Stories from the Harvest: December 2022

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We are thrilled to announce our most recent hire on the Food Access Network team: Anna Olson! Anna brings with her a deep well of personal experience – she is a first-generation descendant of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. She spent her childhood on the Flathead Reservation in Western Montana, and her early experiences solidified her passion for serving Native communities. Prior to joining the Northwest Harvest team, Anna worked in statewide legal aid outreach and has a background in crime victim advocacy and prevention.

Anna’s work is guided by a genuine and intentional belief in the value of giving back to folks in Indian Country. She knows it is important to humanize people and avoid the trap of either romanticizing or demonizing them. Anna believes that we should always serve communities with respect, not reverence. People do not need to be perfect to be worthy of support.

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Agricultura regenerativa para un suelo más saludable

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En todo el mundo agrícola, el suelo es el sustrato primario que alimenta cultivos y pastos. Pero, con un manejo adecuado, la agricultura también puede devolver a la tierra la fertilidad de la que se nutre y combatir, de paso, el cambio climático.

Es el propósito de la agricultura regenerativa: recuperar la salud del suelo, tanto en términos de estructura física como de biodiversidad y composición química, por medio de procesos ecológicos.

Las recetas de esa interacción varían en cada contexto. En Cataluña, el Instituto de Investigación y Tecnología Agroalimentarias (IRTA), con la participación del Centro de Investigación Ecológica y Aplicaciones Forestales (CREAF) y la Universidad de Lleida (UdL), ha lanzado este año AgriRegenCat y AgriCarboniCat.

Son dos proyectos complementarios con una línea de investigación común: identificar las mejores prácticas agrícolas para incrementar los servicios ecosistémicos del suelo en distintos cultivos y condiciones climáticas y agrícolas de Cataluña.

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El mayor evento de agricultura regenerativa de la historia anuncia su programa online

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El programa en línea de la ORFC permite a miles de agricultores y activistas alimentarios de todo el mundo participar en la conferencia. El evento acogerá a más de 500 ponentes de 130 países de los seis continentes que comparten la visión de un mejor sistema alimentario y agrícola.

Vandana Shiva, doctora en Física y activista ambiental que lleva cuatro décadas defendiendo a los pequeños agricultores, dijo: “Estaré en la Conferencia de Agricultura Real de Oxford porque la agricultura real nos permite regenerar la biodiversidad de la tierra y el suelo vivo. Sólo mediante la regeneración de los sistemas vivos podremos sanar el planeta y la sociedad. La agricultura real es la revolución que necesitamos”.

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The Myth of No-Till: The Future is Regenerative Organic Agriculture

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The Rodale Institute’s 40-Year-Report on their Farming Systems Trial should end the myth of the toxic, GMO herbicide, no-till systems. Rodale’s scientific trials clearly show that these degenerative no-till systems are inferior to Regenerative Organic Agriculture on every key criterion. (Rodale 2022)

The Farming Systems Trial showed that the organic manure systems that used standard or limited tillage had higher levels of soil organic matter (soil organic carbon) and higher crop yields than GMO herbicide no-till. The trials produced the highest yields of maize in the tilled organic manure system and the best increases in soil organic carbon where the organic manure system used limited tillage. The limited tillage field was tilled every second year. Very significantly, 40 years of research show that organic maize yields have been 31 percent higher than conventional/industrial farming systems in drought years.

Photo credit: Unsplash

No-till does not produce higher levels of SOC

This information is consistent with a large body of science that shows that herbicide no-till systems do not produce higher levels of soil organic carbon (SOC) than tillage systems.

An earlier US  study comparing herbicide GMO no-till with an organic agricultural tillage system compared multiple parameters. The organic system found better soil quality, including SOC levels. The results found that systems incorporating high amounts of organic inputs from manure and cover crops can improve soils more than no-tillage systems despite reliance on a minimum level of tillage. (Teasdale, Coffman and Mangum 2007) .

