Thesis (MPhil)--University of Stellenbosch, 2011. / ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The aim of this study was to provide the first in depth description of the natuurboerdery farming system as developed and adopted by ZZ2, a privately-owned farming conglomerate in South Africa. Natuurboerdery aims to increase agricultural productivity and sustainability while maintaining environmental integrity to contribute to overall sustainability. A case study research design using multiple sources and techniques for data gathering was applied to investigate the reasons for and process of converting from conventional farming to natuurboerdery, describe the principles and practices of natuurboerdery farming and document the changes and benefits realised by conversion. It was established that ZZ2 converted to natuurboerdery farming due to the challenges associated with conventional methods of farming. The main challenges ZZ2 experienced were recurrent pests and diseases which were becoming difficult to control with inorganic pesticides, large decreases in yields and unsustainable production outputs or returns to support production costs mainly due to the escalating cost of inorganic pesticides and fertilisers. ZZ2 also became aware of the growing customer demand for healthy food produced by ethically accepted methods while minimising environmental degradation. A conceptual framework was developed to describe the natuurboerdery farming system, based on five principles or health aspects: agro-ecosystem health, soil health, plant health, food health and human health. All of the practices developed and adopted by ZZ2 were described and classified in terms of this framework. Natuurboerdery integrates the use of inorganic fertilisers and organic soil amendments for soil health and plant nutrition; inorganic pesticides, fermented plant extracts from herbal plants with insecticidal properties, EM products, compost teas and biological control agents for plant protection. The conversion to natuurboerdery resulted in changes and benefits which were described and classified under: strategic and technical, economic, social and ecological and environmental. The main findings were that soil health has improved, soil organic carbon levels have increased, the use of inorganic products for plant nutrition and protection has decreased with significant cost savings, yields have risen, water availability has increased and energy spending has been reduced. The conclusions drawn from the research findings indicate that natuurboerdery is neither organic nor conventional farming which indicates that inorganic and organic inputs are compatible in sustainable farming systems. The natuurboerdery farming approach is a potentially sustainable farming system which works with nature. Areas for further scholarship, research and recommendations have been identified to improve the sustainability of natuurboerdery. / AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die doel van hierdie tesis was om die eerste in-diepte beskrywing van natuurboerdery saam te stel soos dit deur ZZ2 ontwikkel en gebruik is. ZZ2 is ‘n Suid Afrikaanse boerdery konglomoraat in privaatbesit. Natuurboerdery beoog om boerdery produktiwiteit en volhoubaarheid te verhoog, terwyl dit die integriteit van die natuuur in stand hou om tot algehele volhoubaarheid by te dra. ‘n Gevallestudie is as navosingsontwerp gebruik en verskeie bronne en metodes is toegepas om inligting in te samel. Die proses en redes vir die oorskakeling van konvensionele boerdery na natuurboerdery is ondersoek, terwyl die beginsels en praktyke van natuurboerdery beskryf is en die veranderings en voordele van die oorskakeling gedokumenteer is. Dit is vasgestel dat ZZ2 na natuurboerdery omgeskakel het as gevolg van uitdagings wat met konvensionele boerderymetodes gesassosieer word. Die hoof-uitdagings wat ZZ2 ondervind het was terugkerende peste en siektes wat moeilik beheerbaar was met onorganiese plaagdoders, groot afnames van oeste en onvolhoubare produksie uitkomste of winste om die produksiekostes te dra. Stygende pryse van onorganiese plaagdoders en kunsmis was die grootste oorsaak van hoë produksiekostes. ZZ2 het ook bewus geraak van die groeinde klante-aanvraag vir gesonde kos wat op eties-aanvaarbare metodes geproduseer is en skade aan die natuurlike omgewing verminder. ‘n Konsepsuele raamwerk is ontwikkel om natuurboerdery as ‘n boerdery-sisteem te beskryf en is gebasseer om vyf beginsels of gesondheidsaspekte: agroekosisteemgesondheid, grondgesondheid, plantgesondheid, voedselgesondheid en menslike gesondheid. Al hierdie praktyke wat deur ZZ2 ontwikkel en gebruik is word in hierdie tesis beskryf en geklassifisseer in terme van die konsepsuele raamwerk. Natuurbeordery integreer die gebruik van onorganiese kunsmis en organiese grondwysigings vir grondgesondheid en plantvoeding. Geïntegreerde praktyke sluit in: onorganieise plaagdoders, gefermenteerde kruieplant-ekstrakte met insek-bestrydende einskappe, EM produkte, kompos-tees en biologiese beheeragente vir plantbeskerming. Die oorskakeling na natuurboerdery het sekere veranderings en voordele gehad. Dit word geklassifiseer volgens die betrekking wat dit het op die strategiese en tegniese, ekonomiese, maatskaplike en ekologiese en omgewings-aspekte van ZZ2. Die hoofbevindings was verbeterde grondgesondheid, verhoogde organiese koolstofvlakke in die grond, laer gebruik van onorganiese produkte vir plantvoeding en beskerming met noemenswaardige koste-besparings, verhoodge oeste en waterbeskikbaarheid, en kleiner spandering op energie. Die navorsingsbevindings wys daarop dat natuurboerdery nie organies of konvensionele boerdery is nie en dat onorganiese en organiese insette dus verenigbaar is in volhoubare boerdery-sisteme. Die natuurboerdery uitkyk is ‘n potensiële volhoubare boerderysisteem wat in staat is om saam die natuur te werk. Areas vir verdere studie, navorsing en voorstelle is geïdentifiseer om die volhoubaarheid van natuurboerdery te verbeter.

