History and innovation for agroecology 2024. International symposium

On Friday 27 September 2024, a symposium will take place to discuss innovation and technological change for agroecology from a historical perspective. The aim is to reflect on the proposal of an ecological transition from historical knowledge. For this purpose we bring together a group of people working on these topics from all over Europe from different approaches.

Theories of innovation and technological change in agriculture were constructed with the aim of increasing productive intensification and with a view to industrialisation, especially in post-World War II Europe. Today, intensification and the obsession with productivity continue to guide agricultural and livestock production across Europe, while new avenues of innovation and technological change are being discussed, based on criteria such as pollution reduction, the circular economy or the use of renewable energy sources. However, these attempts are often approached from a techno-scientific point of view with a weak or non-existent socio-historical basis. This is why we want to recover farmers' knowledge and know-how, theoretical assumptions, scientific experiences, ecosystems of dialogue between scientists and farmers, innovation models and concrete agro-ecological and resilient practices that precede the hegemony of modernisation.

The HISTAGRA (Historia Agraria y Política del Mundo Rural) research group has been studying the changes and trajectory of the Galician rural world for twenty years. One of its main lines of research is technological change and innovation in Galician agriculture, continuing a tradition that began with the studies of Ramón Villares and others in the 1980s. With this background and within the framework of the Inter-University Research Centre for Cultural Atlantic Landscapes (CISPAC), we are organising this day of debate on new historical and theoretical approaches to innovation and technological change for the necessary environmental transition we are facing, with agroecology as an instrument for its implementation.

Programme

09:00-09:30  Welcome and presentation

• Lourenzo Fernández-Prieto, CISPAC, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

09:30-11:00 – Panel 1

• La agricultura y ganadería familiar en el centro de la construcción de Sistemas Agroalimentarios Locales de base Agroecológica. ¿Cómo hacer?

Gloria I. Guzmán-Casado, Alimentta, Universidad Pablo de Olavide

                Commentator: David Soto-Fernández, Histagra-CISPAC, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

• Exploring farm life histories and their role in agro-ecological (re)transitions

Mark Riley, University of Liverpool

                Commentator: Stefania Barca, Histagra-CISPAC, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

11:00-11:30 – Coffee break

11:30-13:00 – Panel 2

• The use of Google Books as a source of historical traditional ecological/agricultural knowledge

Rob Burton, Ruralis – Institute for Rural and Regional Research

                Commentator: Miguel Cabo Villaverde, Histagra-CISPAC, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

• Innovating towards an unknown sustainability: new back-casting and scenario planning models used in participatory action research to help advance agroecology transitions

Enric Tello Aragay. Universitat de Barcelona

                                Commentator: Xulia Guntín Araujo, ECOAGRASOC, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

13:00-13:30 – Closing conclusions

• Bruno Esperante Paramos, CISPAC, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

• Roque Sanfiz Arias, CISPAC, Universidade de Santiago de Compostela

The event will take place at CISPAC, located in the Fontán Building of the Cidade da Cultura de Galicia. To attend it is necessary to register in advance by sending an email to histagra@usc.es.

The activity is part of the research project: The two paths of change and agrarian development in the 20th century. Pluralism of knowledge in an organic framework and technocracy of the green revolution. Atlantic Agriculture, 1880-2000 (ECOPASADOFUTURO) PID2020-112686GB-I00, funded by the Ministry of Culture and Innovation and the State Agency for Innovation (MCIN-AEI/10.13039/501100011033) and by the European Social Fund+.