Researchers conducted a meta-analysis of 74 published studies comparing no-till and full-tillage management. They found that no-till can reduce SOC stocks, cause losses in crop yields, and cause a decline in Carbon (C) inputs depending on climate. Yields can also increase with no-till adoption in some instances. C input losses greater than 15% with the adoption of no-till lead to a loss of SOC. (Ogle, Swan and Paustian 2012)

Research from Ohio State University compared carbon levels between no-till and tillage fields and found that, in some cases, carbon storage was more significant in the tillage fields. The key is soil depth. They compared the carbon storage between no-till and plowed fields with the plow depth of 20 cm and found that the carbon storage was generally much more significant in no-till fields than in plowed fields. When they examined 30 cm and deeper, they found more carbon stored in plowed fields than in the no-till ones. The researchers concluded that farmers should not measure soil carbon based on surface depth. They recommended going as much as one meter below the soil surface to get a more accurate assessment of SOC. (Christopher, Lal and Mishra 2009)

A review of 120 papers on SOC sequestration by researchers from universities in Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Ohio compared the difference between the no-till and tilled plots.  Their findings did not support SOC sequestration claims of the no-till industry. They found that the no-till subsurface layer often loses more SOC stock over time than is gained in the surface layer. (Olson 2013)

Photo credit: Unsplash

Understanding Soil Organic Matter

The push for no-till is partially the result of the multiple roles of soil organic matter being ignored by agricultural workers. The other driver has been the sale of $billion of toxic herbicides and GMOs.

This lack of research into organic systems has resulted in fundamental errors in understanding how the cycling of soil organic matter works to release nutrients, build soil health and assist with water capture and retention.

Cycling the labile (short-term) organic matter fraction is the key to nutrient availability. Short-term soil disturbances, like animals trampling pasture and the correct tillage systems, oxygenate the soil. This stimulates soil microbes to feed on the soil organic matter, releasing nutrients. There is a massive misunderstanding about the role of microbes that oxidize soil organic matter. A certain level of oxidization is essential to release the nutrients to feed the crops. Without oxidization, many minerals can be locked into the organic matter. The key is to correctly manage the cycles of both the short-term and long-term soil organic matter fractions. We want the labile fraction to actively cycle and continuously release nutrients to feed growing crops. This can be done while increasing the stable soil organic matter fractions. (Leu 2021b)

Labile (Short-Term) Fraction

The labile fraction is composed of decaying organic matter. This is the most crucial part of the two main soil organic matter  (SOM) cycles. This is the stage in which microbes break down the residues of crops, leaves, twigs, branches, root excretions, animal manures, and animal remains and release all of their minerals, sugars, and other compounds into the soil to feed plants and other microorganisms. This complex process is known as the soil food web or the soil microbiome.

The key to this cycle is that it needs to be continuously fed with fresh organic matter—the molecules of life—to ensure that it is active.

Some models in books and scientific papers describe this cycle and then look no deeper into the SOM cycles. These models assume that all the carbon in the organic matter has to be completely decayed into carbon dioxide (CO2) for the minerals to be released as nutrition to plants. In natural ecosystems and under good management, though, some parts of the decaying organic matter form stable soil organic matter fractions.

Stable (Long-Lasting) Fraction

The most stable organic matter fractions are humus, glomalin (from fungi), and charcoal (char). Research shows that humus and char can last for thousands of years in the soil. Other fractions are less stable (labile) and can easily volatilize into CO2.

It is the lignins of plants that form humus, the most stable and important form of SOM. These are found in mature coarse plants. The key to increasing humus and building long-term stable SOM is to allow cover and cash crops to fully mature.

Photo credit: Unsplash

The Correct Tillage Systems

Correct tillage systems stimulate the microbiome to bio-degrade the short-term SOM fractions, releasing nutrients to the cash and cover crops. When this is done properly, a percentage of this organic matter is transformed by the soil microbiome into the stable soil organic matter fraction, increasing long-term SOM levels.

