Politicizing food consumption: strategies for advancing in agroecological transition

Abstract

The starting point of this paper is the unfeasibility situation of the industrialized agriculture model and the dominant agro-food regime. Building a sustainable alternative is urgently needed. In the last decades, a great number of agroecological experiences have emerged which constitute, by their innovative character, the vanguard of an alternative agro-alimentary system. However, these experiences are not enough to produce a change to upper scales of social organization and even for their own survival as such experiences. The main challenge that Agroecology has raised is to upscaling the agroecological experiences. In this paper we propose a change of focus in the agroecological practice itself, betting on the formation of agro-ecological local food systems that, when winning on a scale, impose a favorable institutional framework. This will only be possible through a social mobilization not only focused on agricultural production or distribution, but on food, weaving social alliances with capacity for change. This can be done by politicizing food consumption.