Epsilon Archive for Student Projects

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.