Kicking Off a Global Effort: How We're Advancing Agroecology for Climate Adaptation and Mitigation
- carolinadiaz59
- Jul 18
- 4 min read
Updated: Aug 22
In September 2024, we took our first collective steps on a journey that spans continents, disciplines, and communities. The Agroecology for Climate Adaptation and Mitigation (Ag4C) project officially launched, bringing together farmers, researchers, activists, and institutions from Brazil, Canada, Germany, and India. Our shared goal? To support farming communities in their transition towards diversified agriculture. Diversified agriculture is an approach we believe holds promise not just for the planet, but for the people who grow our food.
This project is a collaborative, three-year research initiative (2024–2027) designed to explore how agroecological networks can promote sustainability from the soil up. Through site visits, workshops, and conversations in the field, we’ve already started building the relationships and partnerships that will carry us forward.
Why Agroecology, and Why Now?
Climate change is not a distant threat for farmers—it’s a daily reality. Unpredictable weather, soil degradation & desertification, and insecure livelihoods are pressing issues across our study regions. Agroecology offers a science-based and community-rooted approach to shift away from extractive farming systems and toward those that regenerate ecosystems while supporting social well-being.
At the heart of our project is the idea of diversification: integrating annual crops, perennial species, cover crops, symbiotic crops, and trees into farming landscapes. This diversified approach boosts carbon sequestration, improves soil health, and enhances resilience against extreme weather events. This approach not only helps the environment but also improves the lives of the farmers and communities behind it. Better nutrition, fairer labor conditions, and more stable incomes are core to our work.
Starting in Germany: Building a Shared Vision
Our first kickoff meetings were held in Germany from September 18th to 23rd, 2024. We visited pioneering farms like Biohof Behring, Hof Basta, and Hof Marienhöhe to see firsthand how agroecological principles are already being put into practice. These visits sparked rich discussions on sustainability transformation, the potential of diversified farming systems, and the real-world challenges of implementation.
We ground our project structure through three core work packages:
Global meta-analysis to synthesize existing knowledge across case studies.
Field studies to examine regional agroecological transitions in detail.
Knowledge synthesis to bring it all together into actionable insights.
A key highlight of the Germany kickoff was our “Common Goals” exercise. This wasn't just a project alignment session. It was a values-driven dialogue that focused on building trust with our community partners, ensuring ethical research practices, and avoiding the extractive dynamics often seen in academic community collaborations. We emphasized the importance of working with communities and committed to mobilizing farmer networks as change agents for agroecology.
Next Stop, Kerala: Learning from Lush Landscapes
From September 25th to October 3rd, 2025, we traveled to southern India, where we were welcomed by the Kerala Agricultural University and local farming communities. Kerala’s lush agroforestry systems offered a vibrant context for observing how diversified perennial agriculture is already being practiced and where support is still needed.
Field visits took us to farms stewarded by farmers like Ms. Veena Rajkumar, Mrs. Vani, and Mr. Manoj, who shared stories of their transition toward organic, tree-integrated farming systems. We saw the benefits that come with healthier soils, crop diversity, and stronger community resilience. At the same time, we recognized the challenges, such as labor shortages, limited institutional support, and the long time it takes for tree-based crops to mature.
Alongside our Indian partners—Thanal Trust, OFAI, and KJKS—we co-facilitated training sessions on organic and agroecological methods. These were not top-down lectures but participatory dialogues where knowledge flowed both ways. We left with deep respect for the expertise rooted in these communities.
Building a Governance Model That Works for Everyone
From the start, we knew this project had to be governed as carefully as it was researched. That’s why we’ve built a multi-level structure grounded in inclusion, transparency, and localized decision-making.
At the core is our Steering Committee, made up of a principal investigator, a community partner, and a trainee from each country. Using sociocracy principles, we ensure decisions are collaborative, equitable, and context-aware.
Case study teams in each country meet regularly to share data and updates. Community partners aren’t just consulted—they’re co-leaders.
Tools, Methods, and Shared Learning
Our first methods workshops introduced tools that will guide our research over the next three years. These included:
SHARP Tool to assess farm-level climate resilience.
TAPE Tool to measure agroecological performance.
LiteFarm App, a digital platform to help farmers manage sustainable practices.
We also established five working groups to focus on key pillars of our research:
WG1: TAPE/SHARP Survey Development—Collecting social networks' climate resilience data.
WG2: Agroecological Movements—Developing frameworks to measure farmer integration.
WG3: Natural Science Methods—Studying soil health, biodiversity, and ecological outcomes.
WG4: Meta-Analysis—Synthesizing findings across all four countries.
WG5: Data Governance & Ethics—Ensuring our data is responsibly collected and used.
From qualitative interviews to soil sampling protocols, our methodology blends scientific rigor with participatory ethics—always aiming to make research useful and relevant to those it affects most.
Where We Go From Here
This is only the beginning. Over the next three years, we will conduct interviews and surveys, take field samples and conduct tests, hold monthly Steering Committee meetings, and gather online to work on our respective Working Groups and Work Packages.
What makes this project unique is the global analysis it encourages and the fascinating cross-comparison and cross-pollination our academics, and equally importantly, our community partners, benefit from. Through global conversations, sharing common challenges and resilience strategies, our team aims to produce excellent academic results as well as contribute to the transition towards an agriculture that works with the land and for the land as well as for all of our societies that depend on it.
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