IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jagris/v11y2021i10p1024-d659825.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Building an Agroecological Process towards Agricultural Sustainability: A Case Study from Southern Spain

Author

Listed:
  • Manuel González-Rosado

    (SUMAS Research Group, Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Soil Science and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Agri-Food Campus of International Excellence—ceiA3, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain)

  • Luis Parras-Alcántara

    (SUMAS Research Group, Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Soil Science and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Agri-Food Campus of International Excellence—ceiA3, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain)

  • Jesús Aguilera-Huertas

    (SUMAS Research Group, Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Soil Science and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Agri-Food Campus of International Excellence—ceiA3, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain)

  • Beatriz Lozano-García

    (SUMAS Research Group, Department of Agricultural Chemistry, Soil Science and Microbiology, Faculty of Science, Agri-Food Campus of International Excellence—ceiA3, University of Cordoba, 14071 Cordoba, Spain)

Abstract

The urgent need to implement agricultural systems that provide greater sustainability and resilience to the challenges of the climate change process has meant that alternative paradigms for agri-food systems and agriculture have become more relevant in recent times. In this study, we present the building process and consolidation of an agro-ecological project (Extiercol) in a rural area of southern Spain, with a prolonged depopulation process and close connections to nearby urban areas. Through participatory action research, the specific objectives of this study are (1) to describe the agroecological collective process from its creation by a youth association to its establishment as a viable agricultural project; (2) to identify the drivers for the development of this type of transition process towards agricultural sustainability and (3) to analyse urban-rural alliances in the establishment of agroecological projects. Finally, the replicability of this project was assessed, with a special focus on the main barriers to be addressed in order to implement this agricultural system such as difficult to land access or a negative perception of sustainable management by farmers. Through this study we have shown how the connection between the food production area and nearby urban areas can be achieved through an agroecological project.

