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Research on urban food policies has focused upon downstream processes, thus neglecting an integral perspective of food systems, being local and sustainable food production one challenge often mentioned. In turn, in the debates on governance, the focus has been placed upon urban settings and actors, with few studies integrating production into research on urban food policies. These biases limit the potential of research on urban food systems to promote a holistic approach towards sustainability. Within the framework of a project promoted by the Spanish Network of Municipalities for Agroecology (RMAe), the present research attempts to understand: (1) how agroecology-oriented farmers associations are positioned in relation to urban food policies, (2) the perceived needs of farmers' regarding urban food policies with a view to strengthening sustainable food systems, and (3) why and how the farmers' viewpoint is missing from urban food policies. To this end we conducted 27 mixed interviews (in-depth interviews containing several survey questions) with agroecology-oriented farmers in 5 local associations linked to urban food policy co-production in Spain; and held two participatory workshops with their involvement. Our results highlight the need to strengthen agroecology-oriented farmers’ associations, and to use public resources towards the promotion of specifically agroecological models of food production and local markets in order for these to actually benefit agroecological initiatives.

In pursuing agroecological urbanism – a strategic endeavor to dismantle disempowering structures within urban food systems through cultivating mutual interdependencies – alternative food networks (AFNs) emerge as pivotal catalysts for transformative change. Indeed, there are increasing arguments for AFNs working on diverse issues to pool resources and address food system challenges from multiple perspectives under a common frame. However, a pressing need exists for greater clarity on tensions and challenges in establishing a network of AFNs within a shared framework, such as that fostered by agroecological urbanism. This study explores impediments to organizing AFNs into transformative networks, drawing insights from two diverse urban contexts – Preston, England, and Vitoria-Gasteiz, Basque Country – using a case study methodology comprising online semi-structured interviews and participant observation. Our findings underscore three primary barriers to this process: divergent conceptualizations of food questions, education and awareness-raising as a limited convergence point, and constrained resources. Such barriers generate a practical divorce between social and environmental goals in the experiences analyzed. Central to this division is also the pivotal question of the subject of justice – whether AFNs advocate primarily for urban citizens’ interests or prioritize peri-urban and rural farmers’ concerns. The analysis highlights the need to develop inclusive socio-ecological narratives within the overarching framework of agroecological urbanism as a critical step in fostering collaborative coalitions among AFNs that move beyond individualized change. Building these coalitions would depend on funding availability for long-term strategic collaborative efforts, emphasizing the crucial role of public authorities in such processes.

The efforts of agroecology-oriented farmers and peasants’ organizations have been studied in depth in relation to their political expression, but less so with regard to the forms they adopt to strengthen the socio-economic viability of small- and medium-sized farms within sustainable food systems. Whilst farmers’ self-organization represents a core process in the development of Agroecology-based Local Agri-food Systems (ALAS), the development of collective, economic structures among agroecology-oriented farmers’ is still weak. In an attempt to understand why and how agroecology-oriented farmers are constructing their own position within ALAS, and the challenges they are facing in this sense, we conducted a qualitative study on the self-organizational processes and structures of five Agroecology-Oriented Farmers’ Groups in Spain. Based on 27 interviews and six online, participatory workshops, our results reveal different reasons for joining and setting up farmers’ groups as non-mixed collective spaces, with instrumental and social factors constituting the principal motivations. Politics and advocacy aroused controversy and were only observed in the biggest, most powerful and well-structured organizations. The main challenges identified refer to the precariousness and isolation of farmers, as well as of the different local groups. The weakness of the Agroecology-Oriented Farmers’ Groups highlights the need for further action-oriented research and accompaniment

Despite the extensive literature on

El sistema alimentario es un recién llegado a los debates sobre la transición ecosocial, y la reflexión sobre el modelo agrícola es periférica al pensamiento ecologista. Sin embargo, sus impactos sobre la crisis socio-ecológica global son cada vez más patentes, al igual que se incrementan los riesgos de crisis de abastecimiento alimentario por el cambio global. El actual modelo agrario mayoritario, orientado a producir comida barata, genera incrementos de renta para las explotaciones más grandes y capitalizadas en modelos de agricultura empresarial. A su vez, genera descensos en la renta y endeudamiento de las explotaciones de mediano y pequeño tamaño, degradación general de las condiciones de vida en el medio rural, y degradación de los ecosistemas. En el artículo se describen, primero, las principales problemáticas socio-ecológicas que atraviesan el sector agrario español, y más tarde se plantean distintas propuestas de acción desde una perspectiva de transición socio-ecológica – agroecológica. Un sistema alimentario sostenible debe desmercantilizar, reducir y localizar la escala de producción de cara a permitir una mayor autonomía -en términos biofísicos – de la producción y de los sistemas alimentarios locales. Para avanzar hacia ello es necesario activar alianzas amplias, en especial con el sector de la agricultura familiar y de los movimientos sociales afines a la transición socio-ecológica

This study examines the determinants of resilience in Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) and strategies for CSA expansion, including the role of public policies, providing a genuine international comparison of inputs from CSA coordinators in Brazil and Spain. The results indicate that CSA projects with an engaged small consumer core group that supports the producer have additional tools to build resilience. Synergies with other like-minded social, educational, or environmental projects offer significant expansion opportunities. Distrust of CSA actors in public policies limits their ability to support the CSA movement, but indirect policy adjustments could have a favorable effects on CSA expansion.

