ABSTRACT
This article offers a panoramic view of the agroecological movement, led by several peasant and indigenous organizations around the world, and by different kinds of allies. The agroecological movement is defined as a diverse, decentralized coalition of movements, organizations and collectives, widely dispersed in urban and rural spaces, focused on contesting the hegemony of the agrifood system while taking action to radically transform it. We offer a classification that attempts to show the size of the movement and the characteristics of the diversity of experiences that exist in the world today.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
2 Organizations with which research has been conducted include: the National Association of Small Farmers of Cuba (ANAP) (Rosset et al. Citation2011; Bernal et al. Citation2023; Val Citation2021; Citation2023), the National Peasant Union (UNAC) in Mozambique (Val Citation2021), the Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha (KRRS) in India (Khadse et al. Citation2018), the Federation of Agrarian Reform Cooperatives (FECORACEN) in El Salvador (Murguia Gonzalez et al. Citation2020), the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil (Fernandes et al. Citation2021; Borsatto and Souza-Esquerdo Citation2019), the Association of Rural Workers (ATC) in Nicaragua (McCune et al. Citation2017), the Rural Association of Independent and Democratic Collective Interest (ARIC) in Mexico (Miranda Citation2019), and Boricuá in Puerto Rico (McCune et al. Citation2019). We also documented Campesino a Campesino processes in the LVC framework at the international level (Val et al. Citation2019), mathematically modelled their impact compared to classical extensionism (Bernal et al. Citation2023), analyzed agroecological training schools in Latin America (Rosset et al. Citation2019) and conducted an overall analysis of lessons learned from these experiences (Giraldo and Rosset Citation2018; Citation2022). We have also systematize other non-LVC experiences: in Mexico, the Vicente Guerrero Group and the Network in Defence of Maize (García and Giraldo Citation2019, Citation2021), the Ecological Coffee of the Sierra Madre of Chiapas (Guzmán et al. Citation2019; Santiago-Vera et al. Citation2021), the school of ecological agriculture U Yits Ka ań in Yucatán (Val et al. Citation2019), the OCEZ-CNPA (Aiterwegmair et al. Citation2021); in Colombia, the case of the Native and Creole Seeds Network (García et al. Citation2019) and the Valley Agroecological Markets Network (Franco et al. Citation2022); in Venezuela, the La Alianza cooperative (Domené-Painenao et al. Citation2020); in Guatemala, that of the Maya-Achi territory of Baja Verapaz (Einbinder et al. Citation2019; Citation2020; Citation2022) and in Brazil the Zona da Mata (Freitas Citation2021).
3 Although there is no published systematization, we know from our own participation in different spaces the efforts of this coalition of peoples in agroecology. See: https://www.congresonacionalindigena.org/
4 A study in the Amazon rainforest found that 84 percent of Amazonian tree plants are useful to local populations (Coelho et al. Citation2021), while Ford and Nigh (Citation2016) report that the Mesoamerican milpa rainforest provides 90 percent of usable vegetation for Mayan people.
Rosset, P. M., B. Machín Sosa, A. M. Roque Jaime, and D. R. Ávila Lozano. 2011. “The Campesino-to-Campesino Agroecology Movement of ANAP in Cuba: Social Process Methodology in the Construction of Sustainable Peasant Agriculture and Food Sovereignty.” Journal of Peasant Studies 38 (1): 161–191. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2010.538584 Bernal, D., O. F. Giraldo, P. M. Rosset, O. Lopez-Corona, and J. Perez-Cassarino. 2023. “Campesino a Campesino (Peasant to Peasant) Processes Versus Conventional Extension: A Comparative Model to Examine Agroecological Scaling.” Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 1–28. Val, V. 2021. “Campesina(o) a Campesina(a) un dispositivo para la masificación de la agroecología en La Vía Campesina. Aprendizajes desde Cuba y Mozambique.” PhD Thesis , ECOSUR. Val, V. 2023. “To Do, to Know, and to Be. A Firsthand Account of Cuban Agroecology.