Challenging the Mainstream: Italy’s Food and Farming Movement Beyond Ecological Agriculture

Foodthink Speaks

Internationally, a growing number of scholars, policymakers and practitioners have begun to promote and adopt the concept of “agroecology”. In the Chinese-speaking world, this somewhat unfamiliar term is often rendered as “ecological agriculture”. However, the phrase falls far short of capturing agroecology’s rich meaning, which encompasses science, practice and social movement all at once.

In what context was agroecology first proposed? What transformations has it undergone? Which communities in Italy are practising agroecology? On 18 July, Chiara Bartoletti (Mujiale), a doctoral student at the University of Venice, shared her involvement in and observations of the agroecology movement with Foodthink. This article is compiled from her presentation.

I. From the Green Revolution to Agroecology

In the 1940s, the renowned agronomist Norman Borlaug (Norman Borlaug) developed in Mexico a high-yield, disease-resistant dwarf wheat by crossing North American and Japanese wheat varieties. Over the next three decades, the dwarf wheat varieties he cultivated spread across the world.

In 1968, when William Gaud of the United States Agency for International Development first coined the term “Green Revolution”, dwarf wheat became a symbol of humanitarian action against hunger, and technological development was cast as a standard-bearer for universal peace. Two years later, Borlaug was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his scientific contributions.

◉A 1971 local newspaper report on Borlaug in the United States. Source: Minneapolis Sunday Tribune

It cannot be denied that the high-yield wheat varieties produced through intensive farming helped lift many people out of hunger. At the same time, the implementation of the Green Revolution in Latin America, India and other regions has harmed local social and ecological environments.

The main beneficiaries of intensive farming have been multinational corporations and large landowners. Once export-oriented structures displaced smallholder farming, many farmers lost their land as a basic means of subsistence, along with indigenous agricultural knowledge.

Monoculture cropping also threatens local ecological balance. The high yields of hybrid varieties typically demand heavy use of chemical fertilisers and pesticides. On the one hand, soaring input costs exacerbate smallholders’ competitive disadvantage and widen social inequality; on the other, soil organic matter is greatly depleted and diverse farmland ecosystems are destroyed.

As agricultural production grows ever more unsustainable, the importance of agroecology becomes increasingly apparent.

In the 1930s, the Russian agronomist Bensin first put forward the concept of agroecology. Unlike traditional agronomy, which focuses primarily on the crop itself, agroecology emphasises a systems-based approach: by mimicking natural ecosystems, it strives to develop agricultural systems that protect soil health and biodiversity while securing crop yields. Its methods include long-term observation and measurement of local ecosystems, using cover crops to manage and control pests and diseases, and designing integrated crop–livestock circular farming systems.

◉In the 1980s, US scientist Altieri further developed agroecology.

Agricultural technology is inseparable from the political and economic systems in which it operates. Changes in the global food system have highlighted agroecology’s scientific significance and laid the groundwork for its social dimensions.

Scientists of the era began to reflect on whom their research truly served. They wished to embed knowledge in society, which in agroecological practice meant reducing external inputs and making the most of the resources and techniques already available to local smallholders.

A typical example is the Indigenous Americas’ “Three Sisters” planting method. The three crops — corn, squash and beans — complement one another: corn provides a trellis for climbing, beans fix nitrogen, and squash vines spread as ground cover to retain soil moisture. This is similar to traditional Chinese resource-utilisation practices such as “rice–fish co-culture” and “mulberry-dike fish ponds” — only by combining “local” wisdom with “foreign” science can action be taken that truly benefits local people and their environment.

◉Smallholders in Aohan, Inner Mongolia, and Shitou Cheng, Yunnan, also have their own “Three Sisters” planting. Photography: Foodthink

The environmental movement, beginning in the 1960s, further propelled the development of agroecology.

In 1962, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring made the public aware of the ills of modern agricultural technology. Before then, there was virtually no awareness of the harm chemical pesticides posed to the environment and human health.

Following advocacy by Carson and other scholars, activists and civil society groups, the US government responded. In 1970, the Environmental Protection Agency was established, and in 1972 the highly toxic pesticide DDT was formally banned.

II. Italy’s Agroecology Movement

In European countries facing similar challenges, the agroecology movement has also found resonance, Italy among them.

The majority of Italian farms are family-run, lacking the global-market advantages of intensive farms, and income from agricultural employment is 30% lower than in other sectors. In regions affected by rural depopulation and the decline of traditional agriculture, the agroecology movement takes on a particularly pronounced political dimension.

In what follows, I would like to share several agroecology practices I have observed in Italy.

Commons

Mondeggi

Mondeggi lies in the suburbs, 12 kilometres outside Florence. Historically a noble estate, it was brought into public ownership by the provincial government in the 1960s. Over the following four decades, the farm mainly grew single cash crops such as grapes, olives and wheat.

