Agroecology and the Struggle for Food Sovereignty ... - Yale University

education and the diffusion of agroecological practice
119
Education and the Diffusion of
Agroecological Practice
Report by Rebecca Reider
This session addressed how farming practices and knowledge spread among farmers,
and how both farmers and academic researchers can disseminate agroecology practices
and ideas through farmer networks. Participants offered many recommendations for
effective farmer networking based on their own experiences. A major consensus
emerging from this session was that it is not enough simply to spread education about
ecological farming techniques; these educational efforts will only succeed if they are
integrated with efforts to improve farmers’ livelihoods. Some participants emphasized
the necessity of going even further to integrate these educational campaigns into larger
efforts to build movements for social and political change.
Participants working in several different countries in Latin America emphasized
the importance of encouraging the spread of knowledge from farmer to farmer,
rather than trying to make farmers learn from outside researchers. Farmers learn by
doing, by hands-on experience, and through direct contact with their neighbors.
Ronaldo Lec, from the Instituto Mesoamericano de Permacultura in Guatemala,
pointed out that farmers are more likely to adopt practices that they see working for
other farmers, and that it is important to value what farmers already know instead of
only trying to teach them. Jean Marc von der Weid emphasized that farmer education
networks should be based on already existing personal and familial relationships. His
organization, AS-PTA, promotes informal visits and learning among Brazilian
farmers by identifying informal networks that already exist, and encouraging them to
formalize themselves as organizations and to join forces with other groups of
farmers. Eric Holt-Giménez, from the Bank Information Center in Washington D.C.,
described the Campesino a Campesino Movement, which has integrated farmers into
informal networks throughout Central America. Some participants questioned how
comprehensive these existing networks are, and which farmers are integrated into
them.
All participants agreed that the most crucial element of any educational program
is to offer farmers proven techniques that work and that produce beneficial results.
Farmers will only adopt techniques that fulfill their fundamental needs and help
them secure their livelihoods. As obvious as this sounds, it is a truth often overlooked
yale school of forestry & environmental studies