Miguel Altieri talks about the problems of the dominant, industrial-chemical agricultural system and the importance of small scale, agroecological farming as an alternative to meet the needs of food security and protect the environment.

Olivier explains the principles of agroecology and why it is so important for transitioning away from fossil fuel technologies which dominate the industrial food system at present. In practice small scale, locally independent models are best for implementing it. However, if governments support the adoption and spread of agroecological principles it can be scaled up to meet the needs of food security around the world.

Voices from over 80 farmers and fisherfolks from US, Brazil, Ecuador, Venezuela and Haiti about what food sovereignty means to them and how they are pursuing it or obstacles they face when pursuing it.  

This article analyzes the impact of agro-industrial policies on women and the key role that peasant women in the Global North and South play in the production and distribution of food. It analyzes how the dominant agricultural model can incorporate a feminist perspective and how the social movements that work towards food sovereignty can incorporate a feminist perspective.

The collaborative or ‘co-management’ of natural resources – whether between states and local communities or amongst and within communities themselves – is a process of collective understanding and actions by local communities and other social actors. The process brings about negotiated agreements on management roles, rights and responsibilities, making explicit the conditions and institutions of sound decentralized governance. At heart, co-management is about sharing power.

Esta segunda edición incorpora nuevas percepciones y conceptos con la esperanza de ayudar a guiar a estudiantes de agricultura, investigadores y agricultores hacia una comprensión más profunda de la ecología de los sistemas agrícolas, lo cual abri-rá las puertas a nuevas opciones en el manejo, mas de acuerdo con los objetivos de una agricultura verdaderamente sustentable.

From the 1st encounter of the agroecology trainers in the African region. 47 people from 22 organizations in 18 countries (Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, Angola, Uganda, Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, South Africa, Central African Republic, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Portugal, USA, France, and Germany). They met at the Shashe Endogenous Development Training Centre in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe to plan how to promote agroecology in Southern, Eastern & Central Africa.

This paper was produced by the Agriculture and Natural Resources Team of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) in collaboration with Jules Pretty of the Department of Biological Sciences, University of Essex, UK.

After 30 years of side-by-side research in our Farming Systems Trial (FST), in this publication the Rodale Institute has dimonstrated that organic farming is better equipped to feed us well into ever changing future.