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.
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.
Alejadra Guzman Luna and Janica Anderzen during the 2019 learning exchange in Chiapas, Mexico
CESMACH and ALC team present at the 2019 Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Expo in Boston
ALC members Janica Anderzén (3rd from left) and Alejandra Guzmán Luna (2nd from right) with the team of community facilitators and their coordinator.
Project logo in Spanish reading ‘Diversification in Coffee Plantations of Mesoamerica’ (top) and ‘Participatory Action Research, Mexico-Nicaragua’ (bottom)
ALC member featured in Seven Days article on VT mutual aid
From left: Austin Kahn, Sam Bliss and Emma Schoenberg of Food Not Bombs – JAMES BUCK
ALC graduate student, Sam Bliss, has been working tirelessly with Food Not Bombs for years. Their work, and that of many other VT organizations, are featured in this Seven Days article, highlighting their efforts since the onset of the COVID pandemic.
Member interview: Nils McCune on peasant balances, Hurricane Maria, the power of popular movement building and beyond
Nils McCune, a research fellow at El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR) in Mexico, is the newest member of the Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative. To welcome him to our community of practice, ALC graduate student Sam Bliss interviews him here about an article he got published a year ago in the journal Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems.
This research is about Puerto Rican coffee farmers’ responses to the crisis triggered by Hurricanes Irma and Maria. It continues a recent theme on the ALC blog: in February, Sam interviewed ALC grad student Tatiana Gladikh about her research on Puerto Rican coffee farmers’ participation in government conservation programs; and in March, ALC grad student Luis Alexis Rodríguez-Cruz wrote about how the Covid-19 pandemic impacts food sovereignty in Puerto Rico. Both argued that current policy stands in the way of making the island’s agri-food food systems more just, ecological, and resilient. In what follows, Nils talks about how Puerto Rican peasant farmers are already coming together to construct sovereign food systems, from the understanding that people must build power collectively to make change for the better because those in positions of power will not.
Nils McCune: Every day we make decisions about how to use our time and energy. These decisions involve combining different kinds of values, as well as considerations of the present and the future. A good example is the way the quarantine is hitting those people who are able to work from home, in the presence of their family or in their community, and who must balance an economy of care with a needed level of income. How important is it that I play with a child instead of letting him look at a screen all day? Can I balance that needed playtime with getting my salaried work done? Are there certain key tasks that, once completed, let me then switch the use of my time and energy and just focus on taking care of my family or my community? These are ways that all people make sense of the different systems of values that make up our social and cultural reality. We learn to strike many invisible balances, and we sometimes drop the balance for periods of time, in order to focus on one particular need– like writing a thesis–, but eventually we must find the balance again, before our hair falls out and we go mad.
In the early years of the Soviet Revolution, there was an enormous debate about how to end poverty and hunger in Russia. Socialism was supposedly based on an industrial model, but Russia was a country of poor peasants and rich landlords. So the question was how to carry out a land reform that could guarantee food production, but also develop a social consciousness, a revolutionary sense of social responsibility. At the time — like today — many thought that peasants represented inefficiency, backwardness, poverty, and ignorance. However, a prominent agricultural economist, Alexander Chayanov, noticed that peasants were in fact operating a sophisticated system of labor-based, non-market economies. Today we might call them circular, sustainable economies. A peasant family worked extremely hard until it had guaranteed that everyone would have enough to eat, and then it stopped working and began holding cultural activities, harvest festivals, or simply resting. Chayanov called this the consumer-drudgery balance.
Rather than a capitalist economy, where profit-maximizing is the goal, the peasant economy is built upon balances that ensure health, promote local traditions and provide for future well-being. What makes it all unique is the fact that peasants are able to build this autonomy even while being pushed on all sides by capitalist relations — labor markets, land sales, commercial seeds, fertilizer and pesticide marketing schemes, credit programs, commodity prices, migration, and so on. Peasant balances are the duck-and-weave, the dance of long-term survival on the land, despite living within a predatory economic system. As such, building peasant balances means carving out non-capitalist spaces even while surrounded by a global capitalist system.
SB: Hurricane Maria struck Puerto Rico right in the middle of your interviews with farmers, organization representatives, and government officials. How did that change your initial research questions and plans?
NM: Well, it immediately introduced serious ethical implications to my work. Absolutely everyone I had met in Puerto Rico was thrown into a very serious disaster situation: damaged houses, roads and farms, tangled electrical wires everywhere, many communities cut off from towns. In Utuado, where our project was based, people were walking for hours in order to drink water from the rivers.
We all know that the roots of the crisis are in the colonial relationship that the United States has with Borikén (colonially known as Puerto Rico). That relationship, plus the deindustrialization of the US and the rules of the global financial system created a fictitious debt crisis, i.e. the people of Puerto Rico “owe” much, much more than they ever borrowed or received. Before the Hurricanes Irma and Maria hit, there was already a very complex pseudo bankruptcy taking place that included the installation of a foreign economic council (“la Junta”) with the capacity to override Puerto Rican law in order to cut public services, in line with neoliberal theory that attacking the public sector would be the way for Puerto Rico to pay the Wall Street hedge funds that currently hold its debt. A preposterous arrangement, because the debt is unpayable even if every last public service were cancelled on the island, even if they privatized all schools, hospitals, roads, electricity, water, firefighters, and every other government institution. Plus privatizing services make it more difficult for Puerto Rico to have a functional economy capable of servicing debt payments. And remember that the hedge funds purchased that debt for fractions of a cent on the dollar, so they would be reaping profits of up to 10,000% if somehow the Puerto Rican people did pay the full official amount of the debt.
So before the terrifying destructive power of Maria, there was already an extreme case of disaster capitalism, with debt vultures circling over the heads of the Puerto Rican people. There was already an ethical situation of how I, with a salary coming from the United States, could responsibly carry out a research project in a situation where such a huge economic crime is taking place. With the scale of the catastrophe created by Maria, I had a very difficult time figuring out how to ethically participate in the research project. There was an academic rush on Puerto Rico in that context– disasters make for good science — and I felt very torn about taking data from farmers who were facing enormous material losses, depression issues, and sometimes personal tragedy. I tried to be congruent with my values, spending time with farmers, bringing them tiny solar-powered lamps (which would appear for a couple days at a time in local stores), and checking in constantly with Organización Boricuá, the Via Campesina member organization, to hear their perspective on the local situation and my work. In the end, everything I have published on Puerto Rico has been with the co-authorship of Boricuá members.
I also worked with Organización Boricuá on a month-long reconstruction brigade, which was a phenomenal experience. In a group of 20 to 30 people from several countries, popular organizations and cultural traditions — but spearheaded by the Black Dirt Farm Collective of African-American small farmers and peasants — we traveled from farm to farm, from Toa Alta to Vieques, spending two to four days in each place, sleeping in tents and doing construction work during the day, along with a lot of political and cultural activities. To me, there is a very interesting dialectic there. We’re dealing with a situation that obviously requires structural change, but rather than wringing our hands on the sidelines, or taking a “neutral”, academic, data extractivist approach, we participated in mutual aid brigades. These work brigades are not self-care; they are physically tough, transformative, collective experiences that dramatically change the situation for farmers. A farmer who has spend two months just looking at their destroyed farm– uprooted trees, broken sheds, twisted greenhouses– and all of a sudden a group of 20 people comes over with a bunch of power tools and celebrates a work party with them: rebuilds the shed, rebuilds the greenhouse, rebuilds the terraces, pulls the weeds, chops the broken trees into firewood, and plants the fields. By the time the brigade leaves, the farmer and the brigade are family. It is magical and possible at the same time; I think that the work brigade model is how we need to move forward with agroecology in every country, making adjustments as we go and respecting the fact that a Boricuá volunteer work brigade on the Isla del Encanto is a tough act to follow.
SB: You and your coauthors write that agroecological brigades traveled the countryside after Hurricane Maria helping what you call “unconventional” farmers repair infrastructure and restore their fields. How did these roaming collective work parties come together?
NM: They came together thanks to the excellent organizing work of several key people. Let me take a step back. Across the world, there is a tradition of people farming together. Enslavement-based plantation agriculture, then modernized agriculture, global free trade, the Green Revolution, consumerism, neoliberal politics, all of it is about breaking with these traditions to pursue an individualist, utilitarian myth of upward mobility, the nuclear family, living through our commodities. The Organización Boricuá de Agricultura Ecológica was formed in the late 1980s by independence activists who realized that without food sovereignty, Puerto Rican independence was an illusion. So they went up into the mountains and taught each other to farm. And Boricuá was founded through just this kind of work brigade. The model became important again in the economic crisis that has taken hold since 2014, and then even more so after the hurricanes of 2017. On the day after Hurricane Maria, there were already Boricuá brigades plowing and planting fields of Boricuá member farmers, in preparation for the food crisis that was about to begin. Sit on that for a second.
As the Puerto Rican social movements have continuously improved this model of work brigades– in the cities but especially in the countryside– organizations from many countries have taken notice. So immediately after the hurricanes, several organizations, led by Organización Boricuá, Black Dirt Farm Collective and the Climate Justice Alliance, along with allies such as WhyHunger and others, organized international brigades in addition to the permanent local brigades.
SB: Why didn’t conventional farmers draw on their communities to rebuild?
NM: There is a labor scarcity in Puerto Rican agriculture, parallel in some ways to how US agriculture has been impacted by the Covid-19 crisis. Simply put, farm prices do not allow farmers to pay decent salaries, because cheap, subsidized food floods Puerto Rican supermarkets. So, using a conventional economic farming model, nearly all farmers in Puerto Rico are losing money. It is only when farmers creatively use peasant balances, combining their own labor and know-how with solidarity networks, reducing external inputs and developing a relative autonomy from the market, that farming becomes a viable life activity. Many farmers are figuring this out, but like agriculture around the world, there is a major generation gap that separates elderly farmers from the youthful energy of the agroecological movement. Some young people really understand this problem and are making a strong effort to engage with non-agroecological farmers, basically in order to save Puerto Rican agriculture from the collapse of the conventional model. But Coca-Cola and Monsanto-Bayer are also major players in Puerto Rico; both own and rent a lot of farmland, and control markets, so there are big stakes. The big corporations in Puerto Rico basically play the same role that drug cartels play in Mexico, Colombia and several other countries: they monopolize and militarize when small-scale agriculture gets stuck in market economies where it is meant to lose.
SB: What does the experience of small farmers rebuilding after these recent hurricanes have to teach us about how to respond to and recover from the current crisis, the Covid-19 pandemic?
NM: Look, for quite some time now, it has been clear to the world’s decision makers that globalized food systems are totally unsustainable and have high vulnerability built into them. Since at least the food price crisis of 2007-08, governments, corporations, and international bodies such as FAO have known that food sovereignty– the right of people to control and defend their own farming, grazing, fishing and food systems using agroecological principles– is the only responsible way to move away from climate catastrophe and toward resilient food systems. But here is the lesson: the world’s leaders are not going to do anything about it. They will absolutely lead us off the climate cliff, with starvation, war, mass migration, and a lot of fascism to come.
