The first newsletter from Agroecology Europe is now available, offering reports and video from last October’s European Agroecology Forum, which brought together more than 300 farmers, researchers, students, policy makers and representatives from social movements and civil society in Lyon, France.
Also included in the newsletter are details of the first in what will be a series of ‘Stories from the field’. These are interesting snapshots from farmers adopting agroecological approaches with the first two featuring a farm balancing livestock and crops in Belgium and an olive farm in Greece which uses, for example, targeted mass trapping for olive pests and the creation of semi-natural habitats to encourage the development of beneficial insects.
The newsletter also has details of the new board of Agroecology Europe, whose newly elected president is Paola Migliorini, Assistant Professor at the University of Gastronomic Science in Pollenzo, Italy.
The newsletter also provides Agroecology Europe with the opportunity to share its vision of agroecology, which it is in the process of developing. It reports: “We consider agroecology a science, a practice and a social movement, encompassing the whole food system from the soil to the organization of human societies. It is value-laden and based on core principles.
“As a science, it gives priority to action research, holistic and participatory approaches, and transdisciplinarity that is inclusive of different knowledge systems. As a practice, it is based on sustainable use of local renewable resources, local farmers’ knowledge and priorities, the wise use of biodiversity to provide ecosystem services and resilience, and solutions that provide multiple benefits (environmental, economic, social) from local to global.
“As a movement, it defends smallholders and family farming, farmers and rural communities, food sovereignty, local and short food supply chains, diversity of indigenous seeds and breeds, healthy and quality food. Agroecology acknowledges that the whole is more than the sum of its parts and hence fosters interactions between actors in science, practice and movements, by facilitating knowledge sharing and action.”
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