Researchers connected to Cultivate! are hosting a talkshow about pathways towards effective policies for agroecology on August 31 during the two day conference ‘Towards Zero Hunger – Partnerships for Impact’ organised by Wageningen University, The Netherlands.

The conference brings together key actors to discuss their views and contributions for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The conference centres around SDG2: end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture and SDG17: create partnerships. See the full program and find out how to attend.

Talkshow August 31, 10.30 – 12u (CET) ‘Pathways towards agroecological policies’
Hosts: Leonardo van den Berg and Margriet Goris of Cultivate!

Follow this session through a livestream

Speakers:

• Hanny van Geel is a farmer and board member of the Dutch farmers’ association Toekomstboeren, the coordination committee of the European Coordination of La Via Campesina and the Dutch food sovereignty platform Voedsel Anders.
• Jan Douwe van der Ploeg is emeritus professor of rural sociology at the Wageningen University and board member of the Agroecology Europe Association. He has led various research projects on the peasantry and agrarian transformation in countries that include the Netherlands, Peru, Italy and China.
• Ana Carolina Rodrigues is conducting PhD research on peasant cooperatives in Brazil and Spain. Prior to her PhD she worked with the peasant movements in Brazil including the Brazilian Landless Workers Movement (MST).
• Diana Quiroz of Cultivate! holds a PhD in ethnobotany and is carrying out a project to map agroecology policies worldwide.

Background:
Many international organisations, including the FAO, IAASTD and IPES-Food, national governments, universities and other institutions agree that agroecology can significantly contribute to achieving many of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). One way to amplify agroecology and contribute to the SGDs, is through policies that foster agroecology.

Such policies are increasingly being adopted. In Brazil various policies were successfully implemented in the past decade, supporting agroecology by creating local markets, enhancing learning and innovation between farmers and with other actors and increasing access to land. The joint effort of local, regional and national organisations and social movements has been crucial in pushing for these policies, shaping them and ensuring that they are properly implemented. Agroecology policies have also been implemented in some European countries. In France the Agriculture, Agrifood and Forest law (LAAF, 2014) states that public policy has to promote agroecological production systems. The impact of this law however remains unclear, as is the involvement of farmer and civil society organisations. Other policies in Europe, including some that fall under Europes Common Agricultural Policy have been argued to hamper the development and spread of agroecology.

During this talkshow we will discuss how policies can best foster agroecology and achieving the SDGs. We focus not only on the content of these policies but also on the actors and processes that shape these policies and their implementation. We exchange views and experiences between the audience and with a selection of speakers working on agroecology in the domains of science, social movement and/or practice.

Further reading:

• Amplifying agroecology to achieve the SDGs: A political matter (by Paulo Petersen and Markus Arbenz)
• Agroecology and the Sustainable Development Goals (Groundswell International)
• FAO’s work on agroecology – a pathway to achieve the SDG (FAO)