Agroecology Knowledge Hub

Circular and solidarity economy: it reconnects producers and consumers and provides innovative solutions for living within our planetary boundaries while ensuring the social foundation for inclusive and sustainable development

Agroecology seeks to reconnect producers and consumers through a circular and solidarity economy that prioritizes local markets and supports local economic development by creating virtuous cycles. Agroecological approaches promote fair solutions based on local needs, resources and capacities, creating more equitable and sustainable markets. Strengthening short food circuits can increase the incomes of food producers while maintaining a fair price for consumers. These include new innovative markets, alongside more traditional territorial markets, where most smallholders market their products.

Social and institutional innovations play a key role in encouraging agroecological production and consumption. Examples of innovations that help link producers and consumers include participatory guarantee schemes, local producer’s markets, denomination of origin labelling, community supported agriculture and e-commerce schemes. These innovative markets respond to a growing demand from consumers for healthier diets.

Re-designing food systems based on the principles of circular economy can help address the global food waste challenge by making food value chains shorter and more resource-efficient. Currently, one third of all food produced is lost or wasted, failing to contribute to food security and nutrition, while exacerbating pressure on natural resources. The energy used to produce food that is lost or wasted is approximately 10 percent of the world’s total energy consumption, while the food waste footprint is equivalent to 3.5 Gt CO2 of greenhouse gas emissions per year.

Database

The First Chilean Congress of Agroecology, organized by the University of La Frontera and the Chilean chapter of the Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (SOCLA-Chile), will be held at the Pucón Campus of the University of La Frontera during the 17 and 18 of October 2019. Under the slogan...
Chile
Event
2019
'Sembrando Capacidades' - a trilateral South-South cooperation project between Brazil, Colombia and FAO is coming to an end after two years of work focused on strengthening instruments and policies for a peasant, family, and community agriculture in Colombia through knowledge management and the exchange of experiences between the two countries in four areas:...
Colombia
Project
2021
The West African Organic Conference (WAOC) is held every two years in one of the countries in the sub-region. So far, Nigeria, Benin and Mali have hosted it. This year it will be held with the theme Organic Agriculture ''Life for all'' in Accra, Ghana at the University of Ghana, Legon...
Ghana
Event
2019
The main aim of the conference is to engage with key policy makers and stakeholders, including from the government at central and local levels, parliament, development partners, civil society, private sector, academia and media, to exhibit and exchange best cases on how EOA is at the core of sustainable development...
United Republic of Tanzania
Event
2019
The 7th edition of the Forum Origin, Diversity and Territories – ODT 2019 proposes to explore and put into perspective the theme of agroecology: Multiple Transitions of Territories. The ODT Forum is a unique learning experience, which will be held in 2019 between 4 and 6 December in Lausanne, in...
Event
2019