We, Madrid Agroecologico, as an agroecological movement that brings together a wide and diverse range of actors from both the rural and the urban worlds, would like to stress some points which are not enough highlighted in the list of questions to be tackled in the report:
-
We strongly advocate for considering agroecology not only in terms of farming practices or technologies, but also as a social and political movement that builds stronger relationships between farmers and consumers, which contribute to maintain agroecological projects, to recognize the value of territorialised knowledge, to preserve local resources and biodiversity, and also to disseminate food culture, improving diets, food security and sovereignty and reducing food waste
-
We firmly suggest to consider the interaction of agroecology with the environment in a systemic approach, and not only at the field level. This point is of high importance when making environmental accounts comparing agroecological practices against industrialized farming
-
In the case of periurban areas especial attention should be given to the re-consideration of organic waste as a valuable source of organic matter and nutrients. Composting to mend periurban farmland, contributes to the transition towards a city-region circular metabolism.
-
In order to secure social justice and responsibility, we need public policies that protect agrarian land (i.e. to avoid urban pressure in periurban areas and ensure stability and continuity) and the commons (also seeds and water). From our experience is extremely important to define norms and mechanisms to facilitate access to land as well as to production and transformation facilities. Access to food starts by creating enabling environments that guarantee equity in access to means of production
-
We call to define mechanisms to forbbide dumping from large companies that sell at a loss and to integrate externalities in prices.
Marian Simon