La Plata Hosts The 5th Latin American Congress of Agroecology

October 13, 2015 by Pablo Arístide

Between October 7th and 9th the 5th Latin American Congress of Agroecology was held in the city of La Plata, organized by the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (Spanish acronym: SOCLA).    The event took place in the Faculty of Agrarian and Forest Sciences (FCAyF) of the National University of La Plata (UNLP), that cancelled all academic activities during the three days to allow Congress to be held.

Among the more than 1700 persons in attendance were students, researchers and farmers coming from universities and social movements throughout the region.  During the two days before the Congress the 1st Meet-Up of Latin American Youth for Agro-ecology was held, organized by students and young professionals.  The activity included debate workshops, and panels made up of researchers dealing with the theme, coming from Argentina, Cuba Venezuela and Andalusia (Spain) as well as Colombian and Argentine farmer and student organizations.  Nora Contiña from the Mothers of Plaza de Mayo – Founding Line – participated in a panel en which she praised the work of the young people.

In contrast with other scientific meetings, this important congress counted with the support and active participation of various social movements and organizations: La Via Campesina (LVC), the Latin American Coordinator of Farm Organizations (CLOC), the Agroecological Movement of Latin America and the Caribbean (MAELA), the Action Network on Pesticides and their Alternatives for Latin America (RAP-AL), the Movement of Landless Rural Workers (MS, Brazil), the Movement of Small Producers of La Plata, and Cambium, the student group of FCAyF-UNLP.

During the three days of meetings one could observe six central lectures, 19 round tables with more than 60 panelists, 18 workshops, more than 600 scientific and agroecological experiences, and a fair of agroecological products and cultural activities.

The opening session was addressed by Santiago Sarandon, Professor of agroecology at the FCAyF and president of the local Organizing Commission; Clara Nicholls, president of SOCLA and Daniel Scatturice, dean of the FCAyF, UNLP.

“We are at a crucial moment to discuss again a model of agriculture that no longer works, that has clear symptoms and enormous consequences of social and environmental attrition”, said Sarandon.  In this vein he stated that Agroecology in the Universities deals with a paradigm that invites us to redefine that extension, the teaching and the research in such a way that this Congress gives the opportunity to deepen the discussions about the structures of formation as well as about production and reproduction of knowledge.  For Nicholls climate change and inequalities are a clear signal that the model of development is not sustainable.  “It is necessary to think in terms of connectivity and of relationships, with a critical and systematic mode of thought”, she explained.

She further clarified that that the focus of agroecology goes beyond technical solutions, ant that it includes a social and political focus and that therefore SOCLA has tended to encourage a dialogue between the academic world and the social movements around the transformation of the dominant system of food production and the construction of Food Sovereignty.

Finally, dean Scatturice declared that this event should be a regional and world  “lighthouse” in the context of global crisis.  “We face the challenge of constructing within the University the exchange of forms of knowledge through dialogue about many areas, including ancestral forms of knowledge and the knowledge of the producers, which is as important as the knowledge of the scientists”, he stressed.

During the course of the Congress, the themes that were addresses responded to this integrated vision of agro-ecology.  Representatives from social movements were present at all of the round tables debating together with scientists and technicians expressing a central characteristic of the event and of the agro ecological focus.

Some of the central points addressed in the round tables were: Education, seeds, agrotoxins, agroecological territories, another economy, climate change, social movements and food sovereignty, transition towards agroecology, institutional innovation, ecological control of pests, transgenics, struggle for land, extension, research challenges, among others.

The central discussions also laid out the principal outlines for reflection and action for Agroecology in the regions, as put forward both by social movements as well as by the academic sector.  In the range of this presentation there was a coming together of scientific knowledge with the popular know-how of farmers and indigenous peoples ranging over multiple technical, cultural, economic and political dimensions.  Miguel Alteri, researcher and honorary president of SOCLA affirmed “Agroecology provides the technical an scientific bases, incorporating traditional forms of know-how, in order to create sovereignty in agroecological territories”.  Peter Rosset, researcher of ECOSUR, Mexico and advisor of La Via Campesina expressed that “Agroecology challenges that structures of power and is not just one additional technique in the toolbox of the industrial agriculture”.  Along the same lines, Adalbert Martins (MST, Brazil) expressed his support for the contributions of Agroecology in pushing back against agro-business and the advance of capital.

In similar fashion discussion was prompted about gender, feminisms and agroecology that was present during the whole session, in round tables, workshops and lectures.  “The rural women are certain that in order to advance one must work from a feminist perspective, in the construction of a campesino and popular feminism (not patriarchal or capitalist)”, as the representative of FAO and member of the Women’s Alliance for Agroecology (AMA) said.

The presentations and debates were collected and recorded by a large team of students and uploaded to the SOCLA internet page so as to further expand the diffusion of, and debate about ideas presented at the Congress.  A summary of all of the lectures and round tables can be accessed there.  The next congress will take place in 2017 in Brasilia.

Spanish version

Summary of the Congress’ debates (in Spanish)