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 50 (3): 809–819. Val, V. 2021. “Campesina(o) a Campesina(a) un dispositivo para la masificación de la agroecología en La Vía Campesina. Aprendizajes desde Cuba y Mozambique.” PhD Thesis , ECOSUR. Khadse, A., P. M. Rosset, H. Morales, and B. G. Ferguson. 2018. “Taking Agroecology to Scale: The Zero Budget Natural Farming Peasant Movement in Karnataka, India.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 45 (1): 192–219. https://doi.org/10.1080/03066150.2016.1276450 Murguia Gonzalez, Adriana, Omar Felipe Giraldo, Mateo Mier Y Terán-Giménez Cacho, and Luis Rodríguez Castillo. 2020. “Policy Pitfalls and the Attempt to Institutionalize Agroecology in El Salvador 2008–2018.” Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 44 (8): 1033–1051. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2020.1725216 Fernandes, I. F., L. P. Barbosa, C. dos Santos Damasceno, and P. M. Rosset. 2021. “Inventário de Práticas Agroecológicas na Metodologia “de Camponês/a a Camponês/a” no Ceará: um instrumento para descolonizar o território e (re)valorizar o conhecimento camponês.” Desenvolvimento e Meio Ambiente 58. https://doi.org/10.5380/dma.v58i0.77777 Borsatto, R. S., and V. F. Souza-Esquerdo. 2019. “MST’s Experience in Leveraging Agroecology in Rural Settlements: Lessons, Achievements, and Challenges.” Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 43 (7-8): 915–935. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2019.1615024 McCune, N., P. M. Rosset, T. Cruz Salazar, H. Morales, and A. Saldívar Moreno. 2017. “The Long Road: Rural Youth, Farming and Agroecological Formación in Central America.” Mind, Culture, and Activity 24 (3): 183–198. https://doi.org/10.1080/10749039.2017.1293690 Miranda, M. 2019. “De Tseltal a Tseltal Una experiencia de aprendizaje agroecológico en LasCañadas de Ocosingo.” Master’s thesis, San Cristóbal de Las Casas: El Colegio de la Frontera Sur. McCune, N., I. Perfecto, K. Avilés-Vázquez, J. Vázquez-Negrón, and J. Vandermeer. 2019. “Peasant Balances and Agroecological Scaling in Puerto Rican Coffee Farming.” Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 43 (7-8): 810–826. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2019.1608348 Val, V., P. M. Rosset, C. Zamora Lomelí, O. F. Giraldo, and D. Rocheleau. 2019. “Agroecology and La Via Campesina I. The Symbolic and Material Construction of Agroecology Through the Dispositive of “Peasant-to-Peasant” Processes.” Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 43 (7-8): 872–894. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2019.1600099 Bernal, D., O. F. Giraldo, P. M. Rosset, O. Lopez-Corona, and J. Perez-Cassarino. 2023. “Campesino a Campesino (Peasant to Peasant) Processes Versus Conventional Extension: A Comparative Model to Examine Agroecological Scaling.” Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 1–28. Rosset, P., V. Val, L. Pinheiro, and N. McCune. 2019. “Agroecology and La Via Campesina II. Peasant Agroecology Schools and the Formation of a Sociohistorical and Political Subject.” Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 43 (7-8): 895–914. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2019.1617222. Giraldo, O. F., and P. M. Rosset. 2018. “Agroecology as a Territory in Dispute: Between Institutionality and Social Movements.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 45 (3): 545–564. Giraldo, O. F., and P. M. Rosset. 2022. “Emancipatory Agroecologies: Social and Political Principles.” The Journal of Peasant Studies 50 (3): 820–850. García López, V., Giraldo O. F., Morales H., Rosset P. M., and Duarte J. M. 2019. “Seed sovereignty and Agroecological Scaling: Two Cases of Seed Recovery, Conservation, and Defense in Colombia.” Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 43 (7-8): 827–847. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2019.1578720. García López, V., and O. F. Giraldo. 2021. “Redes y estrategias para la defensa del maíz en México.” Revista mexicana de sociología 83 (2): 297–329. Guzmán, A., B. G. Ferguson, B. Schmook, O. F. Giraldo, and E. M. Aldasoro Maya. 2019. “Territorial Resilience the Third Dimension of Agroecological Scaling: Approximations from Three Peasant Experiences in the South of Mexico.” Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 43 (7-8): 764–784. