Despite agroecology having grown and become more established in Catalonia over the last 30 years, most agroecological food provisioning systems struggle to safeguard the various aspects required to guarantee their sustainability. This chapter addresses the different dimensions of agroecological sustainability and the changing position of agroecology in relation to State institutions in Catalonia against a backdrop of successive, recurring crises. The analysis is based on two case studies. The first case study explores the socioeconomic dimension of sustainability in agroecological provisioning systems comprising small-scale farmers and food processors who maintain direct relationships with food cooperatives. The second case study examines the social dimension of sustainability among goat and sheep herders in (semi-) extensive systems. Drawing on our ethnographic fieldwork, we reflect on some of the tensions and vulnerabilities present in agroecological food provisioning systems compared to conventional ones, namely, regulations, access to land, pricing, unpaid work, bureaucratisation and socioeconomic accessibility to healthy and sustainable food. In addition, we describe how the relationship between agroecology and the State has shifted from one of opposition to one of recognition. We also consider some of the tensions that have emerged as a consequence of the new positionality of agroecology in relation to the State.

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Navigating Opposition and Recognition: Changing Relationships and Imaginaries Between Agroecology and the State

  • Patricia Homs Ramírez de la Piscina,
  • Paula Escribano Castaño

摘要

Despite agroecology having grown and become more established in Catalonia over the last 30 years, most agroecological food provisioning systems struggle to safeguard the various aspects required to guarantee their sustainability. This chapter addresses the different dimensions of agroecological sustainability and the changing position of agroecology in relation to State institutions in Catalonia against a backdrop of successive, recurring crises. The analysis is based on two case studies. The first case study explores the socioeconomic dimension of sustainability in agroecological provisioning systems comprising small-scale farmers and food processors who maintain direct relationships with food cooperatives. The second case study examines the social dimension of sustainability among goat and sheep herders in (semi-) extensive systems. Drawing on our ethnographic fieldwork, we reflect on some of the tensions and vulnerabilities present in agroecological food provisioning systems compared to conventional ones, namely, regulations, access to land, pricing, unpaid work, bureaucratisation and socioeconomic accessibility to healthy and sustainable food. In addition, we describe how the relationship between agroecology and the State has shifted from one of opposition to one of recognition. We also consider some of the tensions that have emerged as a consequence of the new positionality of agroecology in relation to the State.