Clara Ines Nicholls UC Berkeley

nicholls@berkeley.edu www.socla.co

Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology

• SOCLA is a regional organization that interacts with other societies and organizations that promote agroecology

• the main objective of SOCLA as scientifc society: is to promote reflection, discussion and scientific exchange of information on agroecology between researchers, professors, practiconers, extensionists and farmers in the region.

• The SOCLA congress held every two years has become a truly Latin American meeting where all groups (La Via Campesina, MAELA, RAPAL, IFOAM, etc) working towards a more just, resilient and sovereign agriculture meet to exchange ideas, and try to find ways to advance together recognizing differences and building on our diversity.

• Representatives from LVC and MST informed about their struggles against the agronegocio (industrial -corporate agriculture) and experiences on agroecology, and reminded participants of the political dimesnions of agroecology which cannot be ignored if the hegemonic food system is to be transformed.

Hundreds of papers, posters, seminars and keynote speeches explored new dimensions for research, education and scaling up of agroecology...some

thematic axes included

• Agroecology and social movements: alliances to scale up agroecology

• Agroecology and public policies

• The territorial dimensions of agroecology

• The relationship between restoration ecology and agroecology

• Agroecology and resiliency to climate change: from adaptation to transformation

• The role of gender in agrocology, etc

Agroecology: a robust path to feed a planet in

crisis

The ethics of the new agriculture

• The new paradigm to feed the world requires an agroecological approach and needs to incorporate a social perspective which takes into account fundamental rights of the poor (right to food)

• It requires access to land by small farmers as a key to reach food sovereignty

The agricultural challenge for the next decades

Increasing Food production is a necessary but not sufficient condition. These increases must occur using the same arable land base, with less petroleum, less water and nitrogen, within a scenario of climate change, social unrest and financial crisis.

This challenge cannot be met with the existing

industrial agricultural model and its biotechnological derivations

Features of an agriculture for the future

• De-coupled from fossil fuel dependence

• Agroecosystems of low environmental impact, nature friendly

• Resilient to climate change and other shocks

• Multifunctional (ecosystem, social, cultural and economic services)

• Foundation of local food systems

Low external inputs,

high recylcling rates,

crop –livestock

integration

High

Eficiency

High inputs, industrial

monocultures

Low

Low external inputs,

diversified with low

levels of integration

Medium-Low

Specialized systems with

low external inputs

Medium

Agroecosystem Diversity

Pro

ductivity

Alta

Baja

Baja

Alta

AGROECOLOGY

Ecology

Anthropology

Etnoecology

Sociology

Basic

agricultural

sciences

Ecological

economics

Biological Control

Traditional

Farmers’

knowledge

Principles

Specific technological

forms

Participatory

research in

farmers’ fields

• AGROECOLOGY goes beyond a one-dimensional view of agroecosystems and seeks to embrace and understand ecological and social interactions.

Losses of major agricultural inputs after the dissolution of the Soviet Union

PRINCIPAL TRANSFORMATION

OF CUBAN AGRICULTURE a

Transition of the Agricultural model

Conventional agriculture

(High use of external inputs:

fertilizers and pesticides )

Sutainable Agriculture

with agroecological

approaches

Strengths of Cuba to produce their own food

Political Will

Technical knoledge

Scientific Potential

Agroecological strategies

Animal

integration

Green

manures

Organic

amendments

Rotations

Polycultures

BEFORE

Reference: mamey

tree

AFTER Reference tree

Area (ha)

Energy (GJ/ha/año)

Proteín (kg/ha)/año

People fed by produced energy (Pers/ha/año)

People fed by produced protein

(Pers/ha/año)

10

50.6

867

11

34

Energy efficiency

30

Huracan Ike-Cuba, data from Sancti Spiritu farm cooperative

• Areas under industrial monoculture suffered more damage and exhibited less recovery than diversified farms.

• After the hurricane average loss in diversified farms was about 50% compared to 90-100% in monocultures

• Productive recovery was about 80 - 90% in DFS, and was noticeable 40 days after the hurricane

After the hurricane average loss in diversified farms was about 50% compared to 90-100% in monocultures in Sancti Spiritu, Cuba.