Only the people will solve this. And if we can’t produce our own food, we will not be able to survive the coming storm. What I mean is that right now — not after the November elections, not after they find a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, not after the next crisis, not after Rapture — right now, we can build food sovereignty by practicing agroecology and continuously pushing for justice in every walk of society, from the prison-industrial complex to the heroin epidemic to homelessness, from the banking system and the blatant racism of the Republican party to the unwavering imperialist foreign policy of both major parties. If we are not building a robust popular movement that reflects our values, we’re not being responsible to ourselves, much less the planet and those who will inherit what we leave behind. So our day-to-day can reflect that understanding, and a lot of humble efforts to build on one another’s ideas and actions can add up to big change.
SB: So, for peasants, labor isn’t so much a cost to be minimized but a resource for sustaining livelihoods and agroecosystems. What would a food system, or an economy, look like if we all viewed labor that way?
NM: That’s right, peasants do not necessarily subscribe to the Western dualist thought that separates work from everything else we do and turns our labor into a necessary evil in our lives. It is true that work is a part of life and sometimes we have to do things that are difficult. Just hang out with a peasant for a few hours and you will be marveled by what they can do. It’s true what they say: the real genius is in the working class. In the city or the countryside.
If we conceive of our life energy as something that can contribute to building the world we want to see, and we look for people who are doing things we want to support, then work becomes demystified and we find a tremendous amount of meaning in the many difficult things we do. That goes for spending time with elders, taking care of people’s children, planting, harvesting, building, fixing, healing. We call it movement time, movement labor. Not a new concept. There have always been people who dedicate their time to make sure others have the time to contribute to the social struggle. The key is to be part of a coherent whole that corresponds and reciprocates. Hard to find. But worth the journey.
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/
A blog reflecting on the COVID-19 pandemic by
ALC Educational Coordinator Vic Izzo
Since the “Stay home, Stay safe” order was initiated here in
Vermont, I have had the pleasure of spending each morning (and often evening)
exploring the wonders of nature with my two year-old son. Our journeys are
often a mixed bag. Some days we head out to a lesser-known hiking trail to
learn about trees, while others days you might find us inspecting the entrances
of ant nests poking out from the cracks in our driveway. Though these nature
observations are fun and educational, my son’s most enjoyable outdoor
excursions are our visits to our local community garden plots. Now don’t be
presumptuous about my son’s predilection for gardening… While he does enjoy
helping his dad turn soil, plant seeds, and water our thirsty seedlings, the
real reason he begs for “garden time” is the resident woodchip, soil, and
gravel “mountains” that he gets to climb unsupervised. With each successful
ascent of these “mountains” he raises his arms in the air and begs for my
adoration. These literal small victories are undeniably adorable; but more
importantly, they have been a healthy reminder for me to appreciate those
things around me…to smell the woodchips. To be honest, I barely noticed the
many piles of sorted materials until my budding mountaineer scoped them out. I
knew the piles were there but I never really acknowledged them or appreciated
their significance. They are generally not on my radar and I’m not a two year
old…
Vic Izzo’s son triumphantly atop the woodchip pile by the family’s community garden plot.
I recently had a similar revelatory experience during an
intriguing ALC workshop led by a colleague from the Rubenstein School of
Natural Resources, Dr. Matt Kolan. Matt is the director of the Leadership for
Sustainability Master’s Program (MLS) here at UVM. His work and teaching
uniquely examines leadership and education in a holistic and expansive way.
Students in the MSLS program actively engage in discussions and projects that
explore how power and privilege shape our educational and leadership
experiences. During his lecture, Matt pointed out that the dominant model of
higher education is built upon a process that selects for rapid and confident
responders and rewards those students with positive descriptors such as “fast
learner”, “quick processor”, or “confident speaker”. These designations are, of
course, quite familiar to me as they are the backbone of many of my best
recommendation letters. Never do I find myself writing that a student is a slow
learner, moderate processor, or quiet communicator.
As I sat and listened to Matt’s reimagining of the college
classroom, I found myself reliving some of my own undergraduate classroom
experiences. Vividly I remembered how I approached each class as a contestant
on Jeopardy, eagerly looking to prove my worth. From the moment I sat down in
class, I was in a race to respond to any question or comment before my
competitors could capture the instructor’s attention. In my mind, the entire
lecture process was an opportunity to quicken my intellectual skills. Yet, as
Matt and others within the workshop unpacked the pitfalls associated with
selecting for rapid responders, I suddenly began to see a giant woodchip pile
emerge from the periphery of my perspective. Similar to my son, Matt provided
me with a new lens, or more precisely, he expanded my view of the world around
me. He didn’t reveal anything necessarily complicated or new.Quite the
contrary, he simply pointed out a rather intuitive concept: reactionary
behavior is not always a beneficial trait.
Much the same way that our educational systems select for
rapid responding students, our businesses, organizations and governmental
agencies tend to seek out leaders that exhibit those same fast thinking and
quick responding traits. Never has this tendency or bias been more evident than
in the current COVID-19 reality. As the coronavirus pandemic has taken hold of
our social, political and economic consciousness, so has the thirst for quick
responses and reactionary policies. Daily news headlines and articles are chock
full of economic timelines, infection rates, and critical examinations of
decision making speed. From an academic perspective, I’ve seen no less than
three recent grant requests-for-proposals (RFPs) with the word “rapid” in the
title and an appropriately paired “rapid” submission deadline. Now, I
acknowledge that crises, especially those of this magnitude, often necessitate
quick decisions to avert catastrophe. However, it is important to acknowledge
that the speed of a decision is rarely directly correlated with a successful
outcome. As many of my fellow educators can attest, the rapid move to online
instruction in response to the coronavirus outbreak, though (likely) necessary,
may not have achieved the outcomes our organizations expected. Our communities
are asking, begging leaders in every facet of society to make decisions, give
us answers…now. And yet, when those quick decisions, predictions, and/or
responses fail, we become angry, disappointed and (ironically) are often left
at the trailhead of a longer road to resolution.
Witnessing and experiencing the pervasive pressure to make
quick decisive decisions in my home and work life has left me depressed,
frustrated, and introspective. It has also led me to more deeply consider the
revelations brought to light by both my son and colleague:
Perhaps it is time to pause.
Perhaps it is time to slow down some of our decision-making
processes.
Perhaps we need to call upon those “slow thinkers” to help
us.
Perhaps there is a woodchip pile that we are not seeing that
can provide us with a better vantage point.
Perhaps we should all take some time to think a little more
like a two-year old.
Read Matt Kolan and Kaylynn Sullivan TwoTrees paper on the intersections of sustainability, diversity, privilege and power here.
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
A smallholder coffee farm in Chiapas, Mexico
Sharing plant knowledge during the 2019 co-learning exchange in Chiapas Mexico
CESMACH and ALC team present at the 2019 Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Expo in Boston
Doña Leticia showing a ‘quelite’ or wild edible plant in Chiapas, Mexico
Sharing in the 2019 co-learning exchange in Chiapas, Mexico
Project representatives from Santa Clara University, the Community Agroecology Network and the ALC, at a TFF meeting in Montpelier, France
ALC members attend 1st USFSA Political Education Course
By Martha Caswell, in collaboration with Nils McCune, Megan Browning, and Efren Lopez
In
the days right before we were asked us to stay home, the US
Food Sovereignty Alliance
(USFSA) held their first national political educational course in Apopka,
Florida. We were hosted by the Farmworker Association of Florida and the course was designed
following a methodology of political
formation developed in Latin America through the efforts of La Via Campesina (LVC) member organizations
including the Brazilian Landless Workers’
Movement, Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra (MST), Organización
Boricuá of
Puerto Rico and the Asociación de
Trabajadores del Campo (ATC) of Nicaragua, and
others, which calls for an
education of the mind, body and spirit. Participants came from the US, Puerto
Rico, Mexico and Canada. Each drawn by the possibility of what we could create
and learn by spending a week together focused on the history and future of food
sovereignty in the US, and wanting to build a common political analysis of the food system
that would lead us forward.
According
to a 2018 publication from the European Coordination of La Via Campesina, food
sovereignty is a ‘concept in action’ that “…offers
itself as a process of building social movements and empowering peoples to
organise their societies in ways that transcend the neoliberal vision of a
world of commodities, markets and selfish economic actors. There is no
one-size-fits-all solution to the myriad of complex problems we face in today’s
world. Instead, Food Sovereignty is a process that adapts to the people and
places where it is put in practice. Food Sovereignty means solidarity, not
competition, and building a fairer world from the bottom up.”
So, there we were,
nearly 40 of us – gathered in the cabins and grounds of a summer camp, to
listen, learn, unlearn, and strategize. We came as farmers, activists, members
of coalitions, and representatives of front-line organizations, each trusting
that this was a critical step in our movement forward. Though neither of us was
officially there representing the ALC, both Nils and I were there – Nils as a delegate of LVC and I on behalf of the Agroecology
Research Action Collective. The
ambitious agenda of the week left less time for individual connections than
everyone hoped, but we covered a lot of ground, and uncovered/rediscovered a
lot of truths. Our food system is broken. It has been built on a base of
exploitation of land and peoples, and yet that narrative has been carefully and
intentionally covered up. Our work is to interrogate both our past and present,
to recognize where we are complicit and bravely face the discomfort of seeing
ourselves in what is wrong. Only then, and through building solidarity with
others, will we be able to achieve the transformation we seek. This blog from Agrarian Trust’s Megan Browning catches the
essence of the week, https://agrariantrust.org/news/globalize-the-struggle-globalize-hope/
One
of the closing observations of the event was that to make this transformation we
will need revolutionary discipline and revolutionary healing. So,
surround yourselves with good revolutionary people (even if only virtually),
and follow Adrienne Marie Brown’s advice that joy is a form of
resistance. Megan ends her post with a poem written by Efren Lopez, one of the
incredible youth participants representing the Community
Agroecology Network . I’ll
do the same – it deserves more than one reading.
the tools that those frogs spoke about by the fire ~efren lopez
cool pools form on victory missing the wet steps i took from my casita to the library it’s a foggy feeling, but the warmth from the pier by the pond it was part of the healing
the snap back raised my head chin up! this fight isn’t a bed back and calm and partially better only then did i realize the weather
one huge storm! from street to street from coast to coast from sea to sea from pole to pole one huge storm!
while our methods to bare might reappear invisibly i recall that other feeling that hasn’t fleeted explaining why we made the effort to come together in the first place
because
it really takes a heart for the land to understand that the resistance to the forces before us the ones who hate our guts calls us ruts deprives our dignity lack of pity
have no chance when the seeds we sow food we cultivate has our hands not pointed but loosely gripped to the tools that we made for each other passing them to one another
circling our collective battles we sit humbled their resiliency our resistance in joy! in joy!! in joy!!!
