A lot has happened since the first Agroecology Symposium took place in 2014.  The focus of international and local attention has clearly shifted from providing evidence on the validity of agroecological practices to enabling policies and legal frameworks. Thus, a perfect setting emerged for the launch of some refreshing publications that put policy reform at the heart of the debate.

The AgriCultures Network presented a collection of case “stories” and some pointed opinion pieces, drawing lessons for policy and practice from concrete experience on the ground. This special edition of Farming Matters is the result of a fruitful collaboration between the AgriCultures Network and IFOAM – Organics International. 

In the coming years the AgriCultures Network will continue to document and share groundbreaking experiences in the upscaling of agroecology, together with partners and allies. Having taken over the production of Farming Matters from ILEIA six months ago, the Network is now getting ready to produce it’s magazines in a renewed digital format. This makes it possible to share many more significant experiences, in a more targeted manner and with many more people. Right now we are still learning to use the new system; we are confident that in a few  months the digital platform will be a comfortable space for sharing.

We wish you an enjoyable reading experience!

Agroecology: a path towards the sustainable development goals 

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Here is an update from ILEIA. Earlier this year we informed you about the closing down of ILEIA on July 1st 2017, which became inevitable due to an unexpected shortfall of funds. During the past seven months we have been working hard to hand over the ILEIA legacy to our colleagues in the AgriCultures Network (AN) and to many others. This process is still ongoing but our office in Wageningen is closed now. We thought you might be interested in receiving an update. Please share this message with people in your networks whom we may not have reached yet.

A vibrant Network and a new Secretariat
The AgriCultures Network has seized this moment as an opportunity to create a new Secretariat in Dakar and move ILEIA’s legacy into new spaces. The new Secretariat, hosted by IED Afrique, supports the AN Management Team in streamlining the Network transition in cooperation with the former board chair and director of ILEIA. The Network is preparing a perspective plan for the coming three years and is seeking funding for it. It welcomes new members and associates to join the Network.

Magazines of the future
The AN will launch a new digital magazine platform in 2018. This platform will build on ILEIA’s global magazine Farming Matters and on the strong local roots of the regional magazines. It will help the AN to reach more diverse audiences more frequently and at a lower cost. The AN’s team of editors, working across languages, cultures and continents, is getting set for the next step in the collective journey of knowledge building and sharing. The magazine will thus become an integral part of a broader strategy that links the systematisation of concrete agroecological experience with advocacy, education and science. We are all looking forward to this new adventure.

ILEIA’s library is moving to Northern Ghana
The ILEIA library collection, consisting of more than 12000 publications on sustainable and organic agriculture, food and agroecology, is all set for its journey from Wageningen to Northern Ghana. We agreed with Professor Millar, founder of Millar’s Open University (MOU) in Bolgatanga and an alumnus of Wageningen University, that MOU would be a great new home for ILEIA’s unique collection. Professor Millar expects a warm interest among students. The arrival of the library in Bolgatanga will be a good occasion to organise a seminar on the experiences in dryland farming in Ghana and other countries in the region, and to draw lessons for practice and policy. We have requested the Netherlands Embassy in Accra to support this initiative.

And for all people living outside Bolgatanga: we are presently updating ILEIA’s digital library. In the process we found a number of rare and interesting publications which are not yet digitally available. The Wageningen University library has kindly agreed to include some 25 of these publications in their digital collection. Thank you WUR for making these publications available to a wide audience!

Cultivate!
A new organisation Cultivate! has been started by some of ILEIA’s former staff. The aim is to build on ILEIA’s legacy, but with a stronger focus on Europe in a global context. Cultivate! sees a potential for a Europe-wide collaborative communication, learning and advocacy strategy for the amplification of agroecology and food sovereignty. The Cultivate! team plans to systematise successful initiatives in food and farming in order to draw lessons for practice and policy, connect different actors, support dynamic learning and use creative communication tools to share the resulting insights.

And finally…
Your encouraging reactions during the past half year made it clear to us that ILEIA has meant many positive things to many people. Over the years it has had a real impact on the lives of thousands of farm families, fieldworkers, scientists, students, consumers, policymakers and other citizens in different parts of the world. Thank you for sharing your diverse and interesting experiences!