After the company went bankrupt in 2009, the government attempted to transfer the land to a private enterprise, only to meet resistance from local residents. From 2011, residents of the surrounding area began occupying the land, and in 2014 established Mondeggi as a commons (Mondeggi bene comune).

◉The commons is located in the suburbs of Florence, in central Italy.

The commons spans 1,800 mu (approximately 120 hectares), with 1,100 mu (around 73 hectares) under cultivation. More than 450 members and volunteers jointly operate the farm. They begin with ecological restoration and social mobilisation, fighting against monoculture and the encroachment of agribusiness capital into the village.

Years of intensive farming left the soil depleted, overrun with invasive plants and bereft of biodiversity. Members of the commons apply agroecology principles to restore the soil. They have established a farmers’ base, jointly tending more than 5,000 olive trees and over 20 market gardens, directly reaping the fruits of their own labour.

In addition, the commons rotates cereals, pulses and fodder crops, grows heritage wheat varieties rich in genetic diversity, and has introduced livestock and beekeeping.

To enter mainstream markets, producers must drive down rents and labour costs. But on the commons, the land is held collectively and members volunteer their labour, greatly easing the economic burden of operation — making it easier for agroecology practices to take root here.

◉Mondeggi makes decisions through democratic participatory assemblies.

Mondeggi holds regular plenary assemblies, organises democratic discussions, and hosts technical exchanges to explore better growing methods. Their slogan — “Mondeggi commons, a farm with no bosses” — perfectly embodies the diversity of farming.

Farmers and newcomers eager to learn new skills can attend the biennial Farmers’ School, which offers several months of free courses in beekeeping, carpentry and more. Since last year, the school has also introduced a theoretical course, “Farming Gaia”, covering agroecology, political philosophy, sustainable farming practices, food sovereignty, and care practices for communal affairs and collective action.

◉The Farmers’ School organised by the commons.

While policies and the market have tilted overwhelmingly in favour of large-scale farms, the Mondeggi commons has resisted corporate land leases through alternative land tenure and citizen participation, achieving a diverse ecological agriculture.

Independent Organic Farmers’ Community (Open Fields)

Campi Aperti

Open Fields is an organic farmers’ market initiated by a group of student organisers, dedicated to promoting organic, local and non-industrialised ecological agriculture, advocating food sovereignty, and safeguarding the interests of smallholders.

All participants in Open Fields share a commitment to the solidarity economy. Rather than relying on official certification systems, they adopt a Participatory Guarantee System (PGS), visiting farms directly to rebuild trust between consumers and producers.

◉The Campi Aperti organic farmers’ market. Source: ZERO magazine, Asia Giannelli

Market consumers can see that, compared to conventional produce from large agribusinesses, food grown by organic smallholders is fairer to both the environment and workers. They do not use chemical fertilisers or pesticides, do not exploit cheap labour, and prioritise seasonal and local production.

The people involved in Open Fields are not merely greengrocers and shoppers but a production and consumption community that cares about the food system and consciously protects the natural and communal environment. Through this model of mutual trust, Open Fields has, over the past twenty years, built an alternative to the mainstream, industrialised food system.

Because the partner farmers’ homemade jams, bread and other processed foods lack production licences, Open Fields cannot hold its market in the city squares. This prompted organisers in 2010 to launch an independent certification system, Genuino Clandestino (meaning “a genuine secret”), bypassing the cumbersome procedures and high costs of the official system.

◉A growers’ exchange organised by Genuino Clandestino.

Organisers consider it deeply unfair for government authorities to impose the same production standards and benchmarks on smallholders that apply to industrialised food. Small family farms lack the resources to invest, and their production does not carry the risks inherent in industrialised processed-food production lines.

Genuino Clandestino has extended Open Fields’ values across Italy, gradually forming a radical network of food sovereignty communities.

Within this community, farmers are neither a passive “social underclass” nor landlord-capitalists — they are citizens who find faith and social value in agroecology. Each year, Genuino Clandestino convenes smallholders from across Italy at an annual meeting to discuss the state and future of the organisation. They hope to engage more people in the food sovereignty movement, launch farmers’ markets in new cities, and organise grower exchanges, seed swaps and other events.

Beyond these two grassroots organisations, people are also seeking to change the existing food and farming system from other angles. Terra! (“Land!”) advances ecological agriculture within a social-justice framework through research and policy advocacy. Cambiare il campo brings together farmers, social-movement activists, scholars and rural residents to explore the possibilities of alternative food systems.

These examples vividly demonstrate that the interconnections between plants, animals and the environment emphasised by agroecology are not confined to the domain of agricultural science but extend directly into the social sphere.

Those who take part in the agroecology movement believe that farming practitioners, consumers and nature itself — unable to speak for itself — stand to gain nothing from the mainstream food system. Producers and consumers must stand together, drawing on a shared belief in a better future to resist unjust food governance regimes and relationships.

Unless otherwise stated, all images are taken from the speaker’s presentation slides.

Compiled and edited by: Jieni, Ze’en