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-25T20:22:50Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mirian Cristina Lozano.pdf: 8936847 bytes, checksum: 86497d26a6d252423769fa27284380a5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-06-15 / Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo / The purpose of this research is to study two experiences of permaculture communities and other sorts of alternative agriculture which are generally considered agroecological practices. I choose two socially distinct experiences for the reason that one of them refers to landless rural workers, whereas the ecovillage is part of an alternative communities middle-class movement. This enables us to identify the social aspects to which it is possible to assign the amount of success of those examples. The communities that have been studied were described following their history, economic and social condition, intellectual and ideological universe; in a way they could be compared to evaluate the process of how to achieve sustainability. I believe that the relevance of studying such experiences is due to the fact that they might constitute the technical support to social projects seeking to empower and to further human development of small and low-resources communities. Especially in the Brazilian context, they can work as frameworks for agrarian reform settlements, traditional communities and family agriculture in general. Ultimately, there is little scientific literature dealing with permaculture and other sorts of alternative agriculture in communities in Brazil. To summarize, there are still several challenges for those communities to achieve self-sufficiency, difficulties which can be overcome and some successes that can be reproduced. Anyhow they are on the road to agroecology / Esta pesquisa tem como finalidade o estudo de duas experiências de comunidades praticantes da permacultura e demais vertentes da agricultura alternativa, que de modo geral são consideradas práticas agroecológicas. Escolhi duas experiências socialmente distintas, pois enquanto uma reúne trabalhadores sem-terra, a outra ecovila faz parte do movimento de comunidades alternativas de classe média, o que permite identificar os aspectos sociais aos quais se possa atribuir o maior ou menor sucesso das experiências. As comunidades estudadas foram descritas de acordo com a sua história, condição social e econômica, universo intelectual e ideológico, de modo a poder serem comparadas quanto ao processo para se alcançar a sustentabilidade. Acredito que a relevância de se estudar tais experiências está no fato de que podem se constituir na sustentação técnica de projetos sociais de empoderamento e desenvolvimento humano de comunidades pequenas e com poucos recursos. No caso brasileiro, em especial, elas podem servir de modelos para assentamentos de reforma agrária, comunidades tradicionais e agricultura familiar em geral. Sobretudo porque há pouca literatura científica no estudo da permacultura e demais correntes da agricultura alternativa em comunidades no Brasil. Em síntese, ainda há muitos desafios para essas comunidades alcançarem a autossuficiência, dificuldades que podem ser superadas e acertos que devem ser replicados. De qualquer modo, estão no caminho da agroecologia

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-26T14:57:42Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Mirian Cristina Lozano.pdf: 8936847 bytes, checksum: 86497d26a6d252423769fa27284380a5 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009-06-15 / Fundação de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo / The purpose of this research is to study two experiences of permaculture communities and other sorts of alternative agriculture which are generally considered agroecological practices. I choose two socially distinct experiences for the reason that one of them refers to landless rural workers, whereas the ecovillage is part of an alternative communities middle-class movement. This enables us to identify the social aspects to which it is possible to assign the amount of success of those examples. The communities that have been studied were described following their history, economic and social condition, intellectual and ideological universe; in a way they could be compared to evaluate the process of how to achieve sustainability. I believe that the relevance of studying such experiences is due to the fact that they might constitute the technical support to social projects seeking to empower and to further human development of small and low-resources communities. Especially in the Brazilian context, they can work as frameworks for agrarian reform settlements, traditional communities and family agriculture in general. Ultimately, there is little scientific literature dealing with permaculture and other sorts of