We feel sad to say farewell to ILEIA as an organisation but we are glad that its legacy is alive and kicking. “Sometimes it is good to move on and start a new chapter and find new spaces”, said one of our friends. With gratitude we hand over the ILEIA legacy to our colleagues in the AgriCultures Network and to other friends and allies in different parts of the world. Our special thanks go to the many farmers and fieldworkers who shared so many insights with us over the years. We also thank Sida (Swedish International Development Agency) which supported us financially for over a decade but had to end the funding relationship with ILEIA due to the refugee crisis in 2015-2016. Lastly, we thank the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs for giving ILEIA the space to identify, share and amplify practical experiences in agroecology and family farming over a period of more than twenty-five years. There are many more inspirators, allies, authors, champions, farmer philosophers, former ILEIA staff, interns, volunteers, board members and funders whom we would like to thank; they are too many to name them all.

We look forward to seeing you again, in a new constellation!

With warm regards,

for ILEIA…
Edith van Walsum (former director) em.van.walsum@gmail.com
Bram Huijsman (former chair of the Supervisory Board) bramwerk65@gmail.com
www.ileia.org

for the Agricultures Network…
the AN Management Team:
Bara Gueye baragueye@iedafrique.org
Paulo Petersen paulo@aspta.org.br
KVS Prasad leisaindia@yahoo.co.in
www.agriculturesnetwork.org

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Download the full report in English (PDF).

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Some important changes are going to take place in ILEIA in 2017. In a recent meeting the ILEIA Board has decided that after over 30 years of work to support family farming rooted in agroecology, the organisation has to close on July 1^st, 2017. The reason for this decision is that we did not  succeed in raising sufficient funds to keep the organisation going in the present mode.

This has been a difficult decision. The good news is that the AgriCultures Network, founded  by ILEIA, is  alive and kicking. With the Network we are exploring new ways to carry forward ILEIA’s legacy, globally and in Europe, and continue supporting the practice, science and movement of agroecology and family farming.

We have appreciated the collaboration with all of you over the years. We are especially grateful to the farmers who have worked with us to analyse and share the lessons they learnt during often hard and pioneering work in the fields of our planet. You continue to be a great source of inspiration.

We understand this message will raise many reactions. Do not hesitate to contact us at info@ileia.org  if you have any questions or suggestions.

With warm regards on behalf of the ILEIA team,

Edith van Walsum,

Director

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The second Nyéléni Europe Forum for food sovereignty took place in Cluj-Napoca, Romania, from 25-30 October 2016. The forum gathered over 700 participants from around 40 countries, among them peasants, consumers and urban citizen movements, NGOs, workers and trade unionists. The forum’s purpose was to set the agenda for the Food Sovereignty movement in Europe over the next few years. Key campaigns and actions were initiated and plans for moving this forward are underway.

Four thematic axes

The forum was organised around several parallel participatory sessions where burning issues resulting from earlier discussions would feed into later sessions. The first round of discussions kicked off with the four thematic axes that were identified during the consultation process held in the months prior to the meeting: 1) Models of production and consumption; 2) Food distribution; 3) Right to natural resources and the commons; and 4) Work and social conditions in food and agricultural systems.

From these discussions, the next participatory session was divided again in four groups that discussed which policies were to be targeted with actions at different levels, and what principles of participation and inclusiveness need to be respected.

Campaigns and action plans

The forum’s last three sessions took place over three days and were devoted to discussing action plans and campaigns in Europe. These sessions built on the discussions of the previous two days and addressed six campaign and action plans:

• Land, water and fisheries in the hands of people
• Migrants, agriculture, food culture rights
• Peasants’ agroecology
• Alternative trade systems vs. global corporate power
• Territorial markets and food distribution systems
• Common food and farming policies.

Road ahead

After five intense but inspiring days of discussions and a large number of initiatives planned at the national, regional, and European level, our work has just begun. To follow-up on and spread information about the European food sovereignty movement, ILEIA together with the organising committee of the Nyéléni forum will jointly produce an issue of Farming Matters on Food Sovereignty in Europe. This issue will be launched in March 2017. Moreover, having its seat in the Netherlands, ILEIA will actively support the actions planned by the Dutch food sovereignty movement as well. Stay tuned.

Krems, Austria, five years ago
On August 2011 over 400 individuals from 34 European countries met in Krems, Austria to plan the development of a European movement for food sovereignty. Their objective was to build on the foundations of the Mali forum of 2007, where delegates from over 80 countries defined food sovereignty as the right of people to decide on their own agricultural system based on their own culture and values.

