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

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agroecology and the struggle for food sovereignty
Intensive, sustainable, organic agricultural production
abounds in Havana. Here a neighbor
works at a community garden in Miramar,
Havana, Cuba. Photographer: Jacob Silber.
Beyond the dichotomy of large
economies of scale versus “small is
beautiful,” we propose a hierarchy of
scales that depends on the hydrology and
topography of a region, the distances over
which pests move during one season, and
the economic needs of a region. The unit
of production is not the same as the unit
of planning, so that the mosaic can be a
mosaic of mosaics of different uses. For
instance, diversity in a region can provide
more or less uniform employment
throughout the year, provide for a diverse
food base in the face of pest and weather disasters, and combine high-value and lowvalue
crops to maintain both nutrition and income. In the urban environment,
farming provides fresh food and supplementary income, reduces urban density,
increases green areas, and provides foci of social interaction. Cuba now produces
some 3 million tons of vegetables a year for 11 million people. Yields are about 25
kg/m 2 , or 100 T/ha per year, with employment of some 300,000 workers. Most
production is organic.
The alternative to both subjection to nature and domination of nature is a mutualistic
relation in which we nudge nature as little as possible in order to design almost
self-operating agro-ecosystems. This requires a high degree of specific local knowledge
and an ecologically savvy labor force.
The dichotomy “superstition versus science” is rejected in favor of an understanding
of how knowledge is created. All knowledge comes from experience and reflection
on that experience in the light of previous knowledge. All knowledge is colored by the
conditions of its production, so that all systems of knowledge have their own patterns
of insight and blindness. Once we identify these patterns, professional agricultural
scientists can meet with farmers and peasants as equals. Peasants have a detailed, intimate,
particular knowledge of their own conditions at the level of objects on the scale
of everyday life (plants, bugs, soil) but lack comparative knowledge and knowledge of
invisible processes on the molecular scale. Agricultural scientists abstract away the
particulars of each place in favor of a more generalized and comparative knowledge
that includes more kinds of objects. The combination of both kinds of information
gives us the best way of designing and conducting production.
Agricultural production depends on the decisions that the producers make
according to several different kinds of decision rules. When production aims at subsistence
consumption, there is a preference given to diversity and quality. The amount
of land cultivated for a crop depends on the productivity of the land and the available
labor. Thus, if abundant rain allows the expectation of higher yield, this will lead
to planting a smaller area. The same rule applies to simple commodity production, in
which just enough is produced to purchase what is needed. Marx expressed this with
the formula CMC’, meaning that commodities are sold for money to buy other
yale school of forestry & environmental studies