Exploring Agroecology : agroecology, urban agriculture and farming in secluded areas

Abstract: Agroecology, due to its framework and prerequisites, is a limited set of principles with lacking flexibility. Its objective is to create fairer food networks, that are sustainable, on a global scale yet it is seldom seen in practice. Its unconventional means are not convincing enough to engage larger amounts of people who partake in agriculture. Instead of coinciding with innovative farming strategies and working on their improvement, agroecology often rejects them. This paper and study focuses on three different cases of farming systems, located in Stockholm, Lund and Longyearbyen. All have special prerequisites for agricultural activity in terms of location and purpose of the farming system. The aim is to examine to what extent they are applicable within agroecology framework, how fair they can be considered to be with regards to agroecology, and if agroecology can be considered to be an exclusive set of principles. Three case studies, of the different farming systems, were constructed. Semi-structured interviews and participatory observations functioned as core tools in order to obtain subjective thoughts on agricultural activity approaches as well as in depth information on the different components, both socio-economic and natural aspects, that the farming system consists of. To further contribute to the informative quality of the case studies, Peanut Model, stake holder analysis, SWOT-analysis tools were included. To aid the comparison between the different cases and agroecology a Venn Diagram was applied. The results revealed that different farming system’s locations, along with mind-sets of the people operating them, has created scenarios and structures that are applicable within agroecology framework. However, also due to the locations the farming systems, along with the small scale of one of the farming systems, they cannot excel within agroecology, due its natural prerequisites and hence become fairer and more sustainable. Aspects like ecological diversity and intensification are hard for farming systems dependent on technology to achieve. Therefore, not all farming system can adopt agroecology features to a full extent, and therefore with regards to agroecology, cannot become completely fair. Its principles can be considered exclusive. If agroecology is to become a broader term, that is commonly discussed, it should operate in a manner that takes all types of farming into consideration, including how farming systems with lacking natural prerequisites for agriculture can become fairer.