. The course Agroecology for Life is one of those spaces, where a variety of ways of thinking, feeling and being people are shared in cooperation, co-construction and co-learning.

Tabaré Tonalli Aquimín Duché García

Postdoc at El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) in Mexico and course participant

 

Georgina Catacora Vargas, the Bolivian agroecologist, president of the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (SOCLA) and guest lecturer in the course, argues that “our methodologies are the lenses with which we characterize and reflect on reality, as well as the reflection of our epistemological position, the way in which we (co-)create knowledge.” Her guest appearance in the course was a highlight mentioned by many participants in course evaluations.

Beyond the conceptual and methodological aspects of the Agroecology for Life course, an emerging property of the effort is the idea of building and consolidating a learning community: a space for mutual respect, cross-pollination, and exchange. As Renato Pardo, a course participant and program officer at PROSUCO in Bolivia, put it, the strength of the course is in the “possibility of sharing experiences with other institutions and other professionals working on similar themes.”

We’ve been so pleased with how the course has turned out, and have experienced and observed so much growth and integration as a result. We’ve also received positive feedback from our partners. In a recent communication, Claire Nicklin, Andes CoP Regional Representative for CRFS, noted “the IFA team did a fantastic job of facilitating a warm and collaborative space for practitioners to meet and discuss agroecological transitions.”

The course was co-facilitated by Gabriela Bucini, Nils McCune and Ernesto Méndez.

Call for Contributions: Policies for Agroecology to Support Healthy and Just Food Systems

Do you have experiences, examples, stories or insights about how  policy can support (or undermine) agroecology? Consider submitting an article to the first issue of the newly named magazine, “Rooted: Agroecology, Cultures and Foodways” [formerly ‘Farming Matters’].

Available as PDF in English, Spanish, French and Portuguese

Rooted magazine is a new platform for the exchange of voices, perspectives and knowledge of food producers and others at the forefront of action to transform food systems through agroecology.

For the inaugural edition issue of Rooted, planned for early 2024, we are warmly inviting you to contribute grounded stories that:

      • demonstrate the potential of policies to support the practice and spread of agroecology for food systems transformation;
      • reflect on how peoples’ advocacy, organizing and political processes are shaping relevant policies for agroecology.

We are especially looking for lessons and insights from real experiences.

How policies matter for agroecology

Agroecology has continued to gain momentum and recognition for its transformative potential to respond to today’s crises and to achieve food sovereignty. There is a growing evidence base about the impact of agroecology, and incidental policy support. Yet there are still many systemic barriers that prevent agroecology from achieving its potential in transformations towards more just and sustainable food systems.

Food systems are complex, and policies influencing them exist at multiple levels (local, national, regional, international) and in different domains. These include access to land and tenure regulations, seed laws, food safety regulations, water use mechanisms, market development, trade rules, state programs for rural women or youth, and regulations regarding social organization, among many other things. They also address community processes, ways of interacting and customary law. Policies are not only state-led. People’s agroecological processes or indigenous governance are equally meaningful forms of policy co-creation.

These (sometimes) disparate policies shape the governance of food systems: the way in which decisions about food and farming are made, by whom and where. Very few examples exist of policies that effectively enable agroecology. When they do exist, meaningful implementation is often lacking. So what can we learn from instances where policies for agroecology do exist and work?

This issue of Rooted aims to gather and consolidate concrete examples of how policies can facilitate the development of agroecological food webs, and enable the transition away from industrial food and farming systems. 

Your contribution

You are invited to contribute your stories and experiences of policies that strengthen agroecology. We are particularly interested in delving into the following questions:

●      How have actors in the food system and their experiences been able to shape policies (and their implementation) that support a transformative agroecology?

●      How can policies be developed and implemented so that they provide a solid basis for agroecology to thrive without inhibiting the autonomy of food system actors?

●      Are there examples of policies that have facilitated the use and spread of agroecological practices or encouraged the social relations that support it? What were the conditions that made these effective?

●      What kinds of policies exist that reconfigure the power of corporations in the industrial food systems and support the agency and autonomy of food producers?

●      What can we learn from existing policy for the implementation of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants at national levels?

●      What kind of people’s policies (including processes, proposals, convergences, governance arrangements and vision statements) have been created in support of agroecology and how?

●      What are the lessons from these experiences for the practice, science and/ or movement of agroecology?