New project launch: ALC takes on new grant from the McKnight Foundation
The new cross-cutting Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP) grant – Agroecology Support to the CCRP, or AES, is in motion (as is its new official website!) The grant will be executed by a team from the University of Vermont’s Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC). The ALC, using its approach of transdisciplinary research and education and participatory agroecology, will work closely with teams from across the CCRP, and the three Communities of Practice (Andes, East & Southern Africa, West Africa), to deepen co-learning in agroecology, advance agroecological performance assessment and monitoring, coalesce support teams around agroecology, and engage diverse actors in a dialogue that advances agroecology globally. Read more about the team and their efforts here.
(ALC member Luis Alexis Rodríguez-Cruz recently published this Op-Ed piece in the Puerto Rican publication “El Nuevo Día.” It highlights the importance of food sovereignty during this moment of global crisis. Below is his translation of the article into English, which can also be found here. The original version in Spanish can be found here.)
Puerto Rican farmers and fisherfolks, beyond safeguarding our natural and agricultural resources, are key agents in strengthening our food security. Sadly, they have not been taken into account during the emergency we are going through. The COVID-19 pandemic should increase our awareness of our vulnerable island food security, and drive us to actualize actions that have a positive impact on our food system.
The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) of the United Nations highlights that food security is frail in island food systems. Given their small territories and economies, and higher exposure to extreme weather events, islands often do not have the resources needed to cope and recover quickly from impacts. Furthermore, their high dependence on imports is another obstacle towards achieving food security.
Puerto Rico imports around 85% of its food, and most of it is shipped from the port of Jacksonville in Florida. Moreover, the majority arrives at the port of San Juan. The escalation of the COVID-19 pandemic could heavily impact our supply chains. Thus, it is crucial that we have a strong local food system that can provide us a significant quantity of the food we need.
Before Hurricane Maria made landfall in 2017, our farmers and fisherfolks were seeing positive opportunities. Local production was increasing in a time of fiscal crisis. It was like we were slowly gaining awareness about the importance of food sovereignty. Puerto Rico, and its farmers and fisherfolks, need the power and control to produce the food that nourish us. Moreover, food sovereignty makes us aware of the political and power dynamics that govern our food systems. There cannot be food security without food sovereignty. We in Puerto Rico know very well what happened after Maria. Our food system is still recovering.
Farming in Puerto Rico is hard. Our farmers and fisherfolks, most of which are 50 or older, have to compete with cheap imports. They often do not have access to local markets, and the government does not facilitate them support to go through the bureaucracy the government itself imposes. Additionally, most of our farmers and fisherfolks are small-scale producers. They sell their products independently, through farmers’ markets, within their communities, and through small businesses. Though the curfew imposed by the governor of Puerto Rico does not apply to big producers, and wholesalers like supermarkets, it applies to street sellers, placeros, farmers’ markets, and other alternative venues. That negatively impacts farmers and fisherfolks.
The Secretary of Agriculture said this week that family markets will be canceled―an initiative that allow farmers to sell in municipal plazas to participants of the Nutritional Assistance Program―, and that he anticipates losses in local production. Furthermore, the media has reported improper police interventions with farmers (regarding the curfew), and with businesses important for farmers and fisherfolks’ to sell their products (e.g. restaurants). Yes, social distancing is crucial to decrease the spread of the coronavirus. But, did the governor took into account how the curfew would impact our farmers and fisherfolks? Was it considered how limiting local production would impact our food security, given our high dependence on imports?
As long as we continue to depend on supply chains that we cannot control due to the Jones Act and other federal and local measures, nor do we carry out policies that give political agency to our farmers and fisherfolks, our food system will not be prepared to feed us. We do not have the required food sovereignty to build a new food system that provide us the food security we deserve as islanders. If something the past disasters have taught us, through the political and bureaucratic pitfalls that our farmers and fisherfolks faced, is that we cannot reduce the vulnerability of our food system to a “production issue”. May this pandemic make us more aware of the importance of developing food sovereignty to feed ourselves.
VEPART featured on UNH Extension “Over-Informed on IPM” Podcast
The episode, called “PAR for Leek Moth” highlights our core team members, Vic Izzo (ALC Education Coordinator) and Scott Lewins (ALC Extension Coordinator), and their leek moth research project under the VEPART (Vermont Entomology and Participatory Action Research Team) umbrella. They detail issues the leek moth pest poses for farmers in the Northeast, control methods including Trichogramma wasps, the PAR (participatory action research) approach they take when working with farmers, and much more! Check it out here.
Thank you to Elijah Massey of USDA – Rural Development, Grace Oedel of NOFA-VT, Graham Unangst-Rufenacht of Rural Vermont, and Jeannie Bartlett of the Franklin County Conservation District for providing insightful perspectives into agricultural policy work and the intersections of advocacy, food policy, farmer livelihood support, education, outreach, environmental stewardship, and beyond.
Our guests spoke to the collaborative nature of their work in that they are constantly sharing resources and co-creating the best ways to promote their programs and access producers and consumers across the state. This interconnectedness resonated with the ALC, a community of practice that also prioritizes collaboration and the co-creation of knowledge across disciplines and stakeholders.
We deepened the conversation about how to best strengthen collaborations between academia, research, and the work of organizations such as these. Calls were echoed among the group for continued applicable and participatory research and the development of meaningful scholar to non-profit/government entity linkages. We look forward to continued exchanges with these partners and others across Vermont.
Thank you all for the open dialogue and powerful momentum you all bring to this work!
Member interview: ALC researcher publishes paper on Puerto Rican coffee farmers’ participation in conservation programs
ALC graduate student Tatiana Gladkikh is the lead author of a paper that was published in January in the journal Conservation Science and Practice. In it, she and colleagues present results from a survey of Puerto Rican coffee farmers about their experience with, and willingness to take part in, conservation programs. Fellow ALC graduate student Sam Bliss interviews her here about that research and the article that’s come from it.
Tatiana Gladkikh: One of the main factors, unsurprisingly, was financial considerations. Conventional sun farming is associated with higher yields in the first farming years, so a transition to shade farming would need to be accompanied by a compensation for reduced yields. Interestingly, economic incentives were only the third most frequently mentioned factor. The most commonly mentioned theme was the need for increased outreach from government agencies, followed by demonstrated commitment from the government. Another factor was land use flexibility, meaning conservation programs that balance agricultural and conservation objectives. Respondents also mentioned that cooperation among farmers was important. These factors came up after we qualitatively analyzed farmers’ responses.
SB: It seems like coffee growers want government money to be able to adopt sustainable practices, but that they’re afraid that the government will have too much control over their farming. Is that right?
TG: Yes and no, as the importance of financial incentives is independent of land use flexibility. Some farmers in our study were concerned with land use flexibility surrounding the local Model Forest policy. Participation in this policy is voluntary yet many farmers did not perceive it as such, partially because the policy was poorly communicated to stakeholders. Some respondents perceived it as an imposition on their land management authority and they questioned the need for conserving on active farms when they saw many abandoned farms in the region.
SB: What can governments do to support farmers in making ecological choices without taking away their autonomy over decision making and land management?
TG: I think a lot of it is outreach and effective communication strategies. For example, a lot of federal conservation programs promote their programs online and in English, yet many farmers live in remote areas with limited access to the internet, and some of them don’t speak English fluently. Another effective strategy could be model farmers; many farmers learn about existing incentives and farming practices from their peers. Some conventional farmers never practiced shade farming before and are skeptical of its profitability. Perhaps, if they could visit a shade farm of a fellow farmer they know and trust, they could directly experience this farming practice and be more open to a transition. Agencies should also include farmers in the design of conservation programs and consider farmers’ needs. In our study, some respondents noted that some shade trees species provided by the agencies created more hassle for the farmer than benefits. So some ended up replacing those shade trees with other trees that met their needs. There should be more dialogue between farmers and agencies, more conversations about what works, what is needed. This study is one example of these attempts; local environmental agencies wanted to know how they could make existing conservation programs more appealing.
SB: Do you think that making these changes to existing programs can make a big difference for the environment or for farmers? Or would it be preferable, if possible, to start over with redesigned policy?
TG: There have already been too many “start overs” in Puerto Rico with every new administration, which in turn undermines trust in the government’s stability and commitment. So I think making changes to existing programs would be more efficient. I am not sure about the impact that these changes can bring. I am not being pessimistic, I just want to acknowledge the complexity of the issue. By and large, coffee farming in Puerto Rico is not very profitable and it is very laborious. Changes to conservation programs alone are not enough to revive the local coffee farming industry. Sure, some might say that abandonment of coffee farming is beneficial to conservation objectives — in a few years, abandoned coffee farms turn into flourishing forests. In the tropics, everything grows so much faster! But economically, and culturally, coffee is very important to that region of the island. Changes to existing programs, thus, should address improvements of both environmental and economic outcomes. My suggestion would be to create some kind of certification or specialty coffee program. A few years ago, there was an attempt to create a local certification, something similar to the frog and the Rainforest Alliance. But it did not go anywhere, I am not sure why, probably lack of funding.
SB: What does this research contribute to agroecology as a movement?
TG: Our study reiterated the importance of local research, livelihoods, and consideration of power relationships that shape land management. In Puerto Rico, state agricultural incentives favor conventional sun farming, while conservation incentives target a transition to shade farming. So farmers are placed in a position of having to choose between these two incentives programs; some practiced sun farming just to be eligible for state incentives. Profits from small-scale coffee farming are very low, unless you have access to speciality coffee markets or income diversification strategies (such as through agrotourism and other crops). It is unreasonable to expect farmers to transition to shade-grown coffee without addressing the issue of financial insecurity.
SB: Did you carry out any of the interviews? If so, what did you learn from talking to these coffee farmers that didn’t make it into the article?
TG: Yes, I carried out almost half of the 89 interviews we completed. We did not really touch on the issue of the coffee market in this article, but we did talk a lot about it. I learned so much about the coffee-making process and the amount of time, labor, and money involved in producing a cup of good quality coffee. We discussed competition with large-scale commercial producers and hurdles associated with the ability to access the gourmet coffee market that has higher profits. Farmers took a lot of pride in growing local coffee but they lamented that most of the commercial coffee sold in Puerto Rico was mixed with imported coffee. This definitely changed the kind of coffee I buy: I mainly buy Puerto Rican coffee, and I always make sure that it is 100% grown and produced in Puerto Rico, rather than a commercial mix of local and imported coffee.
SB: What did the farmers think of this research project?
TG: They really enjoyed talking to us! Many treated us to a cup of coffee or fresh produce from their farms. Certainly, there was a level of skepticism about the ability of our study to make any difference, which is something I am sure many researchers have encountered. But I think participants appreciated having their stories heard.