In well-managed systems, there can be a short decline in SOM levels as it is consumed by the soil microbiome to release nutrients to the crop, but SOM levels do increase in the long term. The correct management systems quickly replenish and increase SOM due to the roots of high-quality cover/cash crops excreting the molecules of life into the soil. This is the carbon gift / liquid carbon pathway.

The key to ensuring that the system is increasing and/or maintaining SOM levels is to continuously feed it with fresh organic matter—the molecules of life—so that it is active. This is done by growing plants. Bare soil should be covered with plants as quickly as possible.

Synthetic Nitrogen Fertilizers cause a Decline in SOC

The main reason for the loss of soil carbon in farming systems is not tillage; it is synthetic nitrogen fertilizers. Research shows that there is a direct link between the application of synthetic nitrogenous fertilizers and a decline in soil carbon. (Khan et al. 2007, Mulvaney et al. 2009, Man et al. 2021)

Scientists at the University of Illinois analyzed the results of a fifty-year agricultural trial. They found that applying synthetic nitrogen fertilizer had resulted in all the carbon residues from the crop disappearing, as well as an average loss of around 10,000 Lbs of soil carbon per Acre (10,000 kg of soil carbon per hectare). This is around 36,700 pounds of carbon dioxide per acre (36,700 kg of CO2 per hectare) over and above the many thousands of pounds of crop residues that are converted into carbon dioxide yearly. The researchers found that the higher the application of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer, the greater the amount of soil carbon lost as CO2. This is one of the major reasons there is a decline in soil carbon in industrial agricultural systems and an increase in organic systems. (Khan et al. 2007, Mulvaney et al. 2009)

Regenerative Organic Agriculture is the Future

It is a myth that the toxic degenerative GMO herbicide no-till systems can give higher crop yields and significant increases in soil organic carbon.

The fact is that we have enough high-quality studies now to show that Regenerative Organic Agriculture has the highest yields and the best increases in soil organic carbon.

Scaling up Regenerative Organic Agriculture can reverse climate change, increase biodiversity, improve water capture and retention, stop soil loss, be more profitable for farmers and ranchers, and very significantly nourish the world with high yields of healthy non-toxic food.

References:

           Christopher S. F, Lal R and Mishra, U, 2009. Long-term no-till effects on carbon sequestration in the Midwestern U.S. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 73: 207-216.

            Khan, S.A., R.L. Mulvaney, T.R. Ellsworth, and C.W. Boast. 2007. The myth of nitrogen fertilization for soil carbon sequestration. Journal of Environmental Quality 36:1821-1832. \

            Leu A 2013, Commentary V: Mitigating climate change with soil organic matter in organic production systems. TRADE AND ENVIRONMENT REVIEW, 2013, WAKE UP BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE, Ed. Ulrich Hoffman, UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2012/3 UNITED NATIONS PUBLICATION  ISSN 1810-5432

            Leu A  2014, THE POTENTIAL FOR MITIGATION AND ADAPTATION TO CLIMATE CHANGE WITH SOIL ORGANIC MATTER INCREASES IN ORGANIC PRODUCTION SYSTEMS. Acta Horticulturae. 1018, 75-82

            Leu A 2021a, Our Global Regeneration Revolution: Organic 3.0 to Regenerative and Organic Agriculture https://regenerationinternational.org/2021/07/12/our-global-regeneration-revolution-organic-3-0-to-regenerative-and-organic-agriculture/

            Leu A 2021b, GROWING LIFE, REGENERATING FARMING AND RANCHING, Acres USA, Greeley Colorado, USA, December 2021

            Mulvaney, R.L., S.A., Khan, and T.R. Ellsworth. 2009. Synthetic nitrogen fertilizers deplete soil nitrogen: A global dilemma for sustainable cereal production. Journal of Environmental Quality 38:2295-2314.

