What’s Up With Agroecology Now!? 2019/05 Update


See below for some highlights of the latest ideas and updates. Feel free to pass some or all of this on to your networks or to copy/adapt parts for use in newsletters, etc. 

We’re Hiring – Associate Professor in Political Ecology and People’s Knowledge

The Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience is recruiting a candidate to join a dynamic, transdisciplinary team engaged in research that contributes to the development of socially just and resilient food and water systems.  Click here: https://tinyurl.com/y4bgmhjg

Strengthening FAO’s Commitment to Agroecology – New Free to Download Booklet

Agroecology represents an alternative paradigm for food and farming – one that puts people and planet at centre stage and emphasises the priorities of food producers and marginalized peoples around the world. This new booklet provides strategic advice to civil society groups for influencing global policy-making on food to support agroecology while avoiding co-optation. Available at: https://tinyurl.com/y38ckt6r

Making Excluded Voices Count in Food and Agricultural Policy Making

This newly-launched website showcases years of work aimed at developing thinking and practice of farmer participation in agri-food policy making. From citizens juries to short documentaries made by the farmers themselves, excluded voices offers a rich repository of perspectives rarely heard in agricultural research contexts. This website provides an invaluable set of resources for anyone engaged in the struggle to democratise agricultural research and policy making. Check out the web site and videos here: www.excludedvoices.org

United States Food Sovereignty Stories Films: First Film released in New Series

The USFSA launched a new series of videos called #FoodSovereigntyStories. Each month, USFSA will release videos that share the unique meanings that #foodsovereignty takes in different communities in the USA and the principles that bind them together.  The first video features USFSA member organization Community to Community Development (C2C) – a grassroots organization fighting for food justice and migrant justice in Bellingham, Washington.  Click here: https://tinyurl.com/yyk9y9va

Agroecology Visions from Social Movements: Video Now Available in 3 Languages

This film (short and long versions available), along with an accompanying publication are now available in three languages (Spanish, French, English). These resources can be used to raise awareness about the meaning and importance of agroecology within your communities, organizations, with policy-makers, in classrooms, social movements, etc. Feel free to use them freely and to share them with your networks. Click here: http://tinyurl.com/y53ndws9

Agroecology and Food Sovereignty: Multimedia Outcomes Now available Online at AgroecologyNow.com

Several multimedia publications/resources on agroecology and food sovereignty are now available for download including: an overview of community supported agriculture across Europe; an animation on agroecology and climate change; a documentaryproject on Millets in Africa; and a report by the Landworkers’ Alliance on agroecology, scale and farm productivity. Created through a collaboration with civil society organisations and researchers in Europe, these resources can be shared with your communities, networks, organizations, with policy-makers, in classrooms, social movements, etc. Click here: http://tinyurl.com/y35a98fv

Masters Program in Agroecology, Water and Food Sovereignty

The Centre for Agroecology, Water and Resilience is preparing for the second intake of students to the MSc in Agroecology, Water and Food Sovereignty in September 2019 – recruitment is now open! The MSc follows the thematic pillars of our Centre’s research and is a multi- and transdisciplinary course that introduces students to different approaches to fostering equitable and sustainable food and water systems. More information available at: https://bit.ly/2Ufpxdw

Topical Issues for the Transition to Agroecology – Seminar with Robert Biel

Over millennia, farming was closely integrated in a good way with planetary regulation.  Agroecology could help us recapture this, but where do we find a convincing model? Can we demonstrate ability to feed the planet? Productivity of land or productivity of labour? Large or small scale? Against this background, the presentation raises some practical issues for further debate. Watch the video recorded for our YouTube channel at:

.

Making Sense of Agroecology Transitions-Transformations – New Video

What is needed to make the transition transformation for more sustainable and just food systems? Last month the AN! Team presented their forthcoming framework on Agroecology Transitions-transformations as part of the CAWR Seminar Series. This material is being developed into a book that will be published in the coming year. The recorded talk is available at: https://wp.me/p67WNH-lV

Collective and/or community rights to land, seeds and natural resources for agroecology in East Africa

Secure access to and control over land, seeds and natural resources is key to agroecology. Collaboratively organised by CAWR and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), this two and half day workshop was part of a larger project called ‘How to govern natural resources for food sovereignty?’ 25 participants from Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania and Ethiopia were carefully selected to ensure balance of gender, constituency, and region. They identified research gaps and shared activities they could undertake to better document, protect and promote collective and community rights to land and natural resources. For more details see our blog (https://tinyurl.com/y5wtqe7x) or contact: priscilla.claeys@coventry.ac.uk or stefanie.lemke@coventry.ac.uk.

 

AgroecologyNow! Publications

Bruil, J., Anderson, C.R., Bernhart, A. and M.P. Pimbert. 2019. Strengthening FAO’s Commitment to Agroecology. Reclaiming Diversity and Citizenship Series. Coventry: Coventry University. Available at: http://www.agroecologynow.com/briefs-and-booklets/faoagroecologybrief/

Claeys, P. .2019. The Rise of New Rights for Peasants. From reliance on NGO intermediaries to direct representation. Transnational Legal Theory, published online 9 January 2019. Available at: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/20414005.2018.1563444

Pimbert, M. P. 2019. Agroecology threatens the existence of a toxic pesticide industry. http://www.pan-uk.org/agroecology-threatens-the-existence-of-a-toxic-pesticide-industry/

Yap, C. 2019. Self-Organisation in Urban Community Gardens: Autogestion, Motivations, and the Role of Communication. Sustainability, 11, 2659. Available at: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/11/9/2659/xml

 

Highlighted Publications, Events and Resources From our Networks

Certificate of Graduate Study in Agroecology’ (Residential/online hybrid course) at the University of Vermont – https://learn.uvm.edu/program/certificate-of-graduate-study-in-agroecology/

Wilson, J. 2019. Agroecology is more than science, practice and movement http://www.cultivatecollective.org/in-perspective/agroecology-is-more-than-science-practice-and-movement/

The Nyéléni Europe and Central Asia (Nyéléni ECA). 2019.  More Farmers Better Food https://www.eurovia.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/Nyeleni-Europe-More-farmers-better-food.pdf

CLARA. 2019. Missing Pathways to 1.5°C: The Role of the Land Sector in Ambitious Climate Action https://www.climatelandambitionrightsalliance.org/report

Agroecology Research-Action Collective (ARC). 2019. The Need for a Food and Agriculture Platform in the Green New Deal https://agroecologyresearchaction.org/green-new-deal/

Maughan, C. 2019. ‘Field Dispatches: “Losing the plot” or participatory data collection’ http://www.peoplesknowledge.org/tyt-field-dispatches-losing-the-plot-participatory-data-collection/

Ferguson, R. 2019. Why We Can’t Separate Justice and Sustainability in the Food System. Union of Concerned Scientists. https://blog.ucsusa.org/rafter-ferguson/why-we-cant-separate-justice-and-sustainability-in-the-food-system