Exploring agroecology at the Intervale from a bird’s-eye view
María A. Juncos-Gautier ALC Research Associate Doctoral Candidate, York University, Toronto, CA
Muhammad Yunus, a Nobel Prize winner, once explained: “In a bird’s eye view you tend to survey everything and decide on a particular point, then you swoop down and pick it up. In a worm’s eye view, you don’t have that advantage of looking at everything.” This was my experience last summer and fall when I had the privilege of facilitating a comprehensive evaluation of the principles of agroecology at the Intervale Center (IC) as part of my doctoral fieldwork. I used multiple surveying methods and followed ALC’s signature Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach to explore with the IC community the presence and implementation of agroecological principles in their daily practices. I was able to attest how a self-evaluation process using PAR and multiple methods encouraged the stakeholders to have a holistic awareness of their organization for positive, targeted actions. As one of the IC team members told me: “It kept me tuned into noticing things in a different way. It was nice to have a reminder of what’s the bigger impact of the things we are doing here, and how can I tie it into the principles.” This was music to my ears. I was helping others see the Intervale in a new light to advance understanding and action toward agroecology.
Engaging in research-reflection-action at the Intervale
The IC is a non-profit in
Burlington, Vermont, with the mission of strengthening community food systems.
Its 340-acre property along the Winooski River floodplain, about a mile from
downtown Burlington, also houses and supports exemplary cases of organic
urban/peri-urban agriculture and a food hub for local fresh produce. As Participatory
Action Research (PAR) partners, the two main research questions the IC and I
want to answer are:
Is the Intervale an agroecological organization and/or landscape?
What are the challenges and opportunities for being recognized as such in Burlington and elsewhere?
To answer these questions, the IC agreed to become a case study for a principles-focused evaluation[1] of agroecology. A principle is a “fundamental truth or proposition that serves as the foundation for a system of belief or behavior or for a chain of reasoning.”[2] As an environmental professional I have always enjoyed working with principles because they facilitate an all-encompassing perspective of a situation. Working with principles means working with major leverage points. Any changes in the principles of a system -no matter whether organizational, political, or cultural, for example – could lead to significant shifts in the whole system.[3]
My fieldwork, in a nutshell, consisted of two lines of investigation, one practical and the other theoretical. The practical line was with a sample of thirty stakeholders for one round of interviews, and a subsample of fifteen key players for a second round. Aligning with the IC’s tagline farms, land, and people, the subsample includes farmers, land stewards, and other wonderful people who work at the IC’s multifunctional property in food distribution, gleaning, native flora conservation, reforestation, trails and landscape maintenance, community gardening, administration, business planning, and community-building, among other activities. All the interviews were semi-structured and involved using different surveying methods with visual tools to facilitate insight and discussion (see below): an infographic by CIDSE illustrating a set of fifteen principles of agroecology, maps of the property, and pictures from a photovoice exercise assigned to the subsample for the second round of interviews. The theoretical line of investigation I conducted on my own, as the researcher photo-documenting and taking field notes while engaging in both non-participant and participant (i.e., volunteer work) observation. I wanted to triangulate the practical and the theoretical perspectives and the different surveying methods.
On January 14, I wrapped up my fieldwork with a productive reflection meeting in the IC’s hayloft with the subsample of key actors and the support of the ALC’s leadership team. It was a stimulating experience to see the ALC and IC teams actively engaged in this collective deliberation process. We started with fifteen minutes allocated to browsing through a small exhibit with examples of the visual tools the actors used and marked with their input during the interviews.
The group then divided into smaller discussion groups to reflect on their experience as active participants in the process. They also appraised for the last time the strength of the presence and implementation of each principle at the Intervale on a poster illustrating CIDSE’s principles, and they saw the outcome using a bird’s eye view of the Intervale.
I then presented preliminary quantitative results of my fieldwork, to compare with their results. With minor but important differences to take into consideration, the overall trends in the preliminary results prevailed in the final group appraisal. It was rewarding and reassuring for the group to discover that the different surveying methods and perspectives provided similar results for the principles.
“There is no power for
change greater than a community discovering what they care about.” Margaret Wheatley
Before the reflection encounter adjourned, the IC team members each swooped down from the bird’s eye view and picked up three principles they care about and identify as areas of opportunities, and presented recommendations for next action steps at the Intervale.It was a great way to wrap-up and move forward.
Next I will finish the in-depth
qualitative analysis of all the interviews before I share any definitive
answers to the research questions, as new, compelling information could modify
the preliminary results.
After seven months of fieldwork, I can affirm that all fifteen principles of agroecology, as proposed by CIDSE, can be evidenced, in one way or another, at the Intervale. Certainly, some of the principles are as yet areas of opportunity for an outright agroecological transformation.[4]
I want to express my gratitude to the magnificent people who work in unison at the Intervale. I would have never been able to finish my fieldwork without their warmth and support. I anticipate that their interest in and enthusiasm for my work will be rewarded with valuable information they can use to advance their mission, vision, and goals for Burlington and beyond.
[1]Based on
Patton (2018). Principles-focus Evaluation: The Guide. New York, NY: The
Guilford Press
[2] Patton, 2018, p. 171.
[3]Meadows, D. H. (2008). Thinking in Systems: A Premier. White River Junction, VT: Chelsea Green Publishing
[4] Colin, R. A.; Bruil, J.; Chappell, M.J.; Kiss, C.; Pimbert, M.P. (2019). From transition to domains of transformations: getting to sustainable and food justice systems through agroecology. Sustainability, 11 (5272).
Our colleagues Vic Izzo and Scott Lewins of the Vermont Entomology and Participatory Action Research Team (VEPART) have just published an update on their innovative research on leek moth and the pests relationship with allium crops. The brief outlines the most recent updates of the work VEPART has been conducting over the past 5 seasons on several farms in Vermont. Learn more here!
Engaging in New Partnerships for Agroecological Transformation
By Ava Murphey, ALC Program Coordinator
8 January 2020
Earlier this year, the University of Vermont’s Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with four pertinent organizations that promote agroecological and development work in various sectors. These links were fused in an effort to formalize the co-creation of knowledge via innovative partnerships, outlining the intention for collaborative movement building. The goal of such an agreement is for all parties to engage in the synergistic sharing and receiving of knowledge and ideas in order to stimulate, cultivate, and propagate purposeful transformative projects.
In maintaining partnerships that span across different sectors, spheres of influence, and geographic regions the potential for amplified impact and transformation is high. The organizations with which the ALC has recently signed an MOU are Groundswell International, EcoSur, Statistics for Sustainable Development (Stats4SD), and the Centre for Agroecology, Water, and Resilience (CAWR). To name a few, these associations represent ties between academia, public research and development projects, grassroots organizing, and effective statistical analysis. This cooperative approach to co-creation and horizontal knowledge sharing is a direct manifestation of one of agroecology’s foundational principles: transdisciplinarity. The relationship between these groups and disciplines holds the immense capacity for transformative systems change, something which profoundly aligns with and enhances the mission of the ALC and their professional partners.
Collaboration in action
One partnership worth highlighting is that with Groundswell International. In October of 2018, Groundswell contracted the ALC to support participatory monitoring and evaluation on a project focused on strengthening farmer seed systems with eight organizations in southern Mexico. A year later, on October 18th, 2019 the two organizations celebrated the result of abundant planning and coordinating in their first ever official collaborative occasion, a one-day participatory event that took place at the University of Vermont’s (UVM) Alumni House. The event, titled “Building Collaboration to Amplify Agroecology,” was an engaging and inspiring day that left participants feeling poised to build bridges and tackle the issues they face in their various professional sectors.
The event invitation was circulated to partners and allies of both organizations, Groundswell International and UVM’s Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative
To give some context to the conversation, it is important to highlight the essence of the association between Groundswell International and the ALC. Of critical relevance in the linkage between these two groups is the study and practice of agroecology. In its simplest form, agroecology provides the lens with which to observe ecological processes and their applications to agricultural production systems1. However, agroecology encompasses much more than scientific observation; it is a transdisciplinary approach (merging ecological science with social science, local and indigenous knowledge systems, etc.) that guides research and action towards the sustainable transformation of our food system2.
Groundswell International is a non-profit organization that strengthens communities and farmers’ organizations to deepen and scale agroecological approaches with the aim of improving lives in 10 different countries around the world. Groundswell’s aim is to strengthen farmer-led innovation, and promote exponential farmer-to-farmer learning to generate widespread social and ecological change, strengthen local food systems, inform policy, and shift investment and development strategies. The work of Groundswell and its partners is inherently community-led, participatory and transdisciplinary in nature. It is within these frameworks that the most salient connection emerges with their UVM partners, the ALC.
While Groundswell International exercises its prowess in the non-profit sector, the ALC promotes complementary goals while operating within an academic setting, utilizing the principles of agroecology and Participatory Action Research (PAR) in the field with projects in New England and around the globe. The ALC is a community of practice that includes faculty, graduate and undergraduate students, and a host of local and global collaborators. The mission of the ALC is to “co-create evidence and knowledge, with farmers and other actors, to cultivate socially just and ecologically sound food systems3.” Students and faculty alike conduct research and collaborate on projects that integrate academic disciplines, amplify the voices of non-research actors, and seek real world solutions to global food system challenges.
All of this came into play in October’s workshop. While the Groundswell International team met on UVM’s campus with leaders of partner organizations from Burkina Faso, Ghana, Mali, Senegal, Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Haiti, Mexico, and Nepal for their biannual global conference, the ALC team was hard at work preparing for the public event at the end of the week, “Building Collaboration to Amplify Agroecology.” The ALC’s practice of PAR informed the structure of the day. Instead of creating an environment in which participants received a deluge of information from various speakers, the idea was to engage participants in strongly facilitated discussions and activities in which all attendees were heard and valued as critical contributors to the conversation. Through a combination of individual and group work, participants were encouraged not only to share their experiences with a larger audience, but also to take a critical look at themselves and their specific roles within this movement. Strengthening this internal understanding, along with a healthy dose of external inspiration, can be a powerful way to deepen collective learning and augment meaningful change.
The 80 attendees ranged in their backgrounds from academics, philanthropists, allies, activists, students, farmers, and beyond. In the morning, break out groups heard from three Groundswell representatives from different countries about their strategies to tackle key challenges in promoting agroecology: farmer-to-farmer innovation; women’s empowerment; nutrition-linkages; local markets; and climate resilience. Then, key lessons were shared with the full audience through a dynamic poster fair where participants got to rotate and learn about each theme from grassroots practitioners. ALC facilitators and Groundswell staff and partners collaborated to ensure lively dialogue and learning.
The event featured speakers from all over the world who provided insight into their agroecological projects that centered on themes of climate change resilience, local markets, nutrition, women’s empowerment, and farmer-to-farmer innovation. Pictured on the right is Tsuamba Bourgou, Groundswell Regional Coordinator for West Africa
(Photos: Sara Klimek, UVM Junior Environmental Studies)
The afternoon was dedicated to a round-table workshop that centered on the metaphor of a puzzle. New groups were formed and each group came up with their response to the theme of the day: “how do we build collaboration to amplify agroecology?” They represented the answer to this question on a large puzzle piece. In closing, each group presented their piece, as the collaborative puzzle was assembled on the wall, bit by bit. One puzzle piece boasted an elaborate drawing of a cart pulled by a campesino with a rising sun that represented ancestral knowledge and wisdom; another displayed a colorful tree of traced hands that spoke to the interconnectedness and solidarity found in agroecological resilience; and yet another highlighted the importance of acknowledging power and privilege as we enter into dialogues about inciting change. The final product was beautiful- a vibrantly decorated and rustically assembled puzzle on the wall of the conference room that everyone in the room had contributed to. Yet this puzzle was just a visual expression of multiple connections and opportunities for collaboration identified by participants.
