Resisting the vineyard invasion: Anti-pesticide movements as a vehicle for territorial food democracy and just sustainability transitions

Abstract

Academic literature has so far explored food democracy and citizen participation in agri-food system governance mainly in relation to the ‘food’ end of agri-food systems, and primarily in urban contexts. We argue that this focus can be usefully extended to agricultural production and to wider territorial processes occurring in rural areas. In this study, we examine the development of a grassroots movement demanding stricter municipal regulation of agricultural pesticide use and support for a more sustainable and localised agri-food system. The study site, located in the north-eastern Italian Alps, has in recent years been characterized by the spread of intensive agriculture, particularly due to the expansion of vineyards. Our conceptual framework brings together the literature on food democracy and just sustainability transitions, seen from a territorial perspective. We use this framework to examine the role played by civil society organisations and alternative food networks in municipal and territorial agri-food system governance. The results show how the grassroots anti-pesticide mobilisation played a key role in reforming municipal pesticide regulations and in slowing down the spread of intensive agriculture in the province. We also draw attention to the framings used by activists to gain the support of public opinion and local administrators. Finally, we discuss the role played by different forms of food democracy processes in facilitating the emergence of a territorial vision of just sustainability transitions.