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

cover photo captions
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Cover Photo Captions
Counter clockwise from the bottom:
Protesting Trade Liberalization Talks. Photographer: Nikhil Anand. Negotiations
have snarled for the creation of a Free Trade Area of the Americas (FTAA), a NAFTAlike
trade agreement that would incorporate all countries in the Western Hemisphere
but Cuba. Strong opposition from the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay,
and Venezuela, and social and environmental movements throughout the hemisphere,
have slowed negotiations. Here campesino groups demonstrate at anti-FTAA
protests during negotiations held in Quito, Ecuador, November, 2002.
Agribusiness-on-the-Amazon. Photographer: David McGrath. Spurred by government
plans to pave a highway from the center of Brazil to the Amazon River, U.S.
agribusiness giant Cargill recently opened this multi-million dollar soy processing
facility at the proposed northern terminus of the road, the city of Santarém, a port
on the Amazon. Environmental groups and social movements have raised fierce
opposition to the road, spurring rumors that Cargill will be forced to pave the highway
itself.
Food for Subsistence, Seeds for a Milpa. Photographer: John Tuxill. Planting for a
polycropped swidden maize field (milpa) in Yexcaba, Yucatán, Mexico. The maize is a
late-maturing yellow variety, xnuuk-nal; the bean seed, xkolibu’ul (Phaseolus vulgaris)
also ripens late; squash include both a large-seeded early maturing squash (Cucurbita
argyrosperma var. xtóop) and a smaller-seeded, longer-season variety (C. moschata var
xnuuk-k’úum). Farmers will plant all the varieties simultaneously, keeping the number
of maize plants constant at 4-6 seeds/dibble hole, while varying the number of
bean and squash seeds per hole.
CEDICAM lands. Photographer: Phil Dahl-Bredine. Conference participant Jesús
León Santos at work on the lands of Centro de Desarrollo Integral de la Mixteca
(CEDICAM), in Oaxaca, Mexico. The campesino members of CEDICAM are
important agents of conservation in the Mixteca region. They plant a diverse
assemblage of crops, and are now engaged in efforts to conserve soil, water, and
forests through CEDICAM’s initiatives. As president, León has helped to share the
CEDICAM experience with transnational food sovereignty and agroecology
networks. He also finds time to tend his milpa, a traditional assemblage of corn, bean
and squash plants.
yale school of forestry & environmental studies