2. Social and Cultural Dimension of Agroecology

2.1 Agroecology is rooted in the culture, identity, tradition, innovation and knowledge of local communities.

2.2 Agroecology contributes to healthy, diversified, seasonally- and culturally-appropriate diets.

2.3 Agroecology is knowledge-intensive and promotes horizontal (farmer-to-farmer) contacts for sharing of knowledge, skills, and innovations, together with alliances giving equal weight to farmer and researcher.

2.4 Agroecology creates opportunities for and promotion of solidarity and discussion between and among culturally diverse peoples (e.g. different ethnic groups that share the same values yet have different practices) and between rural and urban populations.

2.5 Agroecology respects diversity between people in terms of gender, race, sexual orientation and religion, creates opportunities for young people and women and encourages women’s leadership and gender equality.

2.6 Agroecology does not necessarily require expensive external certification as it often relies on producer-consumer relations and transactions based on trust, promoting alternatives to certification such as PGS (Participatory Guarantee System) and CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture).

2.7 Agroecology supports peoples and communities in maintaining their spiritual and material relationship with their land and environment.

Impact of this dimension

As it starts from the existing knowledge, skills and traditions of farmers and food producers, agroecology is particularly well-suited to achieving their right to food. It allows the development of appropriate technologies closely tailored to the needs and circumstances of specific small-scale farmers, peasants, indigenous people, pastoralists, fisherfolks, herders, hunter-gatherers communities in their own environment. In most developing countries, agriculture remains the most common occupation and the sector therefore offers the best opportunities for inclusive development. As such, it can help reverse rural-to-urban migration and family fragmentation. If people learn and apply agroecological practices and develop and control the value chain up to the end user, rural life and food production (in rural or urban environments) will once more be attractive and valued by society, thereby contributing to thriving local economies, social cohesion and stability.

By placing food producers at the heart of food systems (peer-to-peer exchanges of practice, promotion of food producers’ skills, etc.), increasing autonomy and revitalizing rural areas, agroecology contributes to giving a new value to peasant identities and strengthening peasant confidence and involvement in their local food system.

By bringing producers and consumers closer in shorter, more local value chains, and strengthening both groups’ role and voice, agroecology contributes to restoring justice to the food system by decoupling it from corporate power. 

Krinshnakar Kumari, MIJARC (India) 

Agroecology creates opportunities for women to increase their economic autonomy and, to some extent, influence power relationships, especially within the home while also expanding the diversity and value of roles available to men. Agroecology as a movement is supportive of women’s rights because of its inclusiveness, the fact that it recognizes and supports women’s role in agriculture, and because it encourages women’s participation. Being in essence a struggle for social justice and emancipation, the agroecological movement should always go hand-in-hand with active feminism. As the impact of agroecology on gender relations is not automatically positive, a specific focus on women while implementing agroecology in its various dimensions is required.