Productive recovery was about 80 - 90%,and was noticeable 40 days after the hurricane

More diverse farms

More diverse farms

Climate

Temperature

+ 2 a 3 oC

annual

evapotranspiratio

n

- 657 mm

Relative

Humidity+ 20 a

30%

Rueda et al 2009

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

J M

M J S

N J M

M

J S

N J M

M

J S

N J M

M

J S

N J M

M

J S

N

E

M

M J S

N

E

M

M J S

N

Precipitation Liters cow/day

System Resilience (2007-2013) Natural Reserve El Hatico

Niño Niña Niño

909 1016 433 952 823 Precipitation

/year 648

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

675

Indigenous women: The main keepers of seed biodiversity in

Chiloe island-Chile .

Participatory plant breeding/selection of traditional varieties

that are more relisiant to climate change in Chiloe island-

Chile .

Farmer friendly methodology to assess Resiliency

Workshop of the “Happy Farm”

1993 CET- YUMBEL, Chile

2007 CET- YUMBEL, Chile

0

50

100

150

200

250

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Ene Feb Mar Abr May Jun Jul Ago Sep Oct Nov Dic

PR

EC

IPIT

AT

ION

(m

m)

SO

IL C

OV

ER

(%

)

1993 2000 2007 2013 Precipitaciones (mm)

SOIL COVER CET- YUMBEL, Chile

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

14

1993 2007 2013

An

nu

al s

oil

loss

(t/

ha/

año

)

Evolution of soil loss

CET- YUMBEL, Chile

Unidad 1993 2000

2007 2013

Vertiente l/seg 6 6 6 6

Pozo profundo 1 l/seg 25 25 25

Pozo profundo 2 l/seg 45 45

Total disponible l/seg 6 31 76 76

Cosecha de agua en pozo cisterna m3 7 14 14

Cosecha de agua en minirepresa m3 170 170 170

Cosecha de agua en estanque m3 1 7 7

Total stored m3 178 191 191

Evolution of water availability CET- YUMBEL, Chile

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

1993 2000 2007 2013

Cro

p P

rod

uct

ion

(kg

) fruta

cerealeslegumbres

hortalizas

Total

Evolution of agricultural production

CET- COLINA, Chile

Feeding a family of five with a model agroecological ½ hectare farm

(production per year)

• Annual crop production from rotations 3,5 tons of grain, tubers

• Intensive garden around house: 1,2 t of vegetables

• 1 ton of fruits from trees in farm borders • 2500 eggs+ 3,200 liters of milk • 200% surplus production after family

consumption, sale generated US $1600 • Labor need reduced from 78 hours/week to 32 • Costs of production decreased 60% after 3 years

CET- COLINA, Chile

The Campesino a Campesino Movement in LA

• The Campesino a Campesino movement is an extensive grassroots movement in Central America and Mexico.

• It is a cultural phenomenon, a broad-based movement with campesinos as the main actors”

• Horizontal, social process methodology that builds peasant protagonism is the driving force.

• The Campesino a Campesino movement is an excellent example of how alternative technologies and practices can be disseminated bypassing "official channels".

Response of peasant movements to agressions by corporate interests, aided by neoliberal

economic policies

• Social movements of rural peoples, i.e., peasants, family farmers, indigenous people, rural women and the landless, are increasingly using agroecological diversification of their farming systems, as a tool in the transformation of contested rural spaces into peasant territories

PEASANT TERRITORIES

AGROECOLOGY

AGROECOLOGICAL TERRITORIES FOOD SOVEREIGNITY

ENERGY SOVEREIGNITY

TECHNOLOGICAL SOVEREIGNITY

RESILIENCE

Organized small farmers

Consumers

Food

Empires

By-pass

Autonomous territories,

local

markets

Scaling-up agroecology is possible but will require positive actions

• unlocking ideological barriers to its political recognition;

• supporting farmer-to-farmer networks;

• funding research and education at various levels

• providing an enabling public policy environment;

• taking specific actions for empowering women;

• making strategic alliances with social movements

Agroecology has already reached millions of farmers and millions of ha

(hectares) in Africa, Asia and the Americas.

Scaling it up will require long-term efforts, essentially needed for:

Myths about agroecology

• Myth 1: agroecology is opposed to science and innovation

• Myth 2: agroecology cannot be scaled up

• Myth 3: agroecology is subsistence oriented and incompatible with markets

• Myth 4: agroecology is low yielding and cannot feed the world

• Myth 5: agroecology is only for small scale poor famers

Thank you!!