“The Innovation Imperative”: The Struggle Over Agroecology in the International Food Policy Arena

Colin R Anderson,Chris Maughan

doi:10.3389/fsufs.2021.619185

Abstract

As the gravity of the global social and ecological crises become more apparent, there is a growing recognition of the need for social transformation. In this article, we use a combination of narrative case study and discourse analysis to better understand how transformative concepts, such as agroecology, are shaped as they as they enter mainstream discursive arenas. We probe the different characteristics of the “innovation frame” and how they qualify and give meaning to agroecology. Our case study narrates the recent emergence of agroecology in the UN space and its relationship to the discursive frame of innovation. We then undertake a systematic discourse analysis of comments provided in an online consultation process on the “Agroecology and Other Innovations” report by the 2019 High-Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) in the World Committee on Food Security. We examine how different actors positioned themselves vis-a-vis the innovation frame and we analyse the discursive strategies used to advance particular political agendas. Our analysis reveals three primary sub-frames within the innovation frame (Evidence; Technology; Rights) which were deployed by both proponents and detractors of agroecology. We focus on the notion of social agency, and its different presentations, within the three sub-frames which raises a number of problematics of the innovation frame, not only for agroecology, but for sustainability transformations more widely.

Highlights

For at least a decade, proponents of agroecology have been hammering loudly at the gates of international policy arenas
What kind of discursive maneuvers—or what we outline below as “framings”—are being used to influence rapidly emerging discourses of agricultural and agroecological innovation? how can certain framings end up limiting “transformational” potential; that is, the ability of systems to move in the direction of justice and sustainability? To analyse the relationship between the innovation frame and agroecology, we explore the process behind the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE) report (2019) mentioned above, in particular the public consultation which helped to shape its eventual content
While elements and practices of agroecology had been present in the FAO for many years, it was since ∼2010 when civil society, in concert with a handful of supportive governments, began to push for agroecology in FAO in a substantial way

Summary

Introduction

For at least a decade, proponents of agroecology have been hammering loudly at the gates of international policy arenas. In essence, their claim has been that agroecology has the potential to address the myriad and intertwined crises of food sustainability and social justice. In an attempt to rebut these criticisms, civil society groups—mainly via the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS)—requested the production of a report on agroecology from the High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE), a respected body designed to provide independent, evidence-based analysis, and advice to the CFS. This report would, as the authors themselves described it, gather evidence and make recommendations to inform “major transformation of whole food systems” (HLPE, 2019)

Methods

Results

Conclusion