The UVM Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative facilitation team organized various individual and group work sessions reflecting on agroecology in action and as a social movement.
Moving forward
If we zoom out to the larger picture again for a moment, the collaborative event between the ALC and Groundswell International provides an excellent example of exactly what it proposed to have participants engage in: “building collaboration to amplify agroecology.” Groundswell International and ALC are building off of this experience to deepen collaboration, and through its MOU with various organizations, the ALC aims to expand and strengthen networks and interdependence with the ultimate goal of transformative agroecology.
Returning to the puzzle that was assembled at the end of that October day, some pieces remained blank- a representation of those that we need to work harder to include at the table, of those voices that are underrepresented, and work yet to be done. The empty spaces are also a promise. A promise to the future and all that it holds; the spark of inspiration for collaboration that has been cultivated throughout this partnership and the hope that our future embodies the potential for systematic global transformation.
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 theMD code of conductand cooperate with theMilk 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 theCIDSE 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, 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.
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.
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).
Ava Murphey of UVM’s Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC) and Fatou Batta, Groundswell International West Africa consultant and project partner, share insights from community dialogue at ALC & Groundswell’s “Building Collaboration to Amplify Agroecology Conference.” (Photo: Sara Klimek)
What do two community development professors, a business analyst for a value-added processing firm in Burlington, a saffron grower from Iran, a community supported agriculturalist from Ecuador, and a third year University of Vermont student have in common? A place at the table.
At this year’s Building Collaboration to Amplify Agroecology Conference, hosted by Groundswell International and UVM’s Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC), I was given the opportunity to meet with a variety of stakeholders for a discussion about what integrative agroecology frameworks actually look like. The conference, held at the UVM Alumni House, celebrated the work different agroecologists from around the world are doing to promote sustainable, bio-regenerative agriculture, and improve the livelihoods of all who are involved in the food system.
Representatives from Burkina Faso, Ecuador, Mali, and seven other countries shared how their programs were meeting market demand for products, advancing gender equity, improving community access to nutrition, and addressing global climate challenges. Their stories showed how agroecology, which incorporates ecological and other principles into agricultural production systems, can build more sustainable and equitable food systems from the ground up.
During an afternoon roundtable session, I had the opportunity to meet with a diverse group of individuals to reimagine and redefine what a robust agroecology framework might look like. We were tasked with answering questions about what ecological, economic, and social motivations are embedded within agroecology and how we, in our various roles, can collaborate to advance our shared values and missions.
As someone who does not come from a particularly rich background in practical agroecological applications, I at first struggled to ground myself around a table of people with decades of experience in the field. After all, what could a UVM student contribute to a technical discussion on the nuances of how to define agroecology?
In short, quite a lot. But I gained even more.
Not only did I learn about the projects that other people in my group had worked on, such as the marketing of sugarcane in Honduras to selling Peruvian potatoes to Pepsi Co., but I learned more about the importance of changing how we think about the value of food.
Our group began our discussion of why agroecology was different than traditional agricultural practices with a brief overview of the problems of a global, disconnected food system. We were relatively quick to diagnose many of the problems within our food system as the result of a disconnect between the people who grow the food and the people who consume the food. One of my fellow group members who operates a CSA in his home country commented that, “relationships are the potential.” In a time of geopolitical instability, his CSA was able to feed nearly 40 families and also bring a sense of identity back to his local food system. Instead of monetary trade, he developed a bartering system with those in his community- a value he deems as “immeasurable.”
In a world that stresses the importance of automation and economic efficiency, it is no surprise that we have lost the social capital invested in our food system. Agroecology strives to invest social capital back into food systems through meaningful interactions between community partners, organizations like Groundswell International, and academic institutions like UVM. While the traditional agricultural and economic paradigms have sought to standardize the process by which people interact with their food, agroecology seeks to exchange knowledge, stories, and relationships to optimize success for all.
It’s clear that none of us have the answers alone about how to solve the complex issues of the food system, but by cultivating collaboration and empowering local farmers, we have the potential to transform our current food system into one that is more sustainable and socially just. Within the short conversation I had at my roundtable, with people who were clearly invested in bringing relationships back into the food system, I was challenged to think more critically about what it means to be both a steward of the planet and a student interested in the agroecology field. I was able to connect with people who brought immense diversity in ideas, methodology, and training to the conference, and left with new connections and renewed commitment to the agroecology movement.
Conferences like Amplifying Agroecology offer the unique opportunity to assess the progress that has already been made to invest in the social capital of food systems, and also build a roadmap for what the next chapter will look like.
Sara Klimek is a junior environmental studies major with minors in food systems and nutrition and food science at UVM.
ALC member highlight: Alissa White and Alisha Utter gain recognition for their work and research
In the past month two members of the ALC (Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative) community of practice have been featured in various media streams. It is a true honor to be able to share the incredible work these two women are doing.
Alissa White researches climate change adaptation and resiliency
Alisha Utter explores principles and practices of veganic agriculture and agroecology
Alissa White is a PhD student in the Department of Plant and Soil Science. Using participatory action research methods, she explores the potential for farmer networks to support the adaptive capacity of farmers in the face of a changing climate. Alissa was recently featured in an episode of the Eastern New York Veg News Podcast expanding more upon her work surrounding climate change adaptations for growers in the Northeast.
Alisha Utter is also a PhD student in the Department of Plant and Soil Science. Alisha explores the relationships between veganic farming, agroecology, and regenerative agriculture. She does this not only through the research associated with her PhD but also by managing a farm of her own, Arbor Farmstead, with Kyle Bowley. In a recent episode of the USDA’s weekly blog Fridays on the Farm, Alisha and Arbor Farmstead were the main feature. See the story here.
Congratulations to these two amazing leaders of agroecological research and practice. Thank you, Alissa and Alisha, for the inspiring work that you are committed to!
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)
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.
ALC visualizes and displays its community of practice
Last week, the ALC community developed a new display board to highlight their work and research around the globe. Every member created a profile including a brief bio and description of their work and academic interests. The profiles were displayed concentrically surrounding a world map with strings and pins connecting research locations with the ALC members carrying out the research. This visual was decided on by the community of practice as an effective way to highlight the global reach of collaboration and research within this group. The diversity of insight that this perspective brings to our community is invaluable. In all, the ALC members that participated totaled 23 and represented 8 nationalities from around the world, including the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Finland, Puerto Rico, Ecuador, and Italy.
In creating this display board, we felt that not only were we informing and educating the greater UVM community about our work and interests but we also got to know each other even better. There are a few new faces in the ALC community and it was an important exercise in inclusion and welcoming for all those involved. Come take a look at our impressive community of practice and our new display, outside of Jeffords 232!
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
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.
Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC) part-time Program Administrator
Position Summary
The Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC) is a community of practice within the Department of Plant & Soil Science (PSS) at the University of Vermont. The ALC utilizes an approach grounded in agroecology, participatory action research (PAR), and transdisciplinarity. Our goal is to better understand and seek solutions to the issues facing our food system. The ALC program administrator reports to the ALC co-directors, and works closely with the core team to manage communications and internal operations for the ALC, as well as support the planning and implementation of the ALC’s research and educational initiatives. The program administrator will also provide some support to the PSS program, and will be a point of contact for ALC students, and other collaborators both within and outside of the university. We seek a motivated individual interested in agroecology, food systems and participatory action research (PAR), who has outstanding organizational and interpersonal skills. A detailed description of the position is provided below. For a pdf version of the position description, please click on the following link: ALC Program Administrator Revised Ad Jul 19.
communicating with students interested in pursuing the CGSA
serving as the point-person for communications with the College of Continuing and Distance Education (CDE), which supports aspects of the CGSA.
organization, coordination and logistics for the weeklong, face-to-face summer course
The ALC program administrator oversees external communications for the ALC and provides support to the PSS department. This task requires collaborating with other faculty and staff to develop, implement and actively manage outreach and visibility strategies for the ALC and PSS (35% effort). This includes:
maintaining websites and regularly updating social media accounts
developing outreach, informational, recruitment and event materials
supporting the creation of presentations that align with UVM templates and guidelines
The ALC program administrator provides organizational and logistical support for all ALC programming (15%). This includes:
creating and maintaining information management and organizational systems
coordinating facilities access (including A/V technology) and vehicle use
managing purchasing and vendor relationships (this includes assistance with travel arrangements, plane tickets, etc.)
supporting the management of program funding, and cross-departmental financial collaborations
The ALC program administrator maintains partner relationships by communicating with ALC students and partners (farmers, representatives of NGOs, academic and industry collaborators) (15% effort). This includes:
coordinating and facilitating weekly ALC meetings.
organizing and facilitating weekly staff meetings
coordinating researcher/collaborator meetings with ALC collaborators
responding to inquiries for information
The ALC program administrator contributes to fundraising efforts for the ALC (15% effort). This includes:
identifying appropriate funding opportunities
participating in grant writing
managing grant submission processes
supporting the cultivation of corporate and individual donors
Required Qualifications
Bachelor’s Degree.
1-2 years of administrative experience.
Strong public relations, interpersonal, and organizational skills.
Interest and proven experience in being a truly collaborative team member.
The ability to work well—whether by phone, email, writing, or in person—with a broad range of constituents, both internal and external to the university.
Demonstrated initiative and resourcefulness.
Willingness to be flexible.
Ability to manage multiple tasks, meet deadlines and use creative problem solving to handle the unexpected.
Detail-oriented, with strong organizational and problem-solving skills.
Sensitivity to issues of equity, diversity, and inclusion.
The ability to plan, prioritize, and balance the workload of several projects, simultaneously, in a fast-paced environment.
Preferred Qualifications
Experience with UVM’s business and financial applications and systems.
Familiarity with UVM’s administrative organization and academic programs.
Web development experience with WordPress and Drupal.
Spanish language proficiency.
This is a part-time position, 20 hours per week, at $18 per hour. We regret that we cannot provide benefits.
Application
Please send cover letter and updated curriculum vitae/resume to Ernesto Mendez (Ernesto.Mendez@uvm.edu). Any questions about the position can also be directed to him.