How to submit your contribution

We invite summaries of between 250 and 500 words. If selected, you will be invited to draft a longer article of around 2000 words. We invite two types of contributions:

1) ‘Testimonies’: which detail lessons from experiences from the ground and reflect on their wider relevance. What did you do? What worked (or not?) and why (or not)?

2) ‘Opinion/ perspective pieces’: these should also be grounded in concrete experiences, but focus on presenting a cutting-edge proposal for the future.

We will give priority to contributions from authors that have been involved in the experience themselves. We will seek to present a balance between knowledge from practice and academic contributions.

No writing experience is required: our editors will provide ample support where desired.

Please submit your summaries (in English, Spanish, Portuguese or French) to: info@cultivatecollective.org

The deadline for submissions is 10 August 2023.

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Rooted is published by Cultivate!, the Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience of Coventry University and the Institute for Agroecology at the University of Vermont. We work in close collaboration with LEISA Revista de Agroecología and AS-PTA’s Revista AgriCulturas. We proudly carry forward the long legacy of Farming Matters magazine.

The Time for Agroecology is Now: Weaving a research agenda to support transformative agroecology in the U.S.A.

The Time for Agroecology is Now: Weaving a Research Agenda to Support Transformative Agroecology in the U.S.A.

This blog shares some reflections from the Institute for Agroecology on the upcoming U.S. Agroecology Summit in Kansas City which focuses on developing a roadmap for agroecology research. In the run up to the conference, there have been some important discussions on how to best advance a research program that can support agroecology transitions. We have been reflecting on these discussions and are sharing some of our thinking here in the run up to the conference.

Written by Institute for Agroecology (IFA) team members: Colin Anderson, Martha Caswell, Katie Horner, Ernesto Méndez and guest: Antonio Roman-Alcalá

People carrying a flag at a march
Social movements in the U.S. are advancing agroecology, along with food sovereignty, food justice and wider movements for just transitions to transform food systems.

When we’re out spending time with collaborators in international networks and movements, we are often urged to push for agroecology in the U.S. given its outsized influence on the world stage. They ask, why aren’t we doing more to build out agroecology here at home – in the U.S., the so-called “belly of the beast” – and how can we act, from the U.S., to support the growth of agroecology in other places.

It is true that the U.S. lags behind relative to other places in terms of social movements pushing for agroecology. While there are powerful voices making the case for agroecology in the U.S., it is significantly underdeveloped in policy and in practice, and deeply undermined by disabling factors related to our national political economy.

We have been working alongside our peers in an organizing committee to convene an Agroecology Summit taking place in Kansas City from May 22-25. We will bring together 100 agroecologists from across the country to debate how to advance a research program to support agroecology from within the U.S. 

The participants are diverse but have one thing in common: a belief that agroecology provides the most viable pathway for transforming food systems for social justice and sustainability. Recognizing that there are other spaces where different aspects of agroecology (e.g. practice, movement base building, advocacy, etc.) are being developed, this summit focuses on research in particular. It has been organized by committed scholars who believe in a transdisciplinary approach that brings together the knowledge of social movements, practitioners and researchers. 

To this end, a back-of-the-envelope tally shows a fairly balanced mix of people, including: a) ~30 civil society leaders and farmers (half of whom were nominated by organizations who were invited to participate); b) ~30 researchers who focus their work within the natural sciences and c) ~30 researchers representing the social sciences.  

The Summit includes the participation of researchers, farmers, policy-makers, Indigenous people, funders, students and an intentional spread in geographical representation. Because agroecology values multiple ways of knowing and appreciates that interplay, many participants fit into more than one of the categories listed above. 

Ensuring diverse participation was a priority for the Organizing Committee, who are committed to: a) bringing diverse voices and ways of knowing to the table; b) creating an agenda and process for the conference that allows these diverse participants to share their views; and c) guiding the discussions through a participatory design. 

Despite these commitments, the conference cannot claim to  represent the full diversity of perspectives and interests that engage in agroecological research. This is due in part to the politics of knowledge that encircle our food system, and is also reflective of the fact that the Organizing Committee convening the summit is composed primarily of researchers. Naming the biases that we carry includes recognizing that this convening may replicate the over- and under-representation of certain types of knowledge. Despite this limitation, we feel excited to be in conversation with the many that will come together in Kansas City.

From our view, initiating conversations about the change needed within research institutions is critically important for transgressing the boundaries that often lock us into static thinking and ineffective sectoral approaches. By doing our best to invite plural perspectives, make space for emergent ideas, and implement a participatory design process, we hope to also be laying the groundwork for an intense and generative process of relationship-building, co-learning, and co-production of knowledge across sectors.  

