Broadening the Land Question in Food Sovereignty to Northern Settings: A Case Study of Occupy the Farm

Abstract

Land access is an accepted corollary to food sovereignty, long promoted by the transnational agrarian movement La Via Campesina (LVC). LVC's land access politics have evolved with increased incorporation of diverse perspectives, but remain largely focused on achieving ‘integral agrarian reform’ in the global South. Here, I take a case where food sovereignty activists (‘Occupy the Farm’ (OTF)) occupied land owned by a public university in California, the USA, in order to broaden food sovereignty's land access considerations beyond the South, and to analyze conditions where political actions (including occupations) can help achieve changes in land access regimes. The OTF action was successful in challenging cultural norms about property and achieving access, partly due to the occupation having foregrounded multiple appealing narratives that invited participation and wider support. These narratives included agroecology versus biotechnologies; community/public access versus privatization; participatory versus bureaucratic governance structure; and green space/food production versus urban development. The article tests the use of the ‘land sovereignty’ frame in expanding food sovereignty's land politics, to encompass land contestation contexts globally and deal with the particular conditions surrounding lands. The case indicates that land occupations in the North are potentially useful—but uncertain, and very context-dependent—tactics to promote land and food sovereignty.

Extracto – El acceso a la tierra es el corolario aceptado de la soberanía alimentaria, durante mucho tiempo patrocinado por el movimiento agrario transnacional La Vía Campesina (LVC). Las políticas de acceso a la tierra de la LVC han evolucionado a través de la creciente incorporación de diversas formas de opinión y perspectivas pero permaneces en su mayor parte enfocadas en el logro de una “reforma agraria integral” en el Sur global. Aquí, tomamos un caso en el que los activistas de la soberanía alimentaria (‘Occupy the Farm’ – Ocupemos la Finca (OTF))) ocuparon tierras propiedad de una universidad pública en California, Estados Unidos de América, con el propósito de ampliar las consideraciones de acceso a la tierra dentro de la soberanía alimentaria más allá del Sur y para analizar las condiciones en que las acciones políticas (incluyendo las ocupaciones) pueden ser útiles para lograr cambios en los regímenes de acceso a la tierra. La actuación de la OTF fue exitosa como desafío de las normas culturales referentes a la propiedad y alcance de acceso, debido, particularmente, a que la ocupación dio lugar a múltiples llamativas narrativas que invitaron mayor participación y más amplio respaldo. Estas crónicas incluyeron agroecología versus biotecnologías; acceso comunal/público versus privatización; estructura de gobernanza burocrática versus participativa; y espacios verdes/producción de alimentos versus desarrollos urbanos. El artículo prueba el uso del marco de “soberanía alimentaria” en la expansión de las políticas de tierra de la soberanía alimentaria, para incorporar globalmente los desafiantes contextos de tierra y tratar las condiciones particulares que rodean la tierra. El caso indica que la ocupación de tierras en el Norte son tácticas potencialmente útiles –pero inciertas y muy dependientes del contexto- para promover la soberanía alimentaria y de tierras.

Keywords:

• food sovereignty
• land sovereignty
• Occupy the Farm
• United States of America
• mobilization

Disclosure Statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1 This paper relies on qualitative interviews (conducted in 2012 and 2013) and personal communication with OTF's initial organizers and later participants. Quotes not attributed are taken from these interviews/communications.

2 State-backed titles can solidify—but do not guarantee—tenure security. Conversely, benefits of access can be achieved without legal title.

3 For the purposes of this article, I identify Borras and Franco's ‘working peoples’ as non-elite members of society: those who have less influence on politics and economics, as individuals and as classes, due to their positions in existing political and class structures.

4 This brings up the important and complex issues of race and class which play into the OTF case. Unfortunately, due to space constraints, these issues have been deferred from this article, but will form the focus of a forthcoming study by this author.

5 It has also been suggested that internal divisions among the coalition, particularly in regard to issues of race, precipitated UCB's hesitation. Neither ‘state’ (UCB) nor ‘society’ (BACUA) is monolithic, and tensions can exist within either.

6 This ongoing attention includes a feature-length documentary film on the occupation released in 2014.

7 Some OTF members also participated in the application of the occupy tactic to other social issues, as in the ‘Occupy Housing’ group that fought foreclosure evictions in low-income communities. This overlap also indicates how ‘land sovereignty’ may fit US subaltern struggles better than ‘agrarian reform’.

8 Certainly, coverage was not uniformly positive. Local blogs hosted very contentious debates, with some Albany residents disparaging the action. Remarks on the local ‘Albany Patch’ news blog indicated that OTF was seen by some residents as outsiders interloping into the local issue of the GT; furthermore, some residents expressed support for the GT's development. Yet, the validation of OTF's narratives by news reportage, vocal resident support at public meetings, presence on the farm, and in organizing against the development belies the idea that the occupation was unable to build or sustain local community support. What is clear is that Albany residents are not unified in their positions on the GT and its development, and real tensions continue between OTF and some Albany residents.

Additional information

Antonio Roman-Alcalá is a co-founder of the San Francisco Urban Agriculture Alliance, and received his MA in 2014 from the International Institute of Social Studies in The Hague. His work focuses on the intersections of global environmental politics and local deliberative democracy, with food and farming as vehicles for political–economic critique and praxis-based interventions. His interest in participatory action research and improving activist/academic collaboration is reflected in his article for this special issue.