For thousands of years, communities in the Andes have organized themselves to manage their resources sustainably on a landscape scale. They achieved this by utilizing carefully planned crop rotation systems on large, collectively owned expanses of land. This system still exists in indigenous Aymara communities of Peru’s Puno & Lake Titicaca region, and these integrated socio-ecological systems are called aynokas (see image below).
What is agroecology?
Agroecology can be understood as an interdisciplinary research science, a food justice activist movement, and a set of practices.
As a research endeavor, it may encompass contributions from various disciplines, including agronomy, botany, horticulture, environmental science, sociology, anthropology, history, ecology, and political science.
As activism, agroecology is a food justice movement. Organizations such as La Vía Campesina view agroecology as a means of resistance to global conglomerate food systems and as a means to achieve food sovereignty. The refrain "agroecology without food sovereignty is technicism" highlights the fundamental importance of food justice to agroecology, which extends beyond being merely a method or research endeavor.
As praxis, agroecology (see image below) is a holistic approach to growing food that views ecosystems and farmland as indistinguishable natural spaces. Agroecology focuses on conservation and sustainability through the integration of Native perennial plants, permaculture, and annual crops. This integration reduces reliance on herbicides and pesticides by utilizing biocontrols, while promoting water and soil conservation.
However, even though agroecology can be conceptualized in three distinct modalities, it should be assessed holistically in a matrix of research, practice, and activism. As noted above, agroecology without food sovereignty is mere technicism.