Special Issue, in Spanish, on “Participatory and Activist Research in Agroecology”, with a contribution by ALC co-directors
A new special issue of the journal Agroecología (Spain), on Participatory and Activist Research in Agroecology, is now available as open access, online. The issue brings together a diversity of experiences from around the world, with a focus on participatory action research and activist scholarship in agroecology. It was guest edited by Daniel López-García, from Fundación Entretantos and Mamen Cuéllar-Padilla from the University of Córdoba. ALC co-directors Martha Caswell and Ernesto Méndez co-authored a paper on participatory action research with collaborators from the Community Agroecology Network (CAN) .You can access the issue by clicking on the following link: https://revistas.um.es/agroecologia/issue/view/18131
Martha Caswell assumes the Co-Directorship of the University of Vermont’s Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC)
The University of Vermont’s (UVM) Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC), which started as my research group in 2006, has been growing and evolving, along with our main fields of action- agroecology and participatory action research (PAR). As we continue to reflect on our work, and continue to learn and grow, it is also important that we solidify the ALC’s governance structure. In this light, I am pleased to announce that, starting July 1, Martha Caswell, currently the ALC’s Research and Outreach Coordinator, has taken on a new role as the ALC’s Co-Director. This new position formalizes leadership responsibilities that Martha has already taken on in both our U.S. and International initiatives, and across our educational, research and outreach activities. Martha and I envision sharing our representation of the ALC, in an equal capacity, in many of our current initiatives and partnerships. This change is well deserved, as Martha has been co-leading with me for several years now, and had already stepped up to this role, albeit unofficially. You can find more information on Martha’s background below, and in a recent interview she gave on agroecology for UVM, here. Dr. Vic Izzo, the ALC’s Education Coordinator, will continue in his critical role as the third member of the ALC leadership team. I strongly believe this new structure will allow us to better accomplish our mission and strengthen our collaborative processes with all of you. Please join me in congratulating Martha !
About Martha Caswell, ALC’s new Co-Director
What’s working well? What’s not? What can we learn from the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion? Whether we are talking about communities, landscapes or agroecological practices, these questions have always been at the core of my work. My curiosity has taken me from large urban areas of the US to small coffee-growing communities in Latin America. With a background in policy, I have programmatic experience with public health, housing, food justice, migrant communities, climate change resilience, livelihood diversification strategies and food security/food sovereignty. I have moved between working on the ground in communities and looking at the issues from a distance; Participatory Action Research (PAR) allows me to combine my commitment to grassroots work and applied research. My early career focused on issues related to urban poverty. Now, most of my work is with smallholder farmers, using agroecological principles to address livelihood, sustainability and production challenges. I have experience in both international and domestic community development, multi-sector collaborations with governmental agencies, academic institutions, corporate entities, non-governmental organizations, farmer cooperatives, neighborhood associations and community stakeholders.
Two months ago today, our friend and colleague Martha Caswell was featured in UVM Is for her work in agroecology. Published below is that article by Erica Housekeeper.
Countries around the world, from Senegal to Brazil and the Netherlands, are embracing agroecology to achieve a more sustainable food system and adapt to climate change. But one place where agroecology has yet to go mainstream is the United States.
Martha Caswell, research and outreach coordinator for the UVM Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC)*. understands that there are challenges that accompany the growth in agroecology. However, she also sees its promise as people around the world are fundamentally rethinking and redesigning food systems, based on agroecological principles.
Agroecology aims to increase the ecological benefits of farming, and bring forward the experience and knowledge of farmers and other food system actors to study and find tangible solutions to some of the toughest challenges facing our food systems. Conserving crop diversity, improving soil health, achieving food sovereignty, and decreasing the distance between producer and consumer are just a few of the principles of agroecology.
“Because of the way agriculture in the United States has been consolidated, a lot of people don’t know where their food is coming from,” she says. “What will it take for that pendulum to swing back?”
UVM’s Certificate of Graduate Study in Agroecology
Caswell and the Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC) are offering a 15-credit Certificate of Graduate Study in Agroecology (CGSA) designed to examine potential pathways toward the sustainable transformation of the current agrifood system by integrating economic, social and ecological perspectives. The first course provides an introduction to agroecology, including an online portion dedicated to theory and framing the issues, and then a week of experiential learning at UVM, focusing on visits to highlight agroecology in action on Vermont farms.
Also highlighting the principles of Participatory Action Research (PAR), the low-residency certificate program guides students to identify critical questions and practice new methods for integrating data from farmers, academics, activists, and policymakers. This approach is used to understand agrifood system issues, as well as search for alternatives with real promise to help resolve issues on the ground.
“One way to start thinking about agroecology is to consider how nature would approach agriculture,” she says. “You’re still looking for high-quality production and caring about yield, but you’re also thinking about maintaining synergy with the natural world.”
A Social Scientist, a Transdisciplinary Approach
Caswell majored in American Culture at the University of Michigan and earned her Master’s in Public Policy with a focus on poverty and inequality at the University of Chicago. She was hired by UVM in 2012, to work as a research specialist for the Department of Plant and Soil Science and took a permanent position with the ALC the following year.
“This isn’t a career path I thought I would be on when I was in graduate school. I’m a social scientist in the middle of the Plant and Soil Science department, but agroecology needs to be transdisciplinary,” she says. “We’re trying to figure out how to look at the ways the various components of agrifood systems interact. Ernesto was trained as an agronomist and is now an agroecologist, I’m a social scientist, and Vic is an entomologist. The good news is that through our community of practice we’ve also attracted students who want to think about things from multiple angles.”
“Agroecology is based on principles, and after working with these Vermont organizations, they have seen that agroecology is something they are already practicing. Now we are looking at where they can deepen what they’re already doing and identifying the best ways to move in that direction,” she says. “At the international level, we see more of a tipping point. But the food system within Vermont also lends itself really well to the idea of agroecology.”
Part of the challenge with agroecology in much of the United States is that industrial farming is a dominant force, she says.
“The agrifood system in the U.S. is definitely structured to favor the industrial model and most policies don’t favor small farms,” she says. “That leaves smallholder farmers in the U.S. trying to figure out where they fit in.”
Progress in Agroecology
A bright spot is that agroecology is starting to open space for women to be recognized for their contributions, she says.
While men have traditionally been motivated by higher yields and income potential, women have focused on protecting against risk, maintaining biodiversity and providing nutritious food for their families.
“The people who have been credited with the first wave of agroecology are all men,” Caswell says. “But recently women have stepped up to say there is no agroecology without us and women are finally being recognized for the work they have always done.”
This happens at the farm and at the University. A recent organization by the name of Alianza de Mujeres en la Agroecología-Alliance of Women in Agroecology (AMA-AWA) is working to support this internationally. Helda Morales, Professor at ECOSUR in Mexico and one of the founders of AMA-AWA, recently visited UVM and invited Caswell to join.
That shift to highlight women’s accomplishments in agroecology, at the farm and the academy, is something Caswell hopes students will find inspiring. If she could give students one piece of advice on how to make progress, it would be that collaboration and listening are necessary for success.
“Be confident in what you know and also aware of what you don’t know. Be ready to listen and try to work on things together,” Caswell says. “When we’re convinced there is only one way, then we are much more likely to end up at a dead end. But when we open up to multiple options, we have a better chance of getting to where we need to be.”
– The “UVM Is” series celebrates University faculty, educators, and the campus community.
Students introduced themselves and what they were excited about for the upcoming weeks. Some of the most common phrases were ‘agroecology’, ‘food’, and ‘love’.
Spring has finally sprung in Vermont and the first course of the Certificate of Graduate Study in Agroecology is underway! Thirteen students startedthe course,PSS 311:Introduction to Agroecology, last Monday , bringing with them a multiplicity of perspectives from around the world. This session’s participants hail from Ecuador and El Salvador; New York, New Jersey, Boston, and Rhode Island; Ohio, Wisconsin, Mississippi, and the UK. And, of course, Vermont. For the first three weeks of the class, students will study in their home foodsheds, participating online and establishing a strong basis of knowledge in agroecology as science, movement, and practice. In June, they will gather in Vermont for a week spent sharing ideas in person and experiencing agroecology in action. They will visit, work and share with 4 of the ALC’s partner farms: Catamount Educational Farm, Diggers Mirth, Stony Pond Farm, Bread and Butter Farm, and The Farm Between. Some participants are in the middle of their graduate studies, while others bring years of experience on farms or working internationally for non-governmental organizations. We are incredibly humbled to get to share this summer with such a diverse group of agroecologists – stay tuned for more updates from the field!
ALC’s Coffee farmer Cooperative Partners share experiences of diversification project at Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) Expo and UVM
The ALC and CESMACH teams arrive in Boston and the fun begins!
Leticia Velasco and Rigoberto Hernández Jonapá, collaborators from the CESMACH coffee cooperative (based in Chiapas, MX), visited the Northeast in mid-April. ALC members Martha Caswell, Janica Anderzén and Ernesto Méndez met up with Lety and Rigo in Boston, where the Specialty Coffee Association (SCA) held its annual Expo, from April 11-14. The team presented findings from Smallholder Coffee Diversification Project at a panel and participated in an academic poster session.
The Expo brings together a diversity of actors in the specialty coffee sector to share the latest trends in the coffee industry. However, we and our colleagues noticed that key contributors to the coffee value chain were largely missing – the smallholder producers. While vendors were showcasing expensive machinery and baristas were competing to make the best latte, the producers were visible mainly in pictures on banners and in brochures. Lety noted that although it was interesting to see the Expo, she was a little disappointed with what she saw. “Buyers are not looking for friends, they are only interested in our product”, she commented after the Expo.
Rigo, Martha, and Janica presenting their work with CESMACH at the SCA Expo.
Despite these feelings of disillusionment, we were heartened by the words of Todd Caspersen, Director of Purchasing and Production at Equal Exchange, who joined us as a panelist. Todd shared that he sees this kind of research project, with multiple partners, as an interesting way for Equal Exchange to engage outside of the “transactional relationship” with farmer groups. He sees this as very important and discussed the importance of “building our muscles” as we look for solutions to challenges, such as climate change, which threaten the future viability of coffee production. The team also enjoyed moments of solidarity with other smallholder producers, as we learned about the current campaign being carried out by members of the Símbolo de Pequeños Productores (SPP – the small producer symbol). The focus of this campaign is setting a price for coffee that covers costs of production and provides some profit to producers. The difference between the SPP and other labels (i.e. organic or Fair Trade) is that the prices and the standards are set by representatives of smallholder cooperatives themselves, rather than by people and organizations based in consuming countries in the global north.
From right to left: Nate Van Dusen (Brio Coffeeworks), Marcela Pino (Food 4 Farmers), Lety (CESMACH), Janica (ALC), Rigo (CESMACH), and Ernesto (ALC)
After the Expo, the team headed to Burlington. ALC hosted a panel at UVM with participation from Ernesto (ALC), Rigo and Lety (CESMACH), Marcela Pino (Food 4 Farmers) and Nate Van Dusen (Brio Coffeeworks), where panelists discussed their perspectives on livelihood diversification for smallholder coffee farmers. The guests also shared their experiences at an ALC lab session, and in an event hosted by the Brio Coffeeworks at their facilities. In addition, Janica (ALC PhD candidate) shared her research in the diversification project at the UVM student research conference.
