A day before traveling to the First International IPA Global (Global Participatory Action Research) Convening in Guararema, Brazil, I biked through São Paulo to the Landless Workers Movement’s retail store.
The visit to the store was the perfect way to start a weeklong conversation organized by the Agroecology Fund, with the support of the Waverley Street Foundation, among 41 collaborations from 13 countries, each seeking to answer research questions and offer evidence about how grassroots advocacy for agroecology and climate policies brings us closer to just and sustainable food systems. The broader context for this gathering is the COP30 climate deliberations underway to the north, at the mouth of the Amazon in the city of Belém. Many participants in this Agroecology Fund gathering flew directly from Belém, where they took part in the official climate talks and/or the Peoples’ Summit, a civil society gathering of social movements organizing for climate justice and which the Agroecology Fund was proud to support.
The products in the MST store were tangible harvests from this powerful social movement’s advocacy over four decades of struggle for land reform and policies supporting agroecological family farming. The rice, beans, juices, and of course movement swag (see photo) are symbolic of important grassroots-led gains.
Over these decades, simultaneous to the MST’s organizing for land rights—and related struggles in coalition with other movements— it has formed 185 cooperatives around the country and pushed hard and successfully for policies such as the National School Feeding Program (PNAE), which commits to purchasing at least 30% of its foodsupply from family farms. Public procurement is a powerful economic driver: thousands upon thousands of tons of agroecological products have moved through schools, hospitals, and markets as the MST has become Latin America’s largest organic rice producer.
Learning about impactful advocacy strategies and essential grassroots evidence that can convince policymakers, farmers, and consumers alike to transition to climate-resilient agroecology is a lengthy, iterative process that IPA Global is honored to support. During this week of rich exchange among nearly 100 farmers, researchers, and advocates from across Asia, Africa, and the Americas, we’ll also make sure to visit a nearby agroecology school, where we hear that we’ll get a taste of some of the MST’s policy gains in the form of a steamed and sautéed healthy lunch.