alternative agriculture in communities in Brazil. To summarize, there are still several challenges for those communities to achieve self-sufficiency, difficulties which can be overcome and some successes that can be reproduced. Anyhow they are on the road to agroecology / Esta pesquisa tem como finalidade o estudo de duas experiências de comunidades praticantes da permacultura e demais vertentes da agricultura alternativa, que de modo geral são consideradas práticas agroecológicas. Escolhi duas experiências socialmente distintas, pois enquanto uma reúne trabalhadores sem-terra, a outra ecovila faz parte do movimento de comunidades alternativas de classe média, o que permite identificar os aspectos sociais aos quais se possa atribuir o maior ou menor sucesso das experiências. As comunidades estudadas foram descritas de acordo com a sua história, condição social e econômica, universo intelectual e ideológico, de modo a poder serem comparadas quanto ao processo para se alcançar a sustentabilidade. Acredito que a relevância de se estudar tais experiências está no fato de que podem se constituir na sustentação técnica de projetos sociais de empoderamento e desenvolvimento humano de comunidades pequenas e com poucos recursos. No caso brasileiro, em especial, elas podem servir de modelos para assentamentos de reforma agrária, comunidades tradicionais e agricultura familiar em geral. Sobretudo porque há pouca literatura científica no estudo da permacultura e demais correntes da agricultura alternativa em comunidades no Brasil. Em síntese, ainda há muitos desafios para essas comunidades alcançarem a autossuficiência, dificuldades que podem ser superadas e acertos que devem ser replicados. De qualquer modo, estão no caminho da agroecologia

Made available in DSpace on 2016-04-28T20:13:47Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 2007- Nilza Luzzi.pdf: 1452536 bytes, checksum: 949e60529fb5d8c87a8c3f5fa4127c04 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2007-12-13 / This research analyses the construction of the agroecologic debate in Brazil. The aim is comprehend the emerging and the evolution of agroecologic question in several social actors agenda and the importance the theme was assuming to each of them. That construction was made with the following basis: the experience of PTA/FASE net; the rural social movements, specially the rural syndical movement and the MST; some State institutions, principally the ATER National Policy and EMBRAPA referential marc. Beyond the theme in discussion, it was intended to have a historic recuperation for each of the actors considered, about their main questions and objects of fight, since the 1980 s up to nowadays, the period our analysis is about. The research also intends to investigate the aspects which collaborated for the expressive growing of the agroecology discussion in the country and the main obstacles for its effective incorporation by those social actors, which constituted a fundamental element, essential for the formulation of an alternative proposition for the Brazilian agriculture development. Starting from the empiric material collected interviews with qualified actors and the using of technical-scientific works, congress resolutions and other existent documents we verified that the agroecologic debate has grown considerably in the last two decades. Initially restricted to a small group of intellectuals and professionals, specially from agrarian sciences, and centered in alternative technologies, the debate started being incorporated by different social actors basis organizations, rural social movements, assessors institutions, educational, rural researching and extending institutions , becoming the worry about agroecology an important element for the formulation of public policies for familiar agriculture. The incorporation of agroecology referential and the use of participative methodologies have modified significantly the intervention strategies from NGOs. Instead of working with technology transference they started searching for a more systemic intervention which consider the ecological, economic and cultural agriculturists rationalities. The agroecology national re-articulation, with the creation of ANA and ABA-Agroecologia, has become the debate stronger and has grown the agroecology political legitimacy. The continuous dialogue and the narrow of relations between them constitute an important challenge for the agroecology progress, even in political or in technological fields. However, this theme is still being incorporated and interpreted in very different ways among agroecological organizations. In social movements, as in educational, research and extending institutions, the incorporation is growing, but the experiences and the practical actions are still isolated and developed by a minor number of people. Make the agriculturist