An opinion piece by Daniel Moss  published on devex.com, 14 November 2023

Agroecology, recognized in most parts of the world as a climate and hunger solution, is gaining traction worldwide, as demonstrated by increased donor support. This support must keep flowing to grassroots movements.

A global grassroots agroecology movement is shifting policies, practices, and investments toward climate-friendly food systems. With industrial agriculture responsible for more than a third of greenhouse gas emissions, the need is urgent. Led by women, Indigenous people, youth, and smallholder farmers, powerful decentralized networks are giving rise to climate-resilient and equitable food systems. A wide range of donors, including governments, are now supporting agroecological solutions — and who gets these funds and how is key to consider.

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Agroecology, recognized in most parts of the world as a climate and hunger solution, is gaining traction worldwide. Perhaps a new term to some, it helps to encourage people to dissect it — agro (soil, crops) and ecology (natural systems). Farming with nature.

When you remind people that modern, or industrialized, farming is just a blip in the over 10,000-year history of agriculture, the inevitability of our fossil fuel-heavy food system becomes less certain. Questions follow: How did we box ourselves into a food system that is estimated to be responsible for more than a third of all global anthropogenic GHG emissions? And more urgently: How do we rebuild food systems that put people and the planet first?

Curiosity about agroecology solutions is palpable, but so is skepticism. A few points I often hear are: Agroecology may have sustained Indigenous peoples in the past, but can it really fill 8 billion bellies? Or: Agroecology is anachronistic, yields are insufficient, land is too scarce, and genetically modified seeds are needed for climate resilience and nutritional fortification.

Never mind that these arguments have been debunked in peer-reviewed literature and that low-input, smallholder farming accounts for 70% of the global food supply. The facts speak for themselves. Good nutrition depends on diversified, culturally appropriate local diets. Fossil fuels are not needed to manufacture fertilizers and pesticides; costs and resources can be saved using local biomass. Climate-smart agriculture doesn’t rest on proprietary patents but rather on scientifically validated natural techniques that regenerate rather than degrade ecosystems.

Greenwashing and regenerative agriculture vs. agroecology

That doesn’t stop the increasingly common practice of greenwashing — providing misleading information about the impacts of a company’s work on the environment. Meanwhile, the term “regenerative agriculture” has gained popularity in the United States over the past decade as a way to grow food while sequestering carbon. It appears in popular documentaries like “Kiss the Ground” and pilot programs of the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Agricultural input companies like Bayer endorse a medley of regenerative agriculture practices, a cousin of agroecology, while also noting that “there is no commonly agreed definition of regenerative agriculture.” It is often conflated with agroecology, or leaves some wondering about how they are different. Yet, while regenerative agriculture features techniques such as no-till farming and cover crops to build healthier soil, the core difference is that a focus on these practices alone is “stripped of social justice dimensions.”

Agroecology is more than farming techniques; it seeks the transformation of entire food systems, embracing a holistic approach from land rights to inclusive governance to fair and dignified livelihoods. It is championed by farmer movements like La Via Campesina claiming: Small farmers cool the planet.

Of course scale is critical for agroecology to help stabilize the climate. While industrial agriculture (misnamed the “Green Revolution”) spread quickly when global seed and chemical suppliers captured public agricultural programs, agroecology takes a different path.

Grassroots-led agroecology

Grassroots movements are the “secret sauce.” These networks can’t match big agriculture’s lobbying and marketing moves, but they can create powerful coalitions to manage farmer field schools, shift narratives, direct funding to emerging agroecological businesses, and influence governments to adopt agroecology-friendly legislation.

This growing movement can succeed in redirecting the roughly $635 billion in global agricultural subsidies from industrial to agroecological practices. This heavy subsidization pampers and sustains industrial agriculture. Philanthropic networks like the Agroecology Fund and the Global Greengrants Fund have a theory of change that channels resources to climate justice action grounded in the right to healthy food.

While compelling, this bottom-up, decentralized change requires significant time and resources. Given the urgency to identify impactful climate solutions, we need large-scale solutions now. Donors rightly ask whether grassroots-led agroecology is up to the job.

Growing donor support to scale agroecological solutions  

In a thought-provoking essay in the Stanford Social Innovation Review, Lior Ipp challenges the notion that big changes mean supporting big organizations (from the global north). A funder interested in systemic change should consider investing in local initiatives that interweave and aggregate efforts rooted in territories and cultures, Ipp suggests. The global agroecology movement provides a big tent for those territorial efforts.

Take the case of India. With 1.4 billion people, nearly 30% of land degraded, and water supplies shrinking alarmingly, innovations abound. The state of Andhra Pradesh, home to 50 million people, is investing $255 million in agroecological practices known as natural farming. The National Coalition for Natural Farming is pushing the agenda forward in other states.

Farm-grown nutrients eliminate costly and harmful chemical fertilizers and pesticides that have pushed farmers into debt and spurred a farmer suicide epidemic. Powered by local women’s self-help organizations, 630,000 farmers have become natural farmers, experiencing 11% increase in yields while maintaining higher crop diversity.

In West Africa’s Sahel desert, farmers are reeling from climate change. With bilateral, multilateral, and philanthropic donor support, grassroots farmers’ networks are working with community chiefs to strengthen a “Great Green Wall.” This is not a plantation-style monoculture forest but a proven technique for truly climate-smart agriculture called “farmer-managed natural regeneration,” where a diversity of tree species helps farmland to regenerate, improving soil quality, moisture retention, and carbon sequestration.

In Brazil, the government is leveraging its formidable purchasing power to bring agroecologically produced foods into schools, hospitals, and municipalities. These guaranteed markets provide a powerful incentive for farmers to transition away from unsustainable techniques. Cooperatives affiliated with the Landless Workers Movement have become the country’s largest producer of organic rice.

These on-the-ground successes are making their way into global conversations and commitments.

Who gets funding and how is key to agroecology and climate justice

Opinion: Why our UAE COP 28 presidency is hyperfocused on food systems

Efforts to make our food and agriculture systems more equitable, accessible and sustainable will receive unprecedented attention at COP 28 later this year, writes the UAE’s Mariam Almheiri.

This September, at Climate Week in New York City, the dots began to line up with multiple philanthropies, private investors, and public donor agencies committing to invest in climate-friendly food systems.

A new tool to track investments in agroecology was recently launched by the Agroecology Coalition during the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Committee on World Food Security meeting. A sneak peak at the upcoming U.N. climate summit, COP 28, agenda featured a draft declaration to put food systems transformation squarely on the table. A rising tide of investments is anticipated.

But it’s not simply about increasing funding flows. It matters a great deal how it flows and to whom it flows. For nearly a decade, at the Agroecology Fund, we’ve grounded our support to agroecology movements, often led by women, Indigenous people, youth, and smallholder farmers, through participatory, decentralized mechanisms that bring funding decisions closer to the ground. That is who these increased flows of funding need to focus on supporting.

As multiple crises deepen and technological fixes can’t deliver solutions, the need to lift up grassroots leadership for agroecology and climate justice becomes more obvious. It’s an urgent and unprecedented moment to invest in their blossoming and visionary movements.