Engaging the tensions of ecological internships: Considerations for agroecology and sustainable food systems movements
Charles Z. Levkoe
Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Food Systems, Department of Health Sciences, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada
ABSTRACT
This paper examines ecological farm internships and the implications for agroecology and food systems’ sustainability.
Drawing on over 60 interviews with farmers and interns in Ontario, Canada, I show that internships offer hands-on learning opportunities to prospective farmers and food systems advocates unavailable through formal institutions. At the same time, many farmers rely on interns as non-waged workers to meet seasonal and labor-intensive production needs. This creates a dynamic tension where internships can simultaneously be innovative models of experiential education and unjust forms of exploitative labor. Engaging these tensions remains a fundamental challenge for the future of agroecology and sustainable food systems movements.
KEYWORDS
Agroecology; education; internships; new farmers; non-wage labor
The “ Biodiversity– Ecosystem function debate” : An interdisciplinary dialogue between Ecology, Agricultural Science, and Agroecology
Dr. Valentin Daniel Picasso, PhD
Agronomy Dept., University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA
ABSTRACT
The “ biodiversity– ecosystem function debate” is considered one of the most heated recent scientific issues within the discipline of Ecology. However, it can be better understood as an interdisciplinary dialogue between Ecology, Agricultural Science, and Agroecology. In this article, I review the interplay of these disciplines on the conflict, the resolution, and the implications of this
debate. Agricultural Science and Agroecology challenged the relevance of nontransgressive overyielding and random assembly
experiments, provided statistical and empirical methods for reanalyzing the results, and developed important recommendations
for agroecosystems. This exemplifies how interdisciplinary approaches to science can contribute to improve research quality
and relevance.
KEYWORDS
Agroecology; Ecology; Agronomy; interdisciplinary science; intercropping
Food sovereignty and consumer sovereignty: Two antagonistic goals?
Cristian Timmermann a,b, Georges F. Félix c, and Pablo Tittonelld
aDepartment for Management of Science and Technology Development, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; bFaculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Ton Duc Thang University, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; cFarming Systems Ecology Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, The Netherlands; dNatural Resources and Environment Program, Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria, Bariloche, Argentina
ABSTRACT
The concept of food sovereignty is becoming an element of everyday parlance in development politics and food justice advocacy. Yet to successfully achieve food sovereignty, the demands within this movement have to be compatible with the way people are pursuing consumer sovereignty and vice versa. The aim of this article is to examine the different sets of demands that the two ideals of sovereignty bring about, analyze in how far these different demands can stand in constructive relations with each other, and explain why consumers have to adjust their food choices to seasonal production variability to promote food sovereignty and so secure future autonomy.
KEYWORDS
Food justice; global justice; right to food; sustainable agriculture; sustainable consumption
Commodity chains, institutions, and domestic policies of organic and fair trade coffee in Bolivia
Christopher Lucas Estevez, Mahadev G. Bhat, and David Barton Bray
Earth and Environment Department, Florida International University, Miami, Florida, USA
ABSTRACT
Fair trade and organic coffee are alternative production and trade systems designed to promote the equitable and environmentally sustainable production of coffee. The purpose of this study is to analyze the functioning of different coffee supply chains in Bolivia and find policy changes necessary to sustain specialty coffee production in that country. Based on the primary
and secondary data collected from various market functionaries, we find that the Bolivian coffee growers and other intermediaries
have benefited financially from participating in fair trade and organic markets. However, the producers continue to face challenges, including increasing costs of production, stagnant premium, price floors, and declining yield. Institutional reforms
within the supply chain and greater support from the government are necessary to ensure a better functioning Bolivian market. The government should also prioritize certified coffee as a part of its national food sovereignty agenda since Bolivians
consume increasing amounts of high-quality coffees.
KEYWORDS
Bolivia; commodity chain; fair trade coffee; farmers’ cooperatives; organic coffee
Dynamics of organic agriculture in Andalusia: Moving toward conventionalization?
María Ramos García , Gloria Isabel Guzmán, and Manuel González De Molina
Agro-ecosystems History Laboratory, Pablo de Olavide University, Sevilla, Spain
ABSTRACT
This article analyzes the evolution of organic production in Andalusia (Southern Spain) over the course of the past decade.
The analysis shows the important growth sustained by this sector supported above all by public funding. However, it is
developing within an institutional framework that is favorable to conventional agriculture, generating certain imbalances that
are pushing organic production toward conventionalization, and generating a strong dependence on public funding and the behavior of international markets. An institutional change is required, promoting a model of organic production that is far removed from the input substitution model, in order to ensure that organic production is more sustainable.
KEYWORDS
Agroecology; organic agriculture; sustainability; conventionalization; public policies