            Man, M., B. Deen, K.E. Dunfield, C.Wagner-Riddle, and M.J. Simpson. 2021.Altered soil organic matter composition and degradation after a decade of nitrogen fertilization in a temperate agroecosystem. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 310:107305.

            Ogle SM, Swan A and Paustian K. 2012,  No-till management impacts on crop productivity, carbon input and soil carbon sequestration, Agriculture, Ecosystems &Environment,

Volume 149, 1 March 2012, Pages 37-49 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.agee.2011.12.010

            Olson K R 2013, Soil organic carbon sequestration, storage, retention and loss in U.S. croplands: Issues paper for protocol development. Geoderma, 2013; 195-196: 201 DOI: 10.1016/j.geoderma.2012.12.004

            Rodale 2022, Farming Systems Trial 40-YEAR REPORT, Rodale Institute, https://rodaleinstitute.org/science/farming-systems-trial, Accessed December 8, 2022

            Teasdale JR, Coffman CB and Mangum RW (2007). Potential long-term benefits of no-tillage and organic cropping systems for grain production and soil improvement. Agronomy Journal, Sept–Oct, 99 (5): 1297-1305.

En Cataluña investigan como cuidar el suelo a través de agricultura regenerativa

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La conservación y recuperación del suelo es uno de los temas más importantes en lo que respecta a buenas prácticas agrícolas actuales. El avance de la agricultura sobre terrenos con poca estructura sumado a los efectos del cambio climático, está generando una gran pérdida de este recurso tan indispensable como limitado.

El propósito de la agricultura regenerativa es recuperar la salud del suelo, ya sea en lo que respecta a estructura física como de biodiversidad y composición química, por medio de procesos ecológicos.

Proyectos para un suelo más saludable

Con la idea de seguir sumando en agricultura regenerativa, han lanzado recientemente desde el IRTA y en conjunto con el Centro de Investigación Ecológica y Aplicaciones Forestales (CREAF) y la Universidad de Lleida (UdL), los proyectos AgriRegenCat y AgriCarboniCat. Ambos proyectos están enfocados en la agricultura de Cataluña y los factores bióticos y abióticos que influyen sobre ella y cuyo objetivo común es identificar las mejores prácticas agrícolas para incrementar los servicios ecosistémicos del suelo.

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Reginaldo Haslett-Marroquín Receives the 2022 Eco-Ag Achievement Award

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The Eco-Ag Achievement Award is given out annually in early December by Acres U.S.A., the Voice of Eco-Agriculture, to a practicing leader in the eco-agriculture industry. Starting in 1994, past winners include Gabe Brown, Dr. Vandana Shiva, Gary Zimmer, André Leu and dozens of others still actively working today.

“This year, our award winner is a man that goes by many names, literally and figuratively,” said Sarah Day Levesque, GM of Events and Media at Acres U.S.A., in her introduction of the award. “Those who listen to him speak know him as a passionate visionary whose dedication to pushing for smart, regenerative change is unmatched.”

Haslett-Marroquín has been a strong leader in the movement for developing innovative poultry-centered regenerative agriculture systems around the world. He is the founder and board president of the Regenerative Agriculture Alliance, and co-founder/CEO of Tree-Range Farms. He is also a practicing regenerative farmer at Salvatierra Farms in Minnesota.

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La muerte de los suelos y el cambio climático

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La agricultura convencional difundida por la “revolución verde”, con arado y agroquímicos, está acabando con la vida orgánica de los suelos y llevando a la desertificación de dos tercios de la superficie del planeta. En el pasado, la muerte de los suelos acabó con grandes civilizaciones en el Medio Oriente, África y Asia, y ahora está erosionando la gran planicie norteamericana hasta un punto de no retorno. En Colombia la muerte de los suelos ha erosionado un 40 % de la superficie del país y es la causa directa de las inundaciones en 850 municipios, luego de tres años seguidos del fenómeno climático de La Niña.

