People-centred knowledge and digitalisation

The diverse knowledges and ways of knowing of our peoples are fundamental to agroecology.We develop our ways of knowing through dialogue among them (diálogo de saberes). Our learning processes are horizontal and peer-to-peer, based on popular education. They take place in our own training centers and territories (farmers teach farmers, fishers teach fishers, etc.), and are also intergenerational, with exchange of knowledge between youth and elders. Agroecology is developed through our own innovation, research, and crop and livestock selection and breeding. (Nyéléni Declaration, 2015)

Knowledge sharing

There is a diversity of knowledge and ways of knowing. In agroecology we share knowledge among us, in a horizontal and peer-to-peer perspective, based on popular education methods. How to share knowledge amongst food producers? Whar aee the tools for peasant knowledge recovery, development and dissemination? How to boost our capacity to innovate and to share innovations? The role of agroecology schools (IALA, MST, CAC, Eur. Network) and others initiatives and networks (Agroecologia espora,etc). Basic principles of popular education (horizontal dialogue of knowledge, diálogo de saberes).

• Agroecology Guidebook– Bridging generations through knowledge sharing (E+ BAG project, 2022)
• Research Guide, For those interested in pursuing research with farmers, growers, foresters and other land-based and food-system workers. by Agroecologyst Research Collaboration (UK)
• Food sovereignty and Agroecology are the adequate framework to develop innovations for family farming. (Schola Campesina, 2018) (In the framework of the launch of the UNDFF – United Nation Decade for Family Farming)
• Peasant Agroecology Schools and the Peasant-to-Peasant Method of Horizontal Learning – Toolkit (La Via Campesina, 2017)
• Diálogo de saberes in La Vía Campesina: food sovereignty and agroecology ( María Elena Martínez-Torres & Peter M. Rosset, 2014) EN
• Pedagogy of the Oppressed (Paulo Freire) EN
• Agroecological Formación in Rural Social Movements. Radical Teacher 98 (Nils McCune, Juan Reardon, and Peter Rosset, 2014). EN
• El Movimiento Sin Tierra y la educación popular: la formación humana en diálogo (Rubneuza Leandro de Souza, 2015). ES
• The Campesino-to-Campesino agroecology movement of ANAP in Cuba: social process methodology in the construction of sustainable peasant agriculture and food sovereignty. Journal of Peasant Studies (Peter Rosset, Braulio Machín Sosa, Adilén María Roque Jaime and Dana Rocío Avila Lozano 2011). EN
• Fossé entre praticiens et militants. In « De la crise alimentaire à la souveraineté alimentaire, le défi des mouvements sociaux » (Eric Holt-Giménez, 2010). EN ES FR
• Escuela de Acción Campesina, Universidad rural Paulo Freire. ES
• Formación agroecológica IALA (Adriano Muñoz Pérez). ES
• The Long Road: Rural Youth, Farming and Agroecological Formación in Central America, Mind, Culture, and Activity (• Nils McCune, Peter M. Rosset, Tania Cruz Salazar, Helda Morales & Antonio Saldívar Moreno 2017) EN
• Sitematizacion primera escuela nacional de agroecologia (Sembradoras de esperanzas) (IALA Anamuri, 2016) ES

Digitalization

In agroecology, we have the control on our knowledge and data and we lead the development of digital tools for our use and benefits.

• ‘Black Box’ Biotechnology – Integration of artificial intelligence with synthetic biology. The  briefing paper be the African Centre for Biodiversity (ACB),  Third World Network (TWN) and ETC Group,  ahead of the 16th meeting of the COP to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in Cali, Colombia in November 2024.
• Carbon Markets Undermine Peasant Autonomy and Self-Determination over Data – The report from FIAN International and MAELA Colombia, Coffee and Carbon in Colombia – Human Rights Concerns at the Intersection of Food Systems, Climate Change and Data-Based Technologies. (2024).
href=”https://abiggerconversation.org/what-do-agroecological-farmers-think-about-agritech/”>What agroecological farmers think about agritech. The result of the UK-focussed project involving farmers and growers from across the various ‘strands’ of agroecology.2024 
• Remote control and peasant intelligence. On automating decisions, suppresing knowledges and transforming ways of knowing  (FoEE, FIAN, CAWR 2023)
• Food Barons 2022: Crisis Profiteering, Digitalization and Shifting Power (ETC group, 2022)
• Cashing in on the Climate Crisis through Agricultural Digitalisation Emerging Cases in Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines (ETC group, 2022)
• Food systems and digitaliza􏰅on from a food sovereignty approach (Schola Campesina, 2021)
• A Long Food Movement: Transforming Food Systems by 2045. IPES-Food & ETC Group, 2021
• Food sovereignty and Agroecology are the adequate framework to develop innovations for family farming. (Schola Campesina, 2018) (In the framework of the launch of the UNDFF – United Nation Decade for Family Farming)
• The digital revolution in food and agriculture. Exciting promises, mixed results and risky bet. (Materne Maetz, 2021) Version française
• Is the future really digital. A deeper understanding of digital trade. (Mary Louise Malig, 2021)
• Digital technologies cut off access to land (FIAN, 2021) Versión en español
• Digital control: how Big Tech moves into food and farming (and what it means) (GRAIN, 2021) Version française  Versión en español Versão em portugues
• Disruption or Déjà Vu? Digitalization, Land and Human Rights (FIAN, 2020) Versión en español
• Forcing the Farm How Gene Drive Organisms Could Entrench Industrial Agriculture and Threaten Food Sovereignty (ETC group, 2018) Disponible en español
• What will digital farming mean for agriculture in Europe? (FoEE, 2020)
• Blocking the Chain Industrial food chain concentration, Big Data platforms and food sovereignty solutions (ETC group, 2018)
• In Global Food Policy report, Chp6: Knowledge and Data: Achieving Food and Nutrition Security through Open Access Data (Indira Yerramareddy and Suresh Chandra Babu) (IFPRI, 2018)

Links Farm Hack    https://farmhack.org/tools IT for change  https://itforchange.net/

Shift of power in knowledge

• People’s access to knowledge and know-how is a political issue determined by power relations.
• Democratizing knowledge and ways of knowing for food sovereignty, agroecology, and biocultural diversity (Pimbert M., 2018)
• Transforming Knowledge and Ways of Knowing for Food Sovereignty. Chapter 7 in Towards Food Sovereignty. Reclaiming autonomous food systems (Pimbert M., 2006). EN
• The video film – Imagining Research for Food Sovereignty – of St. Ulrich Workshop on Democratising Agricultural Research for Food Sovereignty and Peasant Agrarian Cultures. Available in EN at: http://www.excludedvoices.org/st-ulrich-workshop-democratising-agricultural-research-food-sovereignty-and-peasant-agrarian-culture EN