The first Nyéléni Europe Forum allowed peasant farmers and producers and civil society organisations from across Europe to share experiences, coordinate actions and discuss perspectives on food sovereignty. The forum culminated in the Nyéléni Europe Declaration, and the Synthesis Report and Action Plan. The Declaration outlined a common vision for, and commitments to realising food sovereignty in Europe.

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They came together to discuss factors for successful amplification of agroecology, as opposed to traditional ‘scaling up’, and identified key lessons from their work.

The four day Agroecology Learning Exchange took place in Uganda and was organised by the AgroEcology Fund and the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa in May 2016.

ILEIA facilitated the event, and also compiled the rich insights of the meeting in this new document.

• Download the report in English or in Spanish
• Read the Farming Matters article ‘How to amplify agroecology’ in English, French, Spanish or Portuguese

A slideshow with impressions of the Agroecology Learning Exchange

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ILEIA had the opportunity to participate in a workshop facilitated by Biovision titled, ‘Agroecology to feed the world’. The title of this workshop set the stage for a lively discussion about choosing words carefully. ILEIA was not comfortable with the title for a few reasons. Multinationals such as Monsanto talk about feeding the world. This not only reinforces the idea that we are passively being fed, but it does not challenge the industrial farming model with its irrational quest to produce higher yields at any cost. It was important to clarify that agroecology is not going to feed the world but that it provides a pathway for farmers to choose what they grow, how they grow it, and for people to choose what they eat. The political dimension of agroecology cannot be left aside.

During the workshop, much inspiration came from Argentinian farmer, Diego Fernández Bantle, who shared his family’s story about transitioning to organic. In Argentina’s agriculture industry that is dominated by agrochemical dependent farming techniques, besides overcoming technical challenges, he highlighted the need to work with other farmers, urban citizens, municipalities and researchers. How to build these types of communities ever larger and stronger became an important discussion amongst the group. Hans Herren (Biovision) made a plea for a united front amongst the movement. Other members of the audience questioned the role of certification schemes and argued that to really support agroecological practices on the ground, policy level change is needed.
There was a sense that agroecology can unite different actors working at different levels and this was reinforced by the fact that the tribunal and the people’s assembly were running in tandem. Whether setting the stage for legal reform so that Monsanto can be held accountable for its crimes or setting up a community supported agriculture scheme, the atmosphere in The Hague was inspiring. In the words of one of the organisers the success of the two parallel events were “very important steps for building a world food movement.”

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The Food Sovereignty Prize champions real solutions to hunger, as opposed to the much-criticised World Food Prize. The US Food Sovereignty Alliance who awarded the prize states that, “this year’s winners are strident in their resistance to the corporate control of our food system” and that they instead “support small-scale farmers and communities, build unified networks, and prioritize the leadership of food providers, including women, farmworkers, peasants, indigenous peoples and other marginalized communities within the system”.

AFSA is coordinated by Million Belay, who is also the director of AgriCultures Network member MELCA Ethiopia.

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The Farm Experience Internship is an initiative of a group of international students at Wageningen University inspired on a successful experience in Brazil. In it, students get to spend a couple of weeks at sustainable farm, living and working. In this way, the students increase their understanding of the realities and challenges of farmers and their families. Farmers not only benefit from the extra help at the farm, but from the new insights students bring back to their classrooms, their research projects and later into their professions.

During FEI, participants go through a three stage learning process: preparation, practical experience, and evaluation and collective assessment. This year, ILEIA assisted the preparatory stage by conducting an introductory workshop to agroecology as a science, movement and practice. It is very heartening that students from other disciplines joined FEI 2016 as well: among the participants there was a young woman with a Fine Arts background. This year also, there were representatives from nearly every continent and the first FEI in Ghana is under preparation thanks to the efforts of a Ghanaian student at Wageningen University.

• Farm Experience Internship: Agroecology in Practice

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The meetings were an initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Agroecology was discussed in the context of its contributions to food and nutrition security and climate change. Civil society, policy makers, researchers and farmers shared their views on the relevance of agroecology to the needs of family farmers and discussed how to spread agroecology through practice, research and policy.

A series of recommendations resulted from each regional seminar. What emerged was the need to transform knowledge building and research, and for bold policy change, including the creation of appropriate markets to further agroecology in the regions. While the opportunity to discuss agroecology in the region was welcomed, bolder steps are needed to embed agroecology in future agricultural development, with farmers at the centre.

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