El artículo aborda las transformaciones del sector agrario y ganadero de carácter familiar a explotaciones industriales, lo que implica enormes costes sociales y ecológicos. Frente a ello, están surgiendo diversos actores colectivos que abogan por proyectos alternativos de ruralidad.

Although in theory social justice is considered as a core dimension of agroecological transitions, alternative food initiatives related to agroecology have been criticised for their exclusionary practices based on important social and economic biases. In this article, we adopt the lens of political intersectionality to study two cases of Agroecology-oriented Food Redistribution Coalitions in Spain that emerged to address the rising levels of food insecurity during the COVID-19 pandemic. We f ind that the coalitions represent a convergence of diverse social struggles, placing intersectionally marginalized groups at the centre of their activism. However, we also uncover that coalition members participate in different ways depending on their socioeconomic profiles, which could perpetuate inequalities in organizational practices. One major point of tension is the need to balance the goal of providing access to healthy and sustainable food with the affordability of such produce. This leads to the adoption of hybrid food networks that include conventionally produced food. We also highlight that while the predominance of women in these coalitions reflects the unequal distribution of food-related care work in society, the collectivization of such work through AFRCs practices points to a transformation of gender relations. Territorialized alliances between actors from urban and rural settings and between urban centers and peripheries are established through the coalitions. However, such networks fall short on involving large numbers of agroecology-oriented initiatives and providing direct encounters between consumers and producers. Overall, the article underscores the importance of addressing intersecting inequalities within alternative food initiatives and argues that intersectional coalitions offer an intriguing example of how to promote such understanding and pave the way towards (more) just agroecological transitions.

The present communication aims to address the role of multiactor processes of knowledge generation within agroecological urbanism, through the application of the concepts of trans-local governance and meta-governance. For this purpose we analyse the outcomes of a Working Group on Agroecological Planning within the Spanish Network of Municipalities for Agroecology. We have collected primary information through participant observation and selected online surveys to the group’s participants, and we have analysed the minutes of the working group. Our results point out the ability of the different profiles and disciplinary backgrounds for opening comprehensive approaches to urbanism that are at the same time innovative and applied to trans-local realities and needs. Cooperation and complementation between different local realities and positions set possibilities for different actors that feel isolated or with scarce resources to develop innovative and comprehensive thinking; and to develop creative, holistic and ready-to-use solutions for relevant issues regarding agroecological urbanism.

Mensajes clave, • En la gobernanza territorializada de los sistemas alimentarios diferenciamos dos espacios: (1) territorios urbanos, donde el acceso a la alimentación se ha de entender como sistema básico de aprovisionamiento, en términos similares al aprovisionamiento de energía o agua; y (2) territorios rurales, donde cabe aplicar instrumentos de desarrollo rural para fortalecer su posición en la construcción de sistemas alimentarios de ciudad-región, en base a las relaciones funcionales que de hecho mantienen con los territorios urbanos., • El avance hacia esa articulación o partenariados urbano-rurales tiene tres dimensiones que deben articularse de forma equilibrada y coherente: (1) dimensión de articulación institucional entre campo ciudad; (2) dimensión simbólica o de narrativas incluyentes y que reconocen la condición y el papel imprescindible de ambos territorios y sus poblaciones en la sostenibilidad alimentaria; y (3) una dimensión de proceso a través del cual es necesario articular actores, territorios y redes económicas más allá de la dualidad campo-ciudad, a través de arreglos institucionales e infraestructurales específicos a cada territorio., • Los instrumentos políticos y presupuestarios para implementar las propuestas aquí planteadas están disponibles, pero no se aplican. Tan solo es necesario ser valientes y audaces para impulsar los cambios necesarios, tanto las distintas administraciones como los actores tradicionales de la cadena alimentaria.

