Agroecology Takes Center Stage in the Global Agenda for Transforming Agriculture and Food Systems

Agroecology, with its roots in the traditional knowledge of food producing communities, has emerged as a set of practices based on principles that guide how to produce food sustainably, as well as how to manage the social relationships that govern food production, processing, exchange and waste management in a fair manner.

April 1, 2023 | Source: IATP | by Shiney Varghese

What is agroecology, and how can it provide solutions to crises that plague our food systems and create food democracies?

Introduction

Founded amid the family farm crisis of the mid-1980s, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP) has a 35-year history of working on solutions that benefit family farmers, rural communities and our planet. In pursuit of realizing IATP’s vision of agriculture, trade and food systems that are good for all people involved in food systems (especially farmers and food system workers), ecosystems and environmental justice globally, we pursue cutting-edge solutions through research and action in coalition with partner organizations.

We apply a systems approach to analyzing and addressing the vexing, interconnected problems of industrialized food systems, and that is where agroecology comes in. Agroecology, with its roots in the traditional knowledge of food producing communities, has emerged as a set of practices based on principles that guide how to produce food sustainably, as well as how to manage the social relationships that govern food production, processing, exchange and waste management in a fair manner.