The permaculture community in England (#journal)

Examining Innovation for Sustainability from the Bottom Up: An Analysis of the Permaculture Community in England


This article examines attempts by the permaculture community in England to interact and influence the Agriculture Knowledge System of the mainstream agro-food regime.

Strategic Niche Management and Communities of Practice theory are combined to examine the ways in which the permaculture community has evolved and has sought to develop its agro-ecology message and influence the agro-food regime.
Evidence of second order learning and networking with stakeholders outside the community of practice is limited. A tension between internal activities that reinforce a boundary between the permaculture knowledge system and the wider Agriculture Knowledge System are evident. Some external activities designed to cross boundaries are noted. However, activities designed to translate permaculture ideas into mainstream agriculture have had limited success. This reveals the way that beliefs, values and epistemologies make the process of sustainability transition challenging and complex, particularly when different knowledge systems clash with one another.

Also published here, April 2018: http://www.ccri.ac.uk/maye-permaculture-sociologia-ruralis/

Markets for agroecology (online video)

What type of markets support agroecological and sustainable food systems?
The Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations organizes Technical Seminars/Webinars on Agroecology and related issues to foster an inter-disciplinary exchange of knowledge and field experience on topics that are relevant to sustainable production systems and agroecology. Here is a two hour video of their latest seminar, held on 10th June 2016. Within the seminar, 4 speakers present their research projects, each taking about twenty minutes.

Co-creation in agroecology (online)

Editorial - Co-creation in the practice, science and movement of agroecology

Knowledge building is central to agroecology rooted in family farming. But why? What type of knowledge, and whose knowledge is mobilised? This issue of Farming Matters explores what we really mean by co-creation of knowledge in agroecology, why it is so essential for today’s challenges, and how it takes place around the world.

A European vision for sustainabilty (report)

Sustainabilty Now! A European Vision for Sustainability

Europe becomes aware of the limits of the Blue Planet and of the need for a fair share for all, notably the rapidly growing developing nations and the younger generation. Europe needs to rediscover social market economy principles, including solidarity, and to match it with planetary boundaries to create an inclusive society for all Europeans. Having achieved peace among the European nations, the European Union must secure economic success, social peace and peace with nature: that is the challenge of sustainability. This report seeks to assess the stakes, argues for new forms of governance and addresses a limited number of sustainability hotspots.

Towards an agroecological world (report)

From uniformity to diversity: A paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems

Today’s food and farming systems have succeeded in supplying large volumes of foods to global markets, but are generating negative outcomes on multiple fronts: widespread degradation of land, water and ecosystems; high GHG emissions; biodiversity losses; persistent hunger and micro-nutrient deficiencies alongside the rapid rise of obesity and diet-related diseases; and livelihood stresses for farmers around the world. Many of these problems are linked specifically to ‘industrial agriculture’. What is required is a fundamentally different model of agriculture based on diversifying farms and farming landscapes, replacing chemical inputs, optimizing biodiversity and stimulating interactions between different species, as part of holistic strategies to build long-term fertility, healthy agro-ecosystems and secure livelihoods, i.e. ‘diversified agroecological systems’.

Climate change technolgy wiki (online)

ClimateTechWiki

ClimateTechWiki offers a platform for a wide range of stakeholders in developed and developing countries who are involved in technology transfer and the wider context of low emission and low vulnerability development. It offers detailed information on a broad set of mitigation and adaptation technologies.Registration is free and registered users can add technology case-studies and participate in forum discussions.

Share your research online

Share and promote your research online

ResearchGate is a social networking site for researchers to share papers, ask and answer questions, and find collaborators. It is the largest academic social network in terms of active users. People that wish to use the site need to have an email address at a recognized institution or to be manually confirmed as a published researcher in order to sign up for an account. Members of the site can upload research output including papers, data, chapters, negative results, patents, research proposals, methods, presentations, and software source code. Users may also follow the activities of other users and engage in discussions with them.