The new UVM Institute for Agroecology’s (IfA) flagship global event Seeding Transformation, will bring 50 leading minds and voices from our global network to a summit and a public event at the University of Vermont on September 18, 2023 at the Davis Center. Click here to learn more about the event. Registration for both in-person participation and online live-streaming can be found here.

Evidence continues to show that redesigning food systems in the image of agroecology is the most promising pathway towards a just and sustainable future. We are not alone in this conviction - over the last decade, agroecology has been taken up by global social movements, universities, governments as well as intergovernmental bodies. With the 2023 launch of the UVM Institute for Agroecology, the time is now to bring those communities together, take stock, strategize and push forward an agenda for transformation.

This public event at the University of Vermont is an opportunity for the UVM and Vermont community to hear from and engage with dozens of international scholars, activists, organizers and partners from Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, North America, Europe, and other regions of the world. Together, we will explore agroecology as a transformative solution to regenerate the environment, cool the planet and provide good, healthy food for all. 

The event will be anchored by three interactive panels with participants bringing a diversity of perspectives, including:  

• Anna Lappe (USA) Executive Director of Global Alliance for the Future of Food, USA. 
• Mamadou Goïta (Mali) from the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food).
• Georgina Catacora-Vargas (Bolivia) from the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology - SOCLA. 
• Michel Pimbert (UK) Director of the Center for Agroecology, Water and Resilience. 
• Helda Morales (Mexico) Professor at El Colegio de la Frontera Sur (ECOSUR). 
• Maywa Montengro de Wit (USA) Assistant Professor at the University of Santa Cruz. 
• Blain Snipstal (USA) from Earth-Bound Building and the Black Dirt Farm Collective. 
• Laura Reily, Business of Food Reporter for the Washington Post. 

We will end the day with a reception in the Davis Center at UVM to celebrate the launch of the Institute for Agroecology with the UVM community and with some of our closest international collaborators. Join us and raise a glass to this exciting new initiative at UVM. 

Additional Related Events Around the Summit: 

Connecting UVM Students to the Global Agroecology Movement  

We will bring our international agroecologists into classrooms around their visit and will organize an open event geared towards students and providing a unique opportunity for UVM students to meet and learn from this global community. 

Strengthening UVM’s Global Agroecology Networks 

Following the public event, the Institute for Agroecology will hold an intimate 3-day strategic planning and partnership development meeting with the strategic global partners that are joining us in Vermont from around the world. We will deliberate on how to advance agroecology globally and will develop concrete initiatives for collaboration. These discussions will strengthen this global knowledge network for transformative agroecology and will allow us to work together to together to amplify stories, shift narratives, conduct cutting-edge research and to educate the next generation of leaders in agroecology.   

This initiative is supported by a $1M grant from the 11th Hour Project to build “Knowledge Network for Agroecology Transformations.” Further support has been provided by a range of foundations, supporters and UVM departments and units. Contact Colin Anderson if you are interested in sponsoring this event.