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Las consecuencias son múltiples. Primera, los suelos se vuelven emisores de CO2 en vez de ser sumideros de carbono, como ocurre cuando hay microorganismos y plantas, agravando el cambio climático.

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Monthly Newsletter – Vía Orgánica

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For organic regenerative agriculture, fair trade,
social justice, sustainable living and sustainable production 

Ranch news

EDUCATIONAL RANCH VÍA ORGÁNICA

Another regenerative, transformative and biodiverse year

We completed a new cycle of seasons and despite the climatic irregularities, an increase in the amount of soil inoculated and recovered after rainfall is perceived, which is stored more thanks to the organic matter added throughout the farm. This encourages active microbiology and with it, grasslands and forest areas have been restored, increasing the amount of biomass each year allowing its transformation into proteins such as eggs, lamb, duck and rabbit meat, increasing the soil’s capacity as a store and water sponge, CO2 capture, among other benefits.

This year we remodeled the organic fertilizer station with the support of Germán, Diego and Don Nacho, a work inspired by CEDICAM (Center for Integral Farmer Development), which trains and shares experiences among farmers to produce living food and healthy soils by promoting the use of local inputs and beneficial microbiology. Jesús León Santos, leader of this organization and winner of the Goldman Environmental Prize, trained us.

Thanks to the rescue of ancestral seed varieties by the team of the Alegria sisters, biodiversity has increased. The Alegria sisters have maintained and improved the seed house, which allows exchange with other producers.

If we could fly like the huitlacoche or the mockingbird that brighten up the park with their song every morning, we could notice a small green dot in the Jalpa Valley that vibrates from the ground and even the cosmos for the life that every day is expressed in different ways thanks to the ecological management and the hands and hearts that protect and maintain this Agroecological Park free of pesticides.

Packages

Billion Agave Project

The Billion Agave Project is three years old now and the project has already established a fermented maguey forage production station enriched with leguminous species, such as mesquite or guaje. The interest of producers has increased to generate reserve forage for the 8 months of drought. Forage that not only has reduced animal feed costs but also the pressure on grazing areas, allowing the recovery of landscapes with better soil retention and vegetation cover. A forage shredding machine designed by Engineer Jose Flores of Rancho Zamarripa was shipped to Oaxaca to CEDICAM assisting the network of more than 1500 farmers organized and ready to use the maguey for their livestock.

Finally, a production cycle of mesquite seedlings was completed, which are produced from January to September and planted during the rainy season in different research plots, reaching 90% of success in the establishment of the seedlings, along with the small seedling nursery, other native leguminous species with forage potential received from INIFAP in Celaya are also germinated. Thanks to its rapid establishment, the maguey has been the guest of honor this year and the only thing to do is to keep growing it, the plant will be in charge of doing everything else.

Seasonal Crop

Do It Yourself

November is gone, leaving us with cold weather and a little moisture left by a storm. This can be taken as an advantage to make a rotation of our crop areas and recover the balance of the soil. We recommend the following:

1.- Take the time to inspect your orchard: check which crops developed better, which ones adapted according to the sun, shade or season, take your general notes of the orchard, this will allow you to plan for the next cycle.

2.-Evaluate your soil, check how much it improved or if it is compacted and it’s worth repeating the preparation of the double digging or even incorporate more compost.

3.- Take the opportunity to plant something cold, remember not to repeat the same crop in the same place to recover the soil and break the cycle of some bugs or diseases.

4.- Direct sow radish, carrots, cilantro, arugula. You can also make a mixture of salad leaves and sow a section, usually salad leaves are adapted to cool weather. You can mix several types of lettuces, with mustard, watercress, arugula and you will harvest a delicious mix.

Water in the evenings and avoid losing moisture during the day.