have an active role in productive process, as a technician mediating the popular and the scientific knowledge, is a very complex process. It requires that the technician reconsider the power that the scientific knowledge, first of all, can give him or her, and it requires a re-thinking about the ways and the methods used during decades by technical assistants and rural extending professionals, including the NGOs. Although the agroecologic debate has presented a strong growing in the last years and the theme has gained more and more legitimacy and recognition, the main challenge for a more effective incorporation and a more generalization of these agroecological innovation experiences is a political challenge. The agrobusiness power in Brazilian economical policy and in agriculture constitutes a large obstacle for a progress in the formulation of a democratic and sustainable project of rural development for the country, based in familiar agriculture and in agroecology. / viii RESUMO Esta tese analisa a constru??o do debate agroecol?gico no Brasil. O objetivo ? entender o surgimento e a evolu??o da quest?o agroecol?gica na agenda de diferentes atores sociais rurais e a import?ncia que o tema vai assumindo para cada um deles. Esta constru??o foi feita tendo por base: a experi?ncia da Rede PTA/FASE; os movimentos sociais rurais, especialmente o movimento sindical rural e o MST; algumas institui??es do Estado, principalmente a Pol?tica Nacional de ATER e o Marco Referencial da EMBRAPA. Para al?m do tema em quest?o, procurou-se fazer um resgate hist?rico, para cada ator social considerado, de suas principais quest?es e bandeiras de luta, desde a d?cada de 1980 at? os dias atuais, per?odo em que se concentra nossa an?lise. A tese procura investigar tamb?m os fatores que colaboraram para o expressivo crescimento do tema agroecologia no pa?s e os principais entraves para que o mesmo seja efetivamente incorporado por estes atores sociais, constituindo-se em um elemento fundamental indispens?vel para a formula??o de uma proposta alternativa de desenvolvimento para a agricultura brasileira. A partir do material emp?rico coletado atrav?s de entrevistas com atores qualificados e da utiliza??o de trabalhos t?cnico-cient?ficos, resolu??es de congressos e outros documentos existentes constatamos que o debate agroecol?gico cresceu consideravelmente nas duas ?ltimas d?cadas. Inicialmente restrito a um pequeno grupo de intelectuais e profissionais, especialmente das ci?ncias agr?rias, e centrado nas tecnologias alternativas, este debate foi sendo incorporado por diferentes atores sociais organiza??es de base, movimentos sociais rurais, institui??es de assessoria, institui??es de ensino, pesquisa e extens?o rural , tornando-se a preocupa??o com a agroecologia um elemento importante na formula??o de pol?ticas p?blicas para a agricultura familiar. A incorpora??o dos referenciais da agroecologia e o uso de metodologias participativas alteraram significativamente as estrat?gias de interven??o das ONGs. Ao inv?s de trabalhar com transfer?ncia de tecnologias passaram a buscar uma interven??o mais sist?mica que leve em conta as racionalidades ecol?gicas, econ?micas e culturais dos agricultores. A rearticula??o nacional da agroecologia, com a cria??o da ANA e da ABAAgroecologia, fortaleceu o debate e aumentou a legitimidade pol?tica da agroecologia. A continuidade do di?logo e o estreitamento das rela??es entre ambas constituem um importante desafio para o avan?o da agroecologia, tanto no campo pol?tico quanto tecnol?gico. No entanto, esta tem?tica ainda est? sendo incorporada e interpretada de forma bastante desigual entre as organiza??es do campo agroecol?gico. Nos movimentos sociais, assim como nas institui??es de ensino, pesquisa e extens?o rural, a incorpora??o ? crescente, por?m as experi?ncias e a??es pr?ticas ainda s?o pontuais e desenvolvidas por uma minoria. Transformar o agricultor em sujeito do processo produtivo, com o t?cnico sendo um mediador entre o conhecimento popular e o cient?fico, ? um processo bastante complexo. Exige que o t?cnico reconsidere o poder que o saber cient?fico, em princ?pio, lhe propicia e requer um repensar das formas e dos m?todos utilizados durante d?cadas pelos profissionais de assist?ncia t?cnica e extens?o rural, inclusive das ONGs. Embora o debate agroecol?gico tenha apresentado forte crescimento nos ?ltimos anos e o tema esteja ganhando cada vez mais legitimidade e reconhecimento, o principal desafio para a incorpora??o mais efetiva e a maior generaliza??o destas experi?ncias de inova??o agroecol?gica ? pol?tico. A for?a do agroneg?cio na pol?tica econ?mica e na agricultura brasileira constitui um grande entrave para o avan?o na formula??o de um projeto democr?tico e sustent?vel de desenvolvimento rural para o pa?s, ancorado na agricultura familiar e na agroecologia.

