For the Campesino-a-Campesino Agroecology Encuentro: Collaborative Learning Exchange for Promoters of Agroecology, Traditional Wisdom, and Respect for Mother Earth during February 12-16.
The Goal of the Encuentro is to create a cooperative space to interact with and collaboratively learn from women, youth, elders, and families, along with national and international allies about Agroecology as it pertains to Campesinos in the United States.
Volunteers will be asked to help interpret, child care, social media stuff, film crew support, logistics support, washing dishes, waste management, and so forth. We are only needing volunteers for Friday, February 13 and Saturday, February 14th in Fellsmere. If you are interested in volunteering please contact Nico or Holly Baker, of the Farmworker Association of FL, by Monday, February 9th.
More details below on the Encuentro
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We are pleased to announce that member organizations of La Via Campesina North America – the Farmworker Association of Florida and the Rural Coalition will be organizing a Campesino-to-Campesino Agroecology Encuentro February 12th -16th, 2015. The political coordination of the Encuentro would like to formally invite a representative from your organization to participate in this collaborative learning exchange for promoters of Agroecology, Traditional Wisdom, and Respect for Mother Earth.
We are organizing a small and strategic delegates list with a focus on local participation and leadership. We value your participation in this exchange because of your alliance with the Farmworker Association of Florida and your work to advance Food Sovereignty, Agroecology and Social Movements worldwide. We plan for those present to fully participate, exchange knowledge, and contribute to the overall Campesino Agroecology movement-building process in the United States for years to come.
We gather to support Campesina/o leadership at the base to sustain food production that is healthy, safe, contributes to a dignified quality of life, and is in harmony with Mother Earth.
Objectives of Encuentro:
- Strengthen place-based technical capacity in Agroecology amongst Campesina/os based on the value of traditional wisdom and cultures of practice;
- Explore the political and social context of Agroecology in theory and practice;
- Understand the importance of peasant organizations and their basis to organize in the US in connection with global social movements for Agroecology, Food Sovereignty and Social Transformation; and
- Develop a long-term regional plan for Agroecology that values the role of all members of the community along with the ancestral wisdom of the Campesino.
Collaborative Learning Opportunities:
- Share in the opportunity to interact with and learn from women, elders, youth and international participants;
- Explore the dichotomies of industrial farming environments and the Campesinos’ Gardens model and home farm models;
- Make connections and experience first-hand the socio-economic barriers and challenges of migrant families, farmworkers and Campesinos in the S.E. United States; and
- Exchange with Campesino movements in the US and Internationally Place and Date
The Encuentro will be based on a participatory collaborative learning model that values all community voices. It will include panels or plenaries, workshops on specific topics, spaces for open debate, site visits, and hands on work at garden sites and places of activity for FWAF. Given the demographics of the sites and communities, there will be lots of Spanish spoken.
