Reflections on Cop 25

By Roz Corbett, Landworkers Alliance

In many ways, COP is bad in that it’s failing to achieve the measures that are so desperately needed to avert the climate crisis and achieve climate justice.  But, COP is an opportunity for us in the UK to push our politicians to take stronger action on climate change. ‘People Make Glasgow’ is the official slogan adopted by Glasgow City Council in 2013 – I don’t think it was meant to refer explicitly to the slave trade that helped to build the city but the council openly acknowledge this history, and COP26 is an opportunity to highlight the impacts of historical and current colonialism. 

Building Resilience to Natural Disasters in Populated African Mountain Ecosystems

By Georgina McAllister, Agroecology Now!

As part of CAWR’s Stabilisation Agriculture Programme, I recently visited Chimanimani district in Zimbabwe to initiate comparative research on how conventional and agroecologically managed landscapes coped with the impacts of Cyclone Idai in March 2019. Idai deposited the total annual rainfall in the first twelve hours alone – yet sat over and devastated Chimanimani for three days.

Shifting from Industrial Agriculture to Diversified Agroecological Systems in China

By Zhenzhong Si, Agroecology Now!

Ecological agriculture – food production following the ecological principles with reduced or no use of chemicals – is being increasingly adopted by an emerging group of agricultural entrepreneurs. Driven by consumer interest in safe and healthy food, various ecological food initiatives such as organic and “green” food companies, farmers’ cooperatives, community supported agriculture, and ecological farmers’ markets have been taking root in China in the past decade.

West’s ‘Dust Bowl’ Future now ‘Locked In’, as World Risks Imminent Food Crisis

By Nafeez Ahmed, Insurge Intelligence

Research sponsored by global credit ratings agency Moody’s concludes that by the end of century, parts of the US and Europe are now bound to experience severe reductions in rainfall equivalent to the American ‘dust bowl’ of the 1930s, which devastated Midwest farming for a decade. These consequences are now ‘locked in’ as a consequence of carbon emissions which we have already accumulated into the atmosphere.

A Living Countryside: The Land Politics Behind the Dutch Agroecology Movement

By Jeannette Oppedijk van Veen, Leonardo van den Berg, Sijtse Jan Roeters, Jolke de Moel, Hanny van Geel, Transnational Institute

Against the backdrop of an agrarian landscape that has become more homogenous, sterile and empty over the past 50 years, a new movement of Dutch farmers and citizens is emerging. They want to support a type of agriculture that does not damage the environment, enriches the life of farmers and citizens, and produces healthy food.

Farm Hack Shows Us Everything that is Wrong with UK Agricultural Training and Research

By Agroecology Now Staff, Agroecology Now!

Farm Hack is a response to a need – not only for access to often fundamental agricultural knowledge, but also for a different way of organising, relating, and owning in UK farming systems. It is almost entirely in opposition to the agricultural research and educational mainstream, which is predicated on large-scale technologies, top down knowledge transmission, and intellectual property regimes.

These Extraordinary Times: Indigenous Peoples and Coalition Building for Agroecology and Food Sovereignty

By Carol Kalafatic, Agroecology Now!

In this post I aim to elaborate my belief that, to build or spread food sovereignty, there is an increased need for diverse Peoples, communities and social movements to strengthen relationships and coalitions with one another. Our exchange of knowledges, strategies and practices will keep producing tangible results, and on the less tangible but equally important side, our solidarity will reinforce our resilience in the face of increasing unpredictability.

Solve These Climate Change Report Mysteries

By Steven McFadden, Mother Earth News

“A great challenge of today,” the late Norwegian philosopher Arne Naess wrote, “is to save the planet from further devastation that violates both the enlightened self-interest of humans and non-humans, and decreases the potential of joyful existence for all.”

Agroecology as a Pathway Towards Food Sovereignty in Ethiopian Forest Communities

By Million Belay, Agroecology Now!

I think that agroecology can be the solution to many woes of forest communities in the southwestern part of Ethiopia for the reasons mentioned above and more.

Agriculture 3.0 or (Smart) Agroecology?

By Francesco Ajena, P2P Foundation Blog

During the upcoming CAP negotiations, the future of 38 per cent of the European budget will be decided. Public money must be spent for public goods. It is not a matter of what kind of technology we want to support for our agriculture; it is a matter of who will benefit from his technology, farmers or private companies.

Sleepwalking into Certain Catastrophe, or Awakening via Agroecology

By Steven McFadden, Resilience.org

In our era of challenge and tumultuous transition, agroecology is a leading idea: a stabilizing set of principles and practices for clean, just, and sustainable farms and food.

Agroecology as Innovation

By Timothy A. Wise, Food Tank

On July 3, the High Level Panel of Experts of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) released its much-anticipated report on agroecology in Rome. The report signals the continuing shift in emphasis in the UN agency’s approach to agricultural development.