Suggested Citation

  • Manuel González-Rosado & Luis Parras-Alcántara & Jesús Aguilera-Huertas & Beatriz Lozano-García, 2021. "Building an Agroecological Process towards Agricultural Sustainability: A Case Study from Southern Spain," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-16, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:10:p:1024-:d:659825
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/10/1024/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2077-0472/11/10/1024/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Adrian R. Camilleri & Richard P. Larrick & Shajuti Hossain & Dalia Patino-Echeverri, 2019. "Consumers underestimate the emissions associated with food but are aided by labels," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 9(1), pages 53-58, January.
    2. Ellinor Isgren & Barry Ness, 2017. "Agroecology to Promote Just Sustainability Transitions: Analysis of a Civil Society Network in the Rwenzori Region, Western Uganda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(8), pages 1-20, August.
    3. Keith Paustian & Johannes Lehmann & Stephen Ogle & David Reay & G. Philip Robertson & Pete Smith, 2016. "Climate-smart soils," Nature, Nature, vol. 532(7597), pages 49-57, April.
    4. Alexander Gocht & Pavel Ciaian & Maria Bielza & Jean-Michel Terres & Norbert Röder & Mihaly Himics & Guna Salputra, 2017. "EU-wide Economic and Environmental Impacts of CAP Greening with High Spatial and Farm-type Detail," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(3), pages 651-681, September.
    5. Aguilera, Eduardo & Díaz-Gaona, Cipriano & García-Laureano, Raquel & Reyes-Palomo, Carolina & Guzmán, Gloria I. & Ortolani, Livia & Sánchez-Rodríguez, Manuel & Rodríguez-Estévez, Vicente, 2020. "Agroecology for adaptation to climate change and resource depletion in the Mediterranean region. A review," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 181(C).
    6. Dolton-Thornton, Nathaniel, 2021. "Viewpoint: How should policy respond to land abandonment in Europe?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    7. Colin Ray Anderson & Janneke Bruil & Michael Jahi Chappell & Csilla Kiss & Michel Patrick Pimbert, 2019. "From Transition to Domains of Transformation: Getting to Sustainable and Just Food Systems through Agroecology," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-28, September.
    8. Henning Best, 2008. "Organic agriculture and the conventionalization hypothesis: A case study from West Germany," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 25(1), pages 95-106, January.
    9. Vincent Ricciardi & Zia Mehrabi & Hannah Wittman & Dana James & Navin Ramankutty, 2021. "Higher yields and more biodiversity on smaller farms," Nature Sustainability, Nature, vol. 4(7), pages 651-657, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Johanna Wilkes, 2022. "Reconnecting with Nature through Good Governance: Inclusive Policy across Scales," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-14, March.
    2. José Luis Vicente-Vicente & Cristina Quintas-Soriano & María D. López-Rodríguez, 2022. "A Transformative (r)Evolution of the Research on Agriculture through Fostering Human-Nature Connectedness—A Special Issue Editorial," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-7, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Fabíola Sostmeyer Polita & Lívia Madureira, 2021. "Transition Pathways of Agroecological Innovation in Portugal’s Douro Wine Region. A Multi-Level Perspective," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-20, March.
    2. Carmelo Díaz-Poblete & María Carmen García-Cortijo & Juan Sebastián Castillo-Valero, 2021. "Is the Greening Instrument a Valid Precedent for the New Green Architecture of the CAP? The Case of Spain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-11, May.
    3. Sébastien Boillat & Raphaël Belmin & Patrick Bottazzi, 2022. "The agroecological transition in Senegal: transnational links and uneven empowerment," Agriculture and Human Values, Springer;The Agriculture, Food, & Human Values Society (AFHVS), vol. 39(1), pages 281-300, March.
    4. Blazquez-Soriano, Amparo & Ramos-Sandoval, Rosmery, 2022. "Information transfer as a tool to improve the resilience of farmers against the effects of climate change: The case of the Peruvian National Agrarian Innovation System," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 200(C).
    5. Paulus, Anne & Hagemann, Nina & Baaken, Marieke C. & Roilo, Stephanie & Alarcón-Segura, Viviana & Cord, Anna F. & Beckmann, Michael, 2022. "Landscape context and farm characteristics are key to farmers' adoption of agri-environmental schemes," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    6. repec:cup:judgdm:v:15:y:2020:i:6:p:972-988 is not listed on IDEAS
    7. Schleich, Joachim & Alsheimer, Sven, 2024. "The relationship between willingness to pay and carbon footprint knowledge: Are individuals willing to pay more to offset their carbon footprint if they learn about its size and distance to the 1.5 °C," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 219(C).
    8. Begoña García Castellanos & Benjamín García García & José García García, 2023. "Economic and Environmental Effects of Replacing Inorganic Fertilizers with Organic Fertilizers in Three Rainfed Crops in a Semi-Arid Area," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(24), pages 1-22, December.
    9. Charalampos Konstantinidis, 2018. "Capitalism in Green Disguise: The Political Economy of Organic Farming in the European Union," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 50(4), pages 830-852, December.
    10. Mario Herberz & Tobias Brosch & Ulf J. J. Hahnel, 2020. "Kilo what? Default units increase value sensitivity in joint evaluations of energy efficiency," Judgment and Decision Making, Society for Judgment and Decision Making, vol. 15(6), pages 972-988, November.
    11. Danilo Bertoni & Daniele Cavicchioli & Franco Donzelli & Giovanni Ferrazzi & Dario G. Frisio & Roberto Pretolani & Elena Claire Ricci & Vera Ventura, 2018. "Recent Contributions of Agricultural Economics Research in the Field of Sustainable Development," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-20, December.
    12. Stoeckli, Sabrina & Merian, Sybilla & Wanner, Silvan & Stucki, Matthias & Chaudhary, Abhishek, 2024. "Advancing Biodiversity Footprinting for Food-Related Behavior Change," OSF Preprints zpvq4, Center for Open Science.
    13. Dalal Aassouli & Ayodele Akande & Ray Jureidini, 2023. "Comparative Analysis of Sustainable Food Governance and the Alignment of Food Security Policies to Sustainable Development: A Case Study of OIC Countries," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(22), pages 1-27, November.
    14. Alexandre Sauquet, 2021. "Ex-post analysis of the crop diversification policy ofthe CAP Greening in France," Working Papers hal-03455548, HAL.
    15. Maria Espinosa & Kamel Louhichi & Angel Perni & Pavel Ciaian, 2020. "EU‐Wide Impacts of the 2013 CAP Direct Payments Reform: A Farm‐Level Analysis," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 42(4), pages 695-715, December.
    16. Hristov, Jordan & Clough, Yann & Sahlin, Ullrika & Smith, Henrik G. & Stjernman, Martin & Olsson, Ola & Sahrbacher, Amanda & Brady, Mark V., 2020. "Impacts of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy “Greening” reform on agricultural development, biodiversity, and ecosystem services," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 42(4), pages 716-738.
    17. Shinichi Kitano, 2021. "Estimation of Determinants of Farmland Abandonment and Its Data Problems," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-17, June.
    18. Castro-Santa, Juana & Drews, Stefan & Bergh, Jeroen van den, 2023. "Nudging low-carbon consumption through advertising and social norms," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 102(C).
    19. Galt, Ryan E. & Pinzón, Natalia & Robinson, Nicholas Ian & Baukloh Coronil, Marcela Beatriz, 2024. "Agroecology and the social sciences: A half-century systematic review," Agricultural Systems, Elsevier, vol. 216(C).
    20. Alexander Gocht & Pavel Ciaian & Maria Bielza & Jean-Michel Terres & Norbert Röder & Mihaly Himics & Guna Salputra, 2017. "EU-wide Economic and Environmental Impacts of CAP Greening with High Spatial and Farm-type Detail," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(3), pages 651-681, September.
    21. Samane Ghazali & Hossein Azadi & Kristina Janečková & Petr Sklenička & Alishir Kurban & Sedef Cakir, 2021. "Indigenous knowledge about climate change and sustainability of nomadic livelihoods: understanding adaptability coping strategies," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 23(11), pages 16744-16768, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jagris:v:11:y:2021:i:10:p:1024-:d:659825. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.