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

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agroecology and the struggle for food sovereignty
Agriculture Movement. During the farm crisis of the 1980s, he was active in the Iowa
Farm Unity Coalition and the North American Farm Alliance. From 1989 to 1991, he
served on the Executive Committee of the Iowa Chapter of the Sierra Club. Naylor
has participated in conferences in Cancún, Mexico City, Miami, and Guatemala that
focused on U.S. farm subsidy policy and international trade agreements. Naylor is a
plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit against Monsanto and other biotechnology
companies dealing with the negative economic impacts on family farmers resulting
from the introduction of genetically modified crops.
Ivette Perfecto received her Ph.D. in natural resources from the University of
Michigan in 1989. She is now an associate professor in the School of Natural
Resources and Environment at the University of Michigan. Her research involves
biological diversity in tropical agroecosystems, focusing on the effects of agricultural
intensification and its impact on biodiversity. Another aspect of her research relates
to the ecological function of biodiversity in diverse tropical agroecosystems, and in
particular the role of biodiversity in pest regulation. Most of this research is
conducted in Nicaragua and Mexico. More generally, she is interested in sustainable
agriculture and the intersection between conservation and agroecology.
Silvia Rodríguez is president of the board of Barcelona-based GRAIN (Genetic
Resources Action International). GRAIN promotes the sustainable management and
use of agricultural biodiversity based on people’s control over genetic resources and
local knowledge. Rodríguez lives and works in San José, Costa Rica, where she is
Emeritus Professor at the Universidad Nacional. She holds a Ph.D. in development
studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a M.Sc. in rural sociology from
the University of Costa Rica, and a Licenciada in social work from the Universidad
Nacional Autónoma de México. She is also a member of the Biodiversity Network.
Robin Sears is a post-doctoral research scientist in the Center for Environmental
Research and Conservation (CERC) at Columbia University in New York City. She
studies the ecological, economic, and political bases for small-scale timber
management on the Amazonian seasonal and tidal floodplains. She is currently
working for the Millennium Project Task Force on Environmental Sustainability, a
UN-sponsored project to help countries achieve the Millennium Development Goals.
Minor Sinclair is the director of the U.S. program of Oxfam America. Oxfam works on
issues of sustainable livelihoods for family farmers, worker rights for low-wage workers
in the food industry, and extractive industry impacts on Native Americans. Previously,
Sinclair worked for four years in Cuba as co-representative for Oxfam Canada. He coauthored
“Going Against the Grain: Crisis and Transformation in Cuban Agriculture,”
and has commissioned two other agriculture-related reports: “Rethinking U.S.
Agricultural Policy: Changing Course to Secure Farmer Livelihoods Worldwide” and
“Like Machines in the Fields: Workers without Rights in American Agriculture.”
John Tuxill is a doctoral candidate at the Yale School of Forestry & Environmental
yale school of forestry & environmental studies