ALC members visited Brio Coffeeworks in Burlington’s south end to learn about the small-roaster side of the coffee industry and taste some new CESMACH coffee.
All of these events presented great opportunities to learn about the producers’ experiences and perspectives, and to discuss how researchers and NGOs can support farmers’ organizations in implementing diversification strategies that can help farmers face challenges such as low prices, climate change, and food insecurity.
– Janica Anderzen, ALC PhD Candidate at University of Vermont
Ernesto Mendez Joins International Researchers, Farmers, and Activists in Brazil
ALC Director and PSS Chair, Ernesto Mendez, traveled to Florianópolis, the capital city of Santa Catarina, Brazil, to attend a leadership team meeting of the Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP), of the McKnight Foundation. The week-long meeting brings together staff and researchers from the 3 regions of the CCRP in the South American Andes, West Africa and East and South Africa. As part of the visit the CCRP team met with CEPAGRO, an agroecology focused organization, based at the Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (UFSC). CEPAGRO’s work aligns well with the ALC’s Participatory Action Research (PAR) approach. The gathering at the UFSC, brought together 30 professionals and students from the US, Brazil, Canada, El Salvador, Ecuador, Kenya, Germany, Tanzania, Burkina Faso, Peru, and England.
The history of agroecology in Brazil is a rich one, based not only in land stewardship and diversification of farmer livelihoods, but also in the struggle to maintain access to land. “In order for Agroecology to happen, the democratization of access to land for the people of the countryside and of the city is necessary,” said Eduardo Rocha of CEPAGRO.
Throughout the afternoon, leaders and representatives from regional and local communities, indigenous communities, and urban farmers shared their triumphs and struggles employing agroecology in the face of inequitable access to land and its associated discrimination. Those present included Shirlen Vidal de Oliveira and Helena Jucélia Vidal de Oliveira, representatives of the Quilombo Vidal Martins Community, in Rio Vermelho, Florianópolis; Fábio Ferraz and Bárbara Ventura, of the Amarildo de Souza Commune Settlement, and Cacique Artur Benites and Alexandro and Fábio, of the Guarani community of Aldeia Tekoá vy ‘a, in Major Gercino. Also present were urban farmers Raquel Solange de Souza and Alaércio Vicente Pereira Jr, CEPAGRO research partners Dana James and Evan Bowness of University of British Columbia, and Professor Antonio Munarim, of the Vianei Center for Popular Education.
What stood out to most participants that afternoon was the opportunity for knowledge sharing and collaboration amongst stakeholders of different backgrounds. Urban farmer Raquel Solange reflected on how impactful it was, “to communicate with the people who came from outside and also to know the natives and quilombos, because I have never visited a village or a quilombo. As a social worker I’ve given several lectures, but that theme I owned. And to be there to talk about Agroecology, it was just my personal experience, it was more to put my heart out.”
CCRP members also enjoyed a presentation on direct marketing for family farmers from the Family Agriculture Marketing Laboratory (LACAF). As agroecology advisor of the CCRP, which aims to support access to local, sustainable and nutritious food through collaborative research and knowledge sharing among small farmers, research institutions and development organizations, Ernesto reflected, “Brazil is strong in Agroecology and it is very important to listen to you, the producers and indigenous people. It is very important to learn from the experience in Brazil.”
This blog is based on an article, in Portuguese, by Clara Comandolli de Souza, Journalist at CEPAGRO. The original piece can be accessed here
ALC Community member and PhD candidate Alissa White spoke with New York Times reporter Kim Severson and lent some insight for her story about how climate change is impacting our diets. UVM Alum Lily Calderwood is also featured in the article.
“…Couple that with mild winters that don’t kill off pests, and unusual weather patterns that don’t bring rain when they should — or bring so much that farmers can’t get into the fields to work or have to battle fungus — and organic berries aren’t such a good bet anymore. “People have really given up on raspberries on a lot of farms,” said Alissa White, a researcher at the University of Vermont who tracks the impact of climate change on Northeastern farms. “Farmers are the kings of risk management. Once every 10 or 20 years we could lose a crop. But if once every three or four, that’s a lot.””
Keep following us here, and on instagram and facebook for further updates on agroecology as a science, movement, and practice.
Ernesto Mendez, ALC Director, reflects on ‘Synergies between Agriculture and Environmental Studies through Agroecology’
I came to the United States when I was 18, seeking to get away from the violence of the civil war in my native El Salvador, and thanks to the economic privilege of my family. After several years of career exploration, and also deeper learning and reflection about the social and environmental realities of my country, I chose agriculture. Both my father and grandfather had farmed commercially, among other pursuits, in El Salvador, and I was always drawn to the farms. Along with this interest, I developed a concern for the multiplicity of challenges that smallholder farmers in Latin America, and around the world, face to this day. These range from social and ethnic discrimination, to lack of basic services and/or agricultural technical assistance. A career in international agricultural development, a field that focuses on working with farmers in developing countries, seemed like a great option for me.
At first, my focus was on the science of agricultural production as a means to improve the well-being of farming families. However, as I expanded my studies, I realized that production was only one part of the issue, and that strengthening the livelihoods of farming households requires a broader understanding of the social, political and environmental challenges that they face. While pursuing degrees in Crop Science and Tropical Agroforestry, I found the field of agroecology, which, at the time, was defined as the ‘application of ecological concepts and principles to sustainable agriculture’. This notion made a lot of sense to me, and as the field has evolved over the years, it has remained my passion and my inspiration. The first concrete confluence between agroecology and environmental studies came when I started a PhD at the University of California, Santa Cruz. I joined an interdisciplinary environmental studies program, with a concentration in agroecology. It was here that I first engaged with true interdisciplinary scholarship and challenged myself to deepen my learning in the social sciences. As a teaching assistant, I was working with students majoring in environmental studies with a curriculum very similar to the one we have at UVM. The position that I took at UVM in 2006, which integrated agriculture and environmental studies, was a perfect fit!
In my view, agroecology brings together the strengths of environmental studies to an agricultural context. Both fields share an emphasis on inter/transdisciplinarity, valuing and respecting the knowledge of farmers and indigenous people, and an awareness of social justice and the political economies that affect people and landscapes. In the last decade, researchers, social movements and farmers have embraced agroecology as an approach that can catalyze a transformation towards more sustainable and just food systems. Two key lessons I have learned from over 25 years working in agroecology are: 1) we need to be collaborative and 2) we need to be humble. Both of these qualities are necessary to stay open to an increasing level of complexity, and to find solutions in an inclusive way. I believe there are opportunities to better integrate the fields of agroecology and environmental studies to support the livelihoods of both farmers and eaters, while conserving the ecosystem services of agricultural landscapes.
ENVS students interested in agroecology have a variety of options to engage with it at UVM. The Plant and Soil Science Department (PSS), which I now chair, is in the process of strengthening its agroecology curriculum, reinforcing hands-on and high impact learning practices, as well as changing the major and minor names to Agroecology. We have also integrated the Farmer Training Program (FTP) into PSS, and are seeking for this initiative to have more interactions with the UVM Community. My research group, the Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC), carries out agroecological investigations in Vermont and Latin America, with a long trajectory of work supporting environmental conservation and farmer livelihoods in smallholder coffee cooperatives. We have recently launched a 2-semester ALC Undergraduate Research Fellows Program (see a UVM Communications story about the program here), with a focus on agroecology and Participatory Action Research (PAR). All of these are collaborative initiatives, which have brought together a diversity of faculty, staff and students from PSS, ENVS, UVM Extension and others outside of UVM.
Agroecology can help study and address a range of issues in agriculture, including ecological analysis of practices, options to improve farmer livelihoods, and how researchers and social movements can work together to advocate for better policies. As both an ENVS and PSS professor, I am really looking forward to building stronger partnerships between our growing agroecology initiatives and the Environmental Program’s students, faculty and staff.
–Ernesto
The first cohort of ALC Undergraduate Research Fellows at a farmer partner dinner held in 2018, at Jericho Settlers Farm. From left to right Karen Nordstrom (ENVS Advisor), Nell Carpenter (ENVS ALC Fellow), Allie Pankoff (ENSC ALC Fellow), Lizzy Holiman (Food Systems & Eco-Ag ALC Fellow), Emily McCarthy (ENVS ALC Fellow), Elise Schumacher (Food systems and ALC Fellow) and Ernesto Méndez (ALC/PSS and ENVS).
Picture of a shaded coffee farm in Chiapas, Mexico, owned by a member of the CESMACH cooperative, showing a diversity of land uses and agricultural activities. The ALC has an ongoing project on diversification in Mexico and Nicaragua.
Greetings from the American Association of Geographers Annual Meeting!
UVM Plant and Soil Science PhD Students Alissa White and Janica Anderzén from the Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative presented their work yesterday at the special sessions on agroecology organized by CAWR (Center for Agroecology, Water & Resilience) and ARC (Agroecology Research-Action Collective). The meeting featured emerging research on agroecological transitions and theories of change under the title “Agroecology Now!”. Janica and Alissa presented during the first set of presentations focused on context-specific examples of agroecology initiatives and networks. The rest of the sessions drew in speakers that offered complementary research on opportunities and challenges for making changes at multiple scales in the food system.
Janica Anderzén shared results from early phases of her research with the CESMACH coffee coop in Chiapas, Mexico. Janica’s research offers new insight into diversification as a livelihood strategy for dealing with the climate and market pressures that contribute to food scarcity in this region.She highlighted the role of beekeeping and subsistence farming to improved livelihood and food security.
Alissa White presented findings from her research with farmer networks in the Northeastern US.Her analysis identifies networks as key drivers of farmer-led innovation in the region.Based on emerging themes from focus groups, her research also explores the characteristics of networks that support the capacity of farmers to make change in the face of climate change.
ALC lab member Alisha Utter was recently featured in the UVM Women’s Agriculture Network series discussing how she uses diversification and agroecology to manage risks on her farm in Grand Isle, Arbor Farmstead. Additionally, Alisha draws upon veganic practices, which excludes the application of animal inputs. If you would like to learn more about the principles of veganic growing, as part of Public Philosophy Week, Alisha is leading a discussion on veganic farming this Friday (3/29) from 5-6 pm at Knead Bakery in Burlington. All are welcome to join the conversation!
ALC Undergraduate Fellows Host First “Womxn in Soil Science” Panel
ALC Undergraduate Fellows, Allie Pankoff ‘19, Elise Schumacher ‘19, and Alanna McLaughlin ‘ 20 recently put together a Womxn in Soil Science panel inspired by a #SoilScienceSocietyofAmerica presentation on the state of Gender Parity in Soil Science.
Allie on the panel:
Our motivation for the Womxn in Soil Science panel was to build community across the University by creating space for more experienced womxn soil scientists to share their experiences in the field. The event was initially inspired by The State of Gender Parity in Soil Science, a poster presented at the 2017 Soil Science of America conference, which highlights some eye-opening statistics on gender in the soil science fields. Our discussion centered on the experiences of womxn pursing professions in science; our panelists touched on persevering in the face of obstacles, the value of mentorship, and networking strategies.
