Extractivism & Agroecology

Question 1

What is agroecology?

Answer 1

“Agroecology focuses on understanding the complex interactions between plants, animals, humans, and the environment in agricultural landscapes. It seeks to develop practices that support biodiversity, promote ecological resilience, enhance local food systems, and improve the livelihoods of farming communities, while minimizing negative environmental impacts.” Miguel Altieri

scientific actors - social movements - farmers

Question 2

4 defining definitions of extractivism in LA

Answer 2

1. Conversion of common goods into commodities
2. The intensive exploitation of large volumes of natural resources at an accelerated rate incompatible with the replacement rate
3. The scarce or non-existent degree of local, regional and/or national processing of said goods
4. The exportation of primary materials to supply the industry and/or consumption of “central” countries, generating in the process extraordinary rents captured mostly by external agents

Question 3

Case: Soy in Argentina

Answer 3

Argentina lost over 6.5 million ha of native forests in last 20 years

‘black hold of biodiversity’

Question 4

Consequences of extractivism

Answer 4

• health risks, the importance of territory, structural violence towards women/afro-decendent communities, increasing insecurity, loss of economic autonomy

Question 5

Neo-extractivism

Answer 5

a development strategy where countries heavily rely on the extraction and export of natural resources (like minerals and hydrocarbons) to finance social programs and development initiatives, often while also facing criticism for negative impacts on local communities and the environment….

active intervention and regulation, recuperation of rents generated, tied to progressive ideology

Question 6

neo-extractivism - agroecolology relationship

Answer 6

Agroecology is a resistance to the detrimental effects of extractivism + industrial agriculture, challenging existing power relations and revitalising ancestral knowledges

Question 7

Giraldo & Rosset (2022)

Answer 7

Neoliberal, institutional and emancipatory agroecology.

1. Political principle (question and transform structures, instead of reproducing them)
2. Technical principle (cultivate autonomy, not dependency)
3. economic principle (shape economies based on use values, not exchange values)
4. organisational principle (strengthen organisation in terms of collective processes, not individualised projects)
5. methdological principle (build horizontal processes, not hierarchies)
6. Pedagogoical principle (build capacity to struggle and transform, not conform)
7. philosophical principle (act based on culture and spirituality, not on productivism)

Question 8

Argentinian Movement

Answer 8

2021: first trial in LA to condemn practices based on pesticide usage

2012: monsanto reveals plans

2013: protests starts

2016: new agroecological projects emerge as a tool to fight poverty in region

Question 9

Analytical tools

Answer 9

• Primitive accumulation (Marx) and accumulation and dispossession (Harvey
• TINA
• Creation of new imaginaries
• Food sovereignty

-Agroecology

-Epistemological violence

Question 10

Agroecology as a tool for…..

Answer 10

creating imaginaries that challenge capitalist discourse

engaging in territorial contestations to be able to construct social and cultural relations

maintaining a focus on and giving voice and leadership to historically marginalised groups in society