Breakout Room Discussion Mar. 19

Consider the 10 Elements of Agroecology developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), pictured below and included in this week's reading Links to an external site.. The 10 elements are responsible governance, recycling, efficiency, diversity, synergies, resilience, circular and solidarity economies, culture and food traditions, co-creation and sharing of knowledge, and human and social values. 

• How are these criteria recognized or valued in the marketplace? If any or all of these criteria are not recognized or valued, why aren't they? How might we increase their recognition or value?

Image from Mottet et al. 2020. (https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2020.579154 Links to an external site.)

Consider the following figure from pg. 19 of this week's reading Links to an external site.. This figure shows one way of evaluating and comparing three farms in Cuba that are at various stages of agroecological transition. 

• What information does this figure tell you about these three farms? In which agroecological element (e.g., diversity, synergy, etc.) is there the largest difference between the conventional and agroecological farms? The smallest difference? Based on our course so far, what practices might be implemented on the conventional and transitional farms to incorporate more agroecological principles?