Since these convenings are often planned ‘behind the curtain’, in the lead up to the conference, we want to share some of the discussions and debates we have had in our planning for the summit and our reflections on issues that have emerged in conversation with our peers, partners, and allies: 

  • Linking to Food Sovereignty
  • Taking an internationalist perspective
  • Where is this taking us?

Any hope for agroecology needs to be rooted in the struggle for sovereignty

We know that we desperately need to study, hone and implement farming practices that improve soil health and support agrobiodiversity. These technical and scientific issues are important, yet they are insufficient for realizing socially just and resilient agrifood systems – even if they have been proven effective many times over. Our social movement partners are steadfast in the demand that any summit on agroecology needs to foreground food sovereignty – a concept that has been developed and fought for by peasant, Indigenous and other movements around the world for decades. 

Our position at the UVM Institute for Agroecology (IFA) is that for agroecology to be a viable alternative to corporate-industrial agriculture, we must transform the wider political, economic, and cultural context that undermines the food sovereignty of peoples and communities.  A precondition for agroecology is that people have the right to define their own food and agriculture systems – among other things this means control over seeds, ceremony and land; each of which are critical components of  food sovereignty. That is to say, our efforts to build agroecology must center issues of power and agency. 

Agroecology in the U.S.: An internationalist Perspective

In ongoing discussions on the implications of an agroecology summit in the U.S., we have wrestled with the tension of needing to get our own house in order, while also staying connected to international dynamics. 

This includes naming how economic, cultural, and political systems of power and control in the United States have long undermined food sovereignty and dismantled agroecological food systems around the world. This continues to be the case as U.S. foreign policy, corporate NGOs (AGRA, CropLife), and development agencies expend massive resources and power to promote industrial agriculture businesses and interests, downplaying the destructive implications of these actions. 

We also need to check our hubris. Those who hope to advance agroecology in the US.. have so much to learn from farmers, peasants, Indigenous communities, and researchers who have long been advancing agroecology in the Global South. We risk neglecting their experience and knowledge if efforts to build agroecology are carried out in national isolation. 

This video highlights the internationalist perspective on agroecology, exemplifying the local approaches to agroecology in different parts of the world. It also chronicles the International Forum on Agroecology which brought together diverse organizations and international movements of small-scale food producers and consumers to build a common platform for agroecology, published in the form of a declaration.

The Outcomes – Where is This Going? 

We come to this summit with an intention to continue this learning journey and national conversation-process. We intend to listen carefully, especially to our grassroots attendees and their views on what is needed from the domain of research in the coming years. We aim to amplify the outcomes of the conference and work with those who share a commitment to transformative agroecology that leads to direct action for addressing these needs.

We will come to the summit with an open mind and heart, in the spirit of humility, mutuality and solidarity. We will arrive prepared to listen, share, learn and be challenged through dialogue with the diversity of voices that are about to converge in Kansas City. Onwards!

Agroecology Blooms in Vermont: Announcing the UVM Institute for Agroecology

Agroecology Blooms in Vermont: Announcing the UVM Institute for Agroecology

Apple Blosoms

The roots of agroecology at the University of Vermont (UVM) were set over a decade ago. Since then, agroecology has grown and flourished. With today’s launch of a new Institute, agroecology has come into full bloom at UVM, marking a new cycle of research, learning and action aimed at creating more just and sustainable food systems.

We can’t wait for new seeds to be planted, and for new collaborations to grow with partners in Vermont, the USA, and around the world. Together we will mobilize knowledge for agroecology and food sovereignty to transform food systems and address the multiple crises that stem from industrial food systems: Inequity, the climate crisis, biodiversity loss, diet-related disease, food insecurity, and the degradation of the environment.

To learn more about the Institute for Agroecology (IFA), check out our new website and these two new brochures (1-page; 4-page). You can read a press release about the launch of the Institute here.

Banner of different pictures of farming and food

Our Approach

Our approach to agroecology focuses on understanding and designing food systems to regenerate the environment, cool the planet, and provide good, healthy food for all. Agroecology is rooted in indigenous practices and ancestral knowledge, which are combined with scientific approaches to reimagine how our food systems can and should function. Our approach to agroecology is not only about changing farming techniques, but is also about transforming policy, science, cultures, and economies to bring about more just food systems.