Lietuvoje kaimo turizmas yra viena iš perspektyviausių alternatyvių veiklų, kurianti darbo vietas kaimo vietovėse ir teikianti papildomas pajamas. Alternatyvios ir žemės ūkio veiklos derinimas padeda siekti pagrindinio tikslo – gerinti ūkio narių užimtumą, kelti gyvenimo lygį ir kokybę, o taip pat mažinti priklausomybę nuo neefektyvios žemės ūkio veiklos. Kaimo turizmas turi didelį plėtros potencialą, nes auga poreikis poilsiauti kaimo turizmo sodybose, ir didėja kaimo gyventojų, ketinančių imtis šio ne žemės ūkio verslo, dalis. Darbo tikslas – ištirti kaimo turizmo veiklą Lietuvos kaime, išanalizuoti jos perspektyvas. Atliekant mokslinį tyrimą buvo išnagrinėti straipsniai, įstatymai bei kiti teisės aktai. Naudotasi internetiniais puslapiais ir periodiniais leidiniais. Sukaupta medžiaga buvo nagrinėta naudojant anketinės ir tiesioginės apklausos, loginės analizės, literatūros šaltinių analizės, aprašomąjį ir statistinį metodus. Tyrimais nustatyta, kad per pastaruosius septynerius metus (nuo 2000 iki 2007 m.) kaimo turizmo sodybų skaičius padidėjo net keturis kartus. Daugiausia kaimo turizmo sodybų yra Ignalinos, Zarasų, Trakų, Klaipėdos rajonų savivaldybėse. Nors kaimo turizmas pastaraisiais metais tapo vienu iš populiariausių ne žemės ūkio verslų kaime, šių paslaugų pasiūla, kokybė ir įvairovė nėra pakankama. / Country tourism is one of the perspective alternative agriculture activities which creates new workplaces and give additional income. If we will match alternative and agriculture activities, we will be able to reach the main purpose – improve an employment, raise the standard quality of life, reduce dependence from not effective agriculture activities. The country tourism has a big potential of developmental. Main goal of this job is to analyze country tourism activity in Lithuania village and perspective of countryside tourism development. It was used analysis of memoirs, statistical grouping, logical analysis, descriptive and questionnaire methods. To determine relationships between two properties was used correlation analysis. From results we saw that during seven years (from 2000 to 2007) number of countryside farmsteads increase even four times. There was determining that the biggest amount countryside tourism farmsteads are in Ignalinos, Zarasų, Trakų, Klaipėdos regions. It was determined that the biggest influence to distribution of countryside farmsteads was water.

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<p>This dissertation is a policy driven ethnography of smallholder and alternative farmers in Indiana that centers food justice and utilizes interdisciplinary frameworks to analyze the adaptive strategies that farmers use to address the specific challenges they face. Through the implementation of adaptive strategies such as regenerative growing practices, the cultivation of community, stewardship of the land, and an emphasis on transparency, the smallholders I worked with over the course of this study negotiate complex agricultural spaces and build the resilience of their farmsteads and the communities they serve. Smallholder and alternative farmers in Indiana are reimagining the agricultural spaces they occupy and driving transformational change of dominant narratives and local food systems. Critiques of conventional agriculture and commodity production are not intended to reify binary perceptions of the agricultural paradigm, but rather to demonstrate that the critical role of smallholder and alternatives farmers should be valued as well. </p> <p> </p> <p>This research draws on four years of ethnographic research, archival sources, and close readings of policy measures and media reports to illuminate the historical context that has positioned smallholders in juxtaposition to large-scale conventional agriculture, and the critical role of smallholder farmers in driving food systems change while centering food justice and community resiliency. The driving research questions for the following essays follow: Why have small scale and alternative farmers chosen to farm (and farm differently)? What specific challenges do they face and how might these challenges be better addressed by existing support systems and new legislation? What can be learned from the alternative narratives and reimagined spaces smallholder farmers engage with? This work joins the growing body of research that challenges agricultural meta-narratives by presenting a counter-narrative of smallholder resilience and the <i>a priori</i> notion that posits agricultural technology as a panacea for everything from world hunger to economics to environmental concerns. </p>

This study explores the question of how soil-less agriculture through hydroponics, aeroponics, and aquaponics can empower smallholder farmers to achieve food sovereignty as portrayed in documentaries. It addresses the power imbalance between large corporations and smallholder farmers in the traditional agriculture industry. Documentary research approach is used to understand the various applications and research aspects of soil-less agriculture from around the world. Real-life examples from different countries where these methods have been successfully implemented in the agriculture industry, ranging from large industrial settings to smallholder farmers in disadvantaged communities, are analyzed. Further, content analysis is done on these documents by constructing a matrix that combines the process of empowerment and the six pillars of food sovereignty to analyze the different forms of empowerment. The study also investigates how the use of soil-less agriculture can build capabilities through enhanced “well-being freedom” and “agency freedom” and empower smallholder farmers to achieve food sovereignty.