Chair in Agroecology and Food Systems

The International Year of Family Farming was celebrated in 2014 with activities around the world to raise awareness and appreciation of this kind of agriculture and its role in ensuring the right to food, environmental sustainability and social justice. In turn, 2015 was targeted in the World Food Summit of 1996 as the year in which the number of hungry would be halved. As we are still far from achieving this goal, there is growing recognition that a paradigm shift is needed, and a transition to agroecological food systems can respond to the current multi-dimensional crisis (social, ecological and economic).

In this context, UVic-UCC created the Chair in Agroecology and Food Systems in 2015 to promote social transformation. The Chair contributes to enhancing the value of family farming and promoting more sustainable, fairer food systems, as part of what is known, in scientific terms, as alternative food systems.

Mission

The Chair's mission is to generate, disseminate and transfer knowledge on alternative food systems to bring about social transformation and create a living rural environment, through the promotion of agroecology, joint generation of knowledge, the solidarity economy and social innovations.

The Chair aims to act as a meeting place for stakeholders in the area of agri-food systems. It promotes collaboration between the Chair's researchers and associations, groups, companies and individuals associated with agroecology, and with internationally recognised researchers and professionals in the field of agroecological food systems, food security and food sovereignty.

The Chair also aims to build collaborative relationships with agri-food groups and institutions in the area surrounding the UVic-UCC and in the rest of Catalonia, to promote research projects and initiatives and policies to promote agroecological production and alternative food systems.

Finally, the Chair aims to establish a new model for relationships between the public and their food system by promoting short distribution channels, critical and responsible consumerism and the right to food.

Areas of work

The Chair in Agroecology and Food Systems is focused on the following areas of work, among others that are of interest to the Catalan agroecological sector:

Study of food systems that are complex socio-ecological systems based on agroecology.
Promotion of environmentally sustainable and socially fair food systems that use available resources rationally.
Systematization, facilitation and stimulation of agroecological processes.
Research focused on meeting the needs of those involved in agroecological practices, for example, studies of short distribution channels and small-scale food production.
Study, recovery, dissemination and promotion of local traditional knowledge as a tool for sustainable development, adaptation to climate change and food safety.
Promotion, study and dissemination of rural heritage, including the agricultural landscape.
Study and dissemination of sustainable, healthy food consumption.
Promotion of the right to food.
Study of the relation between agroecology, food security, and food sovereignty.
Study of the relation between agroecology and consumption from a broad perspective.
Study and diffusion of the role of women and young people in the area of agri-food, and specifically within agroecology.
Creation of collaborative networks, to support agroecological processes and entrepreneurs and social movements relating to agroecology and food sovereignty.
Development and application of innovative research and communication methods.
Interdisciplinary integration of the gender perspective into the aforementioned areas of work, and more specifically the study of associations and contributions of ecofeminism to agroecology.