Over 20 people attended our first panel, indicating the need for these types of events and a stronger sense of community among womxn scientists at UVM. Attendees expressed excitement at the opportunity to learn about the lives of womxn in academia today, and were reassured that not all career paths are linear in nature. Looking into the future, there is a lot of room for growth! We hope to continue what we started, and to have more events that are geared towards other underrepresented identities in the sciences.
The Farm Between wins 2018 Farmer-Rancher Pollinator Award for US
Nancy and John Hayden were recently recognized by the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign (NAPPC) with the 2018 Farmer-Rancher Pollinator Award for the United States. They received their Award at the NAPPC’s Conference in Washington DC.
Nancy and John steward The Farm Between in Jeffersonville, VT, where they have farmed for the past 26 years. Today, the 20-acre property incorporates organic fruit production, an on-site nursery with native and pollinator-friendly plants, and a 14-acre pollinator sanctuary buzzing with diversity. In addition to farming, Nancy gains inspiration from the surrounding agroecosystem for her writing and artwork. Some of her fiber/fabric creations feature pollinators and the challenges they face, such as those in her “Pollinators in Peril” series. John, a trained entomologist, conducts research on-farm, often in collaboration with academic institutions and non-profits. He also advocates for pollinators at the policy-level and presently serves on the Vermont Pollinator Protection Committee. In 2007, Nancy and John founded the international non-profit, Seeds of Self-Reliance, and more recently developed Pollinator Pathways here in Vermont. Both efforts seek to promote pollinator diversity and habitat creation with emphasis on pollinators’ role in sustainable food systems.
The ALC is fortunate to have had the opportunity to build a long-term partnership with Nancy and John as research collaborators on both local and international projects. The Farm Between has served as a host to UVM agroecology courses for many years and the constantly evolving landscape remains a beloved exploratory space for students. Their passion for pollinators and commitment to engaging in agroecology as a science, practice, and movement are inspiring to many. Kudos to John and Nancy on receiving the 2018 Farmer-Rancher Pollinator Award – certainly well-deserved!
Nancy and John Hayden accepting the 2018 United States Farmer-Rancher Pollinator Award at the NAPPC Conference, Photo Credit: NAPPC
After a few technical difficulties, the ALC website is back up and running. Stay tuned for posts from students, faculty, staff, and collaborators including:
The Farm Between Wins the 2018 United States Farmer-Rancher Pollinator Award
15 October, 2018 (Rome, Italy) – It is possible for communities, regions and whole countries to fundamentally redesign their food and farming systems – but doing so requires changes in the way communities envision their food systems, the way knowledge is shared, the way that food systems are governed, and the values underpinning them.
This was the message from IPES-Food’s new report, ‘Breaking away from industrial food and farming systems: Seven case studies of agroecological transition’, released on October 15th, 2018.
The case studies follow on from IPES-Food’s 2016 report, From Uniformity to Diversity, which identified the vicious cycles locking industrial food and farming systems in place, despite their severe impacts on human health, economic and social well-being, biodiversity, and climate change.
The case studies provide concrete examples of how, in spite of these barriers to change, people around the world have been able to fundamentally rethink and redesign food systems around agroecological principles.
Steve Gliessman, lead author of the report, said: “The case studies show that change doesn’t always start in the field. Transition can be kick-started by community-building activities, farmer-researcher partnerships and even by external shocks that make people question the status quo.”
Jahi Chappell discusses ‘Beginning to End Hunger’ at UVM
Political Agroecologist Dr. M. Jahi Chappell delivered an address to over 80 people at the University of Vermont (UVM), last Friday September 14. Jahi is a widely recognized agroecologist, with a diverse trajectory that includes being a professor at Washington State University, an analyst at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and now a senior researcher at the Centre for Agroecology Water and Resilience (CAWR), at Conventry University, England. The talk focused on Jahi’s recent book, Beginning to End Hunger, which documents his experience on innovations and lessons to end hunger in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. The analysis also examines how this case study can inform similar work in other regions. His deeply transdisciplinary approach touched on issues of equity, policy and the need for academics, policy-makers, activists and social movements to work together to seek effective solutions to the pervasive issues of hunger and food insecurity. The talk was co-sponsored by the Plant and Soil Science Department, the Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC), the Gund Institute for Environment, the Food Systems Graduate Program and the Environmental Program, all from UVM (click on images to enlarge).
ALC Research Fellows Jump-start On-farm research in Advanced Agroecology Course
Today (August 31), was the first farm day for 3 teams of Advanced Agroecology (PSS/ENVS 212) students, as they headed out to Jericho Settlers Farm, UVM Catamount Farm/Farmer Training Program, and the Farm Between. Students were going to meet their farmer partners, get an overview of the farm and start helping out by doing work as part of their service learning. For the first time since the beginning of this course in 2008, each of the 5 farm teams is being led by an ALC undergraduate research fellow, who will be helping support all work on the farm, as well as the participatory action research (PAR) activities that are also a new component of the course. The other three farm partners are , Bread and Butter Farm and Digger’s Mirth Farm. This year, the fellows are from the following UVM programs: 2 Environmental studies majors, 1 Food Systems major, 1 Ecological Agriculture and Food Systems double major, and 1 Environmental Science major (click on photos to enlarge).
Dr. Joshua Faulkner (UVM extension) trains ALC fellows on conducting soil health field research
PSS/ENVS 212 students meet with farmer Hilary Martin of Diggers Mirth Farm, on their first on-farm visit
PSS/ENVS 212 students pose by the PSS van (‘the green machine’) before heading out, on their first on-farm day
The ALC is hiring a part-time program administrator
We are seeking a highly organized, personable, tech-saavy and motivated individual to join our team as a program administrator. Full job description is below. If you are interested, please send a cover letter, resume and contact information for 3 references to agroecol@uvm.edu
ALC Program Administrator
Position Summary
The Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC) is a community of practice within the Department of Plant & Soil Science (PSS) at the University of Vermont, which utilizes an approach grounded in agroecology, participatory action research (PAR), and transdisciplinarity. Our goal is to better understand and seek solutions to the issues facing our food system. The ALC program administrator reports to the faculty director and research & outreach coordinator, and works closely with the core team (faculty director, research and outreach coordinator, and educational coordinator), to manage communications and internal operations for the ALC, and to plan and implement the ALC’s research and educational initiatives. The program administrator will also provide some support to the PSS program, and will be a point of contact for ALC students, and other collaborators both within and outside of the university.
communicating with students interested in pursuing the CGSA
providing production support for a range of online courses
coordinating logistics for hybrid face-to-face summer course
supporting the effort to raise CGSA scholarship funds
The ALC program administrator oversees external communications for the ALC and provides support to the PSS department. This task requires collaborating with other faculty and staff to develop and implement an outreach and visibility strategy for the ALC and PSS (20% effort). This includes:
maintaining websites and regularly updating social media accounts
developing outreach, informational, recruitment and event materials
supporting the creation of presentations that align with UVM templates and guidelines
While the ALC faculty director is PSS departmental chair, some external communication support for PSS will be required
The ALC program administrator provides logistical and budgetary support for all ALC programming (15%). This includes:
creating and maintaining information management and organizational systems
coordinating facilities access (including A/V technology) and vehicle use
managing purchasing and vendor relationships (this includes assistance with travel arrangements, plane tickets, etc.)
supporting the management of program funding, and cross-departmental financial collaborations
The ALC program administrator maintains partner relationships by communicating with ALC students and partners (farmers, representatives of NGOs, academic and industry collaborators) (15% effort). This includes:
coordinating lab meetings with ALC members
organizing and facilitating weekly staff meetings
coordinating researcher/collaborator meetings
responding to inquiries for information
The ALC program administrator contributes to fundraising efforts for the ALC (15% effort). This includes:
identifying appropriate funding opportunities
participating in grant writing
managing grant submission processes
supporting the cultivation of corporate and individual donors
Position Requirements:
Bachelor’s Degree.
2-3 years of administrative experience.
Strong public relations, interpersonal, and organizational skills.
The ability to work well—whether by phone, email, writing, or in person—with a broad range of constituents both internal and external to the university.
Demonstrated initiative and resourcefulness.
Willingness to be flexible and work collaboratively as part of a team.
Ability to manage multiple tasks, meet deadlines and handle unexpected crises.
Detail-oriented, with strong budget management and problem-solving skills.
Sensitivity to issues of equity and diversity.
The ability to plan, prioritize, and balance the workload of several projects simultaneously in a fast-paced environment.
Preferred:
Experience with UVM’s business and financial applications and systems.
Familiarity with UVM’s administrative organization and academic programs.
Web development experience with WordPress and Drupal
Spanish language proficiency
This is a part-time position, 20 hours per week, at $18 per hour. We regret that we cannot provide benefits.
In mid July, ALC director Ernesto Méndez joined Maria Rosa Yumbla and Ronald Herrera, PhD students at the Universidad Pablo de Olavide (Spain), at the Andes Community of Practice (CoP) meeting of the Collaborative Crop Research Program (CCRP), in Arequipa, Perú. Yumbla and Herrera are conducting PhD studies in agroecology, and working on an ALC project on farmer research networks and participatory action research (PAR) with smallholder peanut farmers in Bolivia. At the CoP, Yumbla and Herrera presented their PAR work with farmers on developing an ‘agroecological x-ray’ to assess the state of their farms and discuss a transition towards agroecology. The term agroecological x-ray was coined by a participating farmer. The CoP included about 14 projects from Peru, Ecuador and Bolivia supported by the CCRP, a program funded by the McKnight Foundation.
Yumbla, Méndez & Herrera attending the CoP meeting in Arequipa Perú
Yumbla and Herrera discuss results of the agroecological x-ray exercises with peanut farmers in Bolivia
Katie Goodall, who did her Ph.D. with the Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC), in the Plant and Soil Science Department, at UVM, carries on strong with agroecology teaching. Now an Assistant Dean at the School for Field Studies, Katie is returning to the University of Michigan’s Biological Station to teach Agroecology. She was a teaching assistant at the station, for several years, while pursuing her master’s degree at the University of Michigan. Congratulations y Adelante (Forward), Katie ! Read more here: https://lsa.umich.edu/umbs/news-events/all-news/search-news/katie-goodall-returns-to-umbs.html
The ALC is pleased to invite applications for the second cohort of the Agroecology & Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC) Undergraduate Research Fellows Program (ALC Fellows Program). The ALC Fellows Program provides upper division (3rd year +) students the opportunity to develop skills and gain knowledge in agroecology and participatory action research (PAR) to become integral team members of ALC projects. Please note, applications for the next cohort of undergraduate fellows are due: Friday, April 13th, 2018. For more information, check out: www.uvm.edu/agroecology/fellows
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.
ALC Community member and PhD candidate 
Katie Goodall, who did her Ph.D. with the Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC), in the Plant and Soil Science Department, at UVM, carries on strong with agroecology teaching. Now an Assistant Dean at the 