Ranch Recipes

INGREDIENTS:

– 5 medium size cooked beets
– 3 oranges
– 2 shelled jicama
– 4 apples
– 2 limes
– 12 pieces of sugar cane, rind removed
– 1 cup of cleaned peanuts
– 1 split lettuce
– 2 cloves
– 200 grams of piloncillo
– 2 pinches of salt
– 3 tablespoons of honey
– 2 tablespoons of homemade vinegar or apple cider vinegar
– 1 teaspoon of coarse pepper
– Water, as needed

PROCEDURE:

Cook the beets with the piloncillo, cloves, salt and water. Leave a little bit of stem to the beets so that they have a good color.

Slice all the fruits. Remove the seeds from the oranges and limes to prevent them from turning sour.

Mix everything so that all the fruit is painted and let it sit for 15 minutes.

Surprise your family and enjoy this Christmas salad with your favorite dishes.

Inspirations

This month we have two important dates, December 3 is World Day for the Non-Use of Pesticides and December 5 is World Soil Day. Vía Orgánica is part of the National Campaign Sin Maíz no Hay País (Without Corn There is No Country) and our director in the CDMX, Mercedes López Martínez, is the representative of the class action lawsuit against GMO corn in Mexico. Through the lawsuit, a struggle is being waged that encompasses, among many others, these two issues: a struggle against pesticides and for the health of the soil. This month we share with you the documentary: “The World According to Monsanto” directed by Marie-Monique Robin, which has inspired many people in this struggle to continue defending our planet and our corn.

December Activities

January Activities

DON’T FORGET TO VISIT US!

Remember that we are open from 8 am to 6 pm
Carretera México/ Querétaro, turnoff  to Jalpa, km 9
Agroecological Park Vía Orgánica.
For information on our products, seeds and harvest,
call our store at 442 757 0490.
Every Saturday and Sunday nixtamalized tortilla with Creole and local corn!
Enjoy our sweet and sour kale chips for children and not so children!

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How Pastoral Farming Can Help to Avoid a Biodiversity Crisis

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The world is losing its biodiversity. An estimated 41,000 animal species are now threatened with extinction. World leaders will convene at the UN COP15 biodiversity conference in Montreal this month to discuss ways of reversing this decline.

Participants are expected to adopt a global framework that sets out measures to safeguard biodiversity. One approach is to conserve 30% of the world’s land and sea area through protected areas and other conservation measures in areas of limited human activity. Some campaigners are calling for this target to be met by the end of the decade.

But much of the land set aside for protection is occupied by indigenous people who may be excluded or displaced. Mobile pastoral farmers are one such group. Millions of pastoralists graze livestock across a variety of environments worldwide.

Case studies from around the world indicate that including pastoral communities in conservation initiatives can help to address the tensions that emerge around protected areas, while improving biodiversity.

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Women Voices from Global South Discussing Food Sovereignty and  Climate Change at COP 27

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During COP 27, a group of women from Abya Yala(1) raised their firm and deep voices to speak up about food sovereignty in regions that are so different and yet alike as America and Africa. The talk was organized by Regeneration International and OMANIAP.

At the Green area of the climate summit in the Tutankhamun auditory, the powerful female voices pondered about the impact of climate change in the lives of women and their communities, the consequences for food sovereignty and the importance of ancestral science and knowledge, demanding public policies to guarantee their rights, territories, water, biodiversity, seeds and preserve their traditional foods.

Mercedes López, Vía Organica’s Director in Mexico City started the discussion in the panel speaking about the need for communities to choose the concept of food sovereignty over food security (used by FAO). Food sovereignty is more comprehensive and prioritizes food, ancestral seeds, territories, and water for the people. It is the people who have the option to choose healthy, local and nutritious food and the right to protect themselves from poor quality agricultural imports foreign to their traditional diet. López insisted on the importance of the participation of communities in agricultural policy; prioritizing and acknowledging farmers’ voices.