The global environmental and social-economic crises of industrialized agriculture have led to the emergence of agroecology as an alternative approach aiming to increase the ecological, social and economic sustainability of agri–food systems. The ‘multi-level perspective’ is now a widely used framework to understand and promote the upscaling of local innovation niches, such as agroecology, to broader scales (e.g., regional, national, international), thus reconfiguring the dominant socio-technical regimes. Additionally, emergent ‘hybrid forums’ can provide a space between niche and regime where niche innovators can become important actors in scaling up and out emergent innovations. In this paper, we examine a university training program (Postgraduate Diploma in Local Agroecological Dynamization at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), to better understand its role as a ‘hybrid forum’. Our analysis focuses especially on how the program, as an example of a hybrid forum, worked to reconfigure practices, concepts, and tools of local development practitioners. We also assess to what extent the program contributed to transitioning local development institutions toward agroecology. An online survey (n = 46) and in-depth interviews (n = 16) were carried out to determine how the training program has impacted the student’s opinions and their respective institutions. The results show that most of the students consider that they have acquired new theoretical frameworks and useful methods to re-framing their local development projects, that new alliances with multiactor networks have been perceived, and that some internal changes of the local development practices have taken place. We conclude that the training program, as a hybrid forum, is capable of outscaling niche innovations through linkages with different kind of actors both from the niche and the regime. Political changes in the socio-technical landscape level offer an opportunity to amplify the impact of the innovations

Alternative food systems and networks, which have emerged around the world, provide a strong basis for ecological transition and the fight against climate emergencies. These experiences are often fragmentary, reduced in size and frequently unfold in parallel, hardly linked to each other. Agroecology faces the challenge of scaling up these initiatives to gain size and bring about a significant impact on food production and consumption, ultimately establishing an alternative regime. Within the agroecological movement, however, diverse conceptions exist of what a sustainable food system should be. It is thus necessary to reach an extensive consensus, from the perspective of agroecology, on the principles guiding the construction of this system. This paper discusses the principles that would best steer the building of Agroecology-based Local Agri-food Systems (ALAS). To this end, a critical review of the scientific literature on alternative food networks and systems was performed. In so doing, we highlighted the aspects that one could consider as purely agroecological in nature and sought to bring them together to form a coherent proposal. Consequently, the present paper systematizes the main contributions of literature on alternative food networks and systems, taking into account the characteristics of sustainability from an agroecology viewpoint, and identifies the issues requiring further development. Several principles are proposed to define local food systems, based on the four dimensions of sustainability.

One of the factors threatening the sustainability of rural territories is the hegemonic agro-industrial model, whose environmental and social impacts strongly limit rural life. Here, we want to call attention to the opportunities provided by alternative agri-food systems, based on agroecology and food sovereignty, as a cultural heritage to support sustainable local development. We have carried out exploratory research to draft the main agroecological initiatives in Spain, particularly those having explicit support or encouragement from public administrations. An on-line questionnaire (n = 40) was delivered, and in-depth interviews (n = 15) were carried out among a sample of people working in the Spanish agroecology sector (public and private). The results demonstrate how the recovery and promotion of traditional ecological knowledge can help to increase the capacity of the social-ecological systems to cope with shocks and disturbances and maintain long-term resilience. In addition, agroecological practices allow collective identities to emerge around the characteristics of the territory strengthening local life, placing the society-ecosystem coevolution at the center of local identity. In conclusion, although still a minority, we have showed how several types of policies conceiving agroecological practices as an intangible collective heritage, with significant transformative potential towards local sustainability, have already been implemented.

En los últimos años la reflexión científica acerca de las transiciones hacia la sostenibilidad en el sistema agroalimentario ha recibido una atención creciente, y se han desarrollado aproximaciones en distintos contextos y escalas territoriales. Sin embargo, las posibles trayectorias de transición emprendidas desde situaciones y actores convencionales han sido menos estudiadas. El presente artículo analiza tres estudios de caso en los que se ha aplicado la metodología de la Dinamización Local Agroecológica para impulsar transiciones hacia la sostenibilidad en grupos de agricultores convencionales de regadío en el término municipal de València. La discusión aporta reflexiones empíricas relevantes en aspectos hasta ahora poco desarrollados, como son la dialéctica entre las visiones deterministas y las de final abierto en torno a las trayectorias y contenidos específicos de cada proceso de transición; la naturaleza y rasgos del sujeto de la transición; o el papel del enfoque agroecológico en la conceptualización de las transiciones hacia la sostenibilidad de los sistemas alimentarios. El artículo señala la importancia del trabajo desde enfoques no-deterministas para aprehender situaciones complejas, y la necesidad de profundizar en el análisis de los sujetos de las transiciones hacia la sostenibilidad agroalimentaria en el desarrollo de marcos metodológicos adaptados a cada perfil concreto.

In recent years, the transition to sustainability at a food systems’ scale has drawn major attention both from the scientific and political arenas. Agroecology has become central to such discussions, while impressive efforts have been made to conceptualize the agroecology scaling process. It has thus become necessary to apply the concept of agroecology transitions to the scale of food systems and in different “real-world” contexts. Scaling local agroecology experiences of production, distribution, and consumption, which are often disconnected and/or disorganized, also reveals emergent research gaps. A critical review was performed in order to establish a transdisciplinary dialogue between both political agroecology and the literature on sustainable food systems. The objective was to build insights into how to advance towards Agroecology-based Local Agri-food Systems (ALAS). Our review unveils emergent questions such as: how to overcome the metabolic rift related to segregated activities along the food chain, how to feed cities sustainably, and how they should relate to the surrounding