The institute for Agroecology works with and for farmers, Indigenous people, social movements, and communities who are driving change in Vermont and around the world. Through research, learning, and action, we mobilize knowledge to nurture agroecology research, practice, and movements.

We are committed to co-creating more just and sustainable food systems and know that this work must be done in collaboration with those who are most impacted.

The IFA will support the transition towards agroecology through five strategies:

Research: undertake critical, transdisciplinary, and participatory action research to uncover new ideas on strategies for redesigning food systems
Convene: bring together collaborators within and outside of academia to cross pollinate ideas and relationships across local, national, and international networks.
Amplify: develop creative communication and advocacy strategies to influence policy, narratives, hearts, and minds.
Cultivate: prepare the next generation of agroecologists through undergraduate, graduate, community-based, and professional learning programs.
Activate: support local economic, ecological, social and cultural processes to grow agroecology on the ground in Vermont and around the globe.

Join us in seeding just and sustainable food systems. Click here to view our new website and learn how to engage: https://www.uvm.edu/instituteforagroecology.

Thank you!

Our work is powered by partnerships with farmers, collaborators, communities, and other people who make generous contributions to the Institute and to wider efforts to create a more just and sustainable food system. This support and partnership is critical for our work, both today and into the future. We are grateful to the University of Vermont for administrative and financial support, and for our generous financial sponsors, including from the McKnight foundation’s Global Collaboration for Resilient Food Systems (CRFS) program and a major gift from Schmidt Family Foundation’s 11th Hour Project, announced today.

ALC Strengthens Partnerships for Agroecology and PAR in Brazil

In the past few months, ALC Director Ernesto Mendéz, has visited Brazil on two occasions: the first was for the 2018 Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (SOCLA) Meeting and the second to present a keynote address at the 8th Annual Agroecology Congress of the State of Santa Catarina.

Highlights

  • Within the SOCLA congress, a separate meeting brought together representatives of SOCLA, the new North America SOCLA chapter, the Brazilian Association for Agroecology (ABA), and the new European Association Agroecology Europe. The meeting focused on finding common ground to further strengthening agroecology as a field that embraces and expresses itself as a science, a social/political movement and in practice. The meeting had a particular emphasis on the importance of bringing these three dimensions together. Of key relevance is the opportunity to collaborate on publications and events  with a common agroecological agenda, with representation from different constituencies from around the world.  At the ALC, we are excited about strengthening our partnerships with agroecology movements happening in North America, South America, and Europe.

The VI Latin American Congress of Agroecology held in Brasilia, was attended by almost 5,000 participants

  • The second visit to Brazil was for Ernesto to present a keynote address titled ‘Agroecology: Challenges and Opportunities’ at the 8th Annual Agroecology Congress of the State of Santa Catarina, which took place in Santa Rosa de Lima, a town known as the ‘capital of Agroecology’. Here, Ernesto joined ALC collaborator Professor Abdon Schmitt Filho, from the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina, with whom we are working on developing a stronger partnership around agroecology and Participatory Action Research (PAR). Dr. Schmitt Filho has a long-standing PAR process with smallholder farmers, working on rotational grazing and silvopastoral systems, to support biodiversity conservation of the Brazilian Atlantic forest. Abdon is already collaborating closely with UVM Professor Joshua Farley (Dept. of Community Development and Applied Economics), who is recognized for his outstanding work in ecological economics. We are hoping this will lead to stronger collaborations within UVM (two UVM College of Agriculture and Life Sciences professors) and with our Brazilian partners. This partnership aims to advance linkages among agroecology PAR and ecological economics, and promote student and faculty exchanges between the two campuses. All three professors are also affiliated with the UVM Gund Institute for Environment.

Food for Thought Initiative

Martha Caswell, ALC Research and Outreach Coordinator, recently traveled to Montpellier, France for the kickoff  meeting for the latest round of the Thought for Food Initiative.

The ALC is excited to announce that we have recently been awarded a highly competitive grant to undertake a project to “Assess Diversification Strategies in Smallholder Coffee Systems” through the Thought for Food Initiative–funded by Fondation Daniel Et Nina Carasso, Fondazione Cariplo, and the Agropolis International Foundation.

Our partners for this project are from the Santa Clara University, Community and Agroecology Network and longtime cooperative, farmer and regional university partners in Nicaragua and Southern Mexico. We will be working with this core team, and also plan to integrate students and industry partners over the term of the project (2017-2020).

Stay tuned to hear more details as the project unfolds.