Food security, on the other hand, implies access to sufficient food regardless of its origin, processing and use of agrochemicals and/or transgenic seeds,  all this without respect or consideration to food culture and pertinence.

She called out the fact that Coca-Cola and Nestle where sponsors of COP 27. Companies that have favoured  industrial agriculture, warming of the planet and cause of  obesity and malnutrition; in addition to polluting the planet with their plastic containers and using water reserves.

Precious Phiri, Regeneration International’s African Coordinator, pointed out that climate change is strongly impacting women from the Global South, and made the point that the term climate change does not seem to her strong enough and it would be better to talk of climate emergency, with economic and social consequences.

She mentioned that it is important to go beyond food security, under which groups of donors are pushing communities to have access to any type of food, just like the  green revolution model pushed by Big Ag, without taking care of diversity and specificity of nutrition amongst different communities.

This represents a big challenge for farmer communities that are pressured to adopt a model that places them in insecure situations and the answer ends up being worse than the problem. She concluded her participation commenting that climate emergency is creating a very serious economic, environmental, and social situation and it affects more women, who have the challenge to feed their families.

Wilma Mendoza, President of the National Confederation of Indigenous Women from Bolivia (CNAMIB, by its Spanish Initials) mentioned how indigenous women are fighting to keep their identity, seeds, and territories in the face of GMOs and industrial agriculture.

She explained that in Bolivia food sovereignty and security topics are included within the Development Plan, but monocrops are still supported.

Mendoza mentioned that women are more aware about the need to eat  their own foods with no agrochemicals or GMOs , and are the seed keepers. It is women-she went on- , who are more affected by droughts, flooding, frosts, plagues and deforestation.

On her turn, Mayra Macedo, Secretary of the National Organization of Andean and Amazona Indigenous Women of Peru (ONAMIAP) mentioned that public policies and food programs in Peru are insufficient and promote monocrops such as oil palm and papaya, invading their Amazonian lands, destroying the rainforest and polluting it.

Macedo said that there are two social central food programs: school breakfast which is deficient because it includes high processed foods and beverages, that only benefit the economy of companies that sell these products and not the communities and promoting raising backyard animals such as guinea pigs which cannot survive in the Amazonian region because they live in cold climates like the Andes. She criticized the lack of vision and knowledge in both programs.

She went on making a call for women to become involved in policy making, specifically in social programs designed to bring back food sovereignty.

The last speaker was Melania Canales Poma, Leader of the Quechua People and Coordinator of the Continental Network of Indigenous Women from America (ECMIA-South Region) who  said that indigenous women demand guarantees and respect to their collective territories. She mentioned as an example that in Peru, 49% of the territory is in the hands of farmer and native communities, but the land is being invaded and they are being dispossessed in various legal ways.

She went on wondering how food sovereignty would be possible if women are being deprived of their land and pointed out the importance of reviewing the legal status of the territories. It is indigeneous woman, after all, who have raised their voices against GMOs and defended ancestral knowledges.It is indigeneous women who have demanded rights, opposed machismo, extractivism and dispossession.

The talk ended with comments and questions from the audience,  summing up the importance of preserving indigenous practices, knowledge and science from the ancestors; to resist transculturation of nutrition and colonialist customs acquired through migration; demanding recognition and visibility of  women’s inputs with fair payments; organization in biocultural spaces; as well as preserving ancestral traditions such as rainwater capture to face the scarcity that is prevailing around the world.

Even though it was a small space in the middle of a vast array of side events, conferences and high level debates, this group of women showed that they  are organizing, fighting and proposing new alternatives every day to defend biodiversity, seeds, territory and women’s dignity in different communities all over the world.

1 Abya Yala in Kuna language (Colombia and Panama) means earth, life, territory, flourishing land. “Abia” means “hole of blood”, “mature mother”, “mature virgin”, “land in its full ripeness”. The term is used to name the territory between the American Continent.