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2019.1622619 Santiago-Vera, T., P. M. Rosset, A. Saldivar, B. G. Ferguson, and V. E. Méndez. 2021. “Re–conceptualizing and Decolonizing Resilience from a Peasant Perspective.” Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 45 (10): 1422–1440. Val, V., P. M. Rosset, C. Zamora Lomelí, O. F. Giraldo, and D. Rocheleau. 2019. “Agroecology and La Via Campesina I. The Symbolic and Material Construction of Agroecology Through the Dispositive of “Peasant-to-Peasant” Processes.” Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 43 (7-8): 872–894. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2019.1600099 Aiterwegmair, K., M. Mier y Terán, F. Limón Aguirre, U. Vilsmaier, J. Merçon, J. F. López Hernández, and R. Martínez. 2021. “Recreando agri-cultura: conocimientos agroecológicos e identidades campesinas en un proceso de educación-investigación-acción en Chiapas, México.” Revista Brasileira de Educação do Campo 6: e11925–e11925. https://doi.org/10.20873/uft.rbec.e11925. García López, V., Giraldo O. F., Morales H., Rosset P. M., and Duarte J. M. 2019. “Seed sovereignty and Agroecological Scaling: Two Cases of Seed Recovery, Conservation, and Defense in Colombia.” Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 43 (7-8): 827–847. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2019.1578720. Franco, E. N., C. B. Z. Lomelí, M. Mier, T. G. Cacho, H. Morales, and J. P. Cassarino. 2022. “Mercados agroecológicos: Procesos sociales multidimensionales y experiencias en Colombia, año 2019.” Revista de El Colegio de San Luis 12 (23): 1–40. https://doi.org/10.21696/rcsl122320221400 Domené-Painenao, O., M. Mier y Terán, F. Limón-Aguirre, P. M. Rosset, and M. Contreras-Natera. 2020. “Construcción territorial de agroecologías situadas: El Maestro Pueblo en Sanare, estado Lara-Venezuela.” Estudios sociales. Revista de alimentación contemporánea y desarrollo regional 30 (56): 2–23. Einbinder, N., H. Morales, M. Mier y Terán-Giménez Cacho, M. Aldasoro, B. G. Ferguson, and R. Nigh. 2019. “Agroecology on the Periphery: A Case from the Maya-Achí Territory, Guatemala.” Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems 43 (7-8): 744–763. https://doi.org/10.1080/21683565.2019.1585401 Einbinder, N., and H. Morales. 2020. “Development from Within: Agroecology and the Quest for Utziil K'asleem in the Maya-Achí Territory of Guatemala.” Journal of Latin American Geography 19 (3): 133–158. https://doi.org/10.1353/lag.2020.0074 Einbinder, N., H. Morales, M. Mier y Terán Giménez Cacho, B. G. Ferguson, M. Aldasoro, and R. Nigh. 2022. “Agroecology from the Ground up: A Critical Analysis of Sustainable Soil Management in the Highlands of Guatemala.” Agriculture and Human Values 39: 979–996. Freitas, G. 2021. Movimiento Agroecológico de Zona da Mata de Minas Gerais/Brasil: tejiendo un manto de Agroecología y Buen Vivir. https://bit.ly/44yKq3A. Coelho, S. D., C. Levis, F. B. Baccaro, F. O. Figueiredo, A. Pinassi Antunes, H. Ter Steege, Marielos Peña-Claros, Charles R. Clement, and J. Schietti. 2021. “Eighty-four Per Cent of All Amazonian Arboreal Plant Individuals are Useful to Humans.” PLoS One 16 (10): e0257875. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0257875. Ford, A., and R. Nigh. 2016. The Maya Forest Garden: Eight Millennia of Sustainable Cultivation of the Tropical Woodlands. New York: Routledge. Additional information
Notes on contributors
Omar Felipe Giraldo
Omar Felipe Giraldo holds a PhD in Agricultural Sciences from the Department of Rural Sociology of the Universidad Autónoma de Chapingo. He is currently a professor at the Merida Unit of the National School of Advanced Studies (ENES) of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He received in 2021 the Research Award in Social Sciences from the Mexican Academy of Sciences. He is the author of the books Retorno al Humus, Multitudes Agroecológicas, Environmental Affectivity, Political Ecology of Agriculture and Utopías en la era de la supervivencia.
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6977-8246
![Sample our Global Development journals, sign in here to start your access, latest two full volumes FREE to you for 14 days]({"type":"image" , "src" : "/sda/5929/TOC-Subject-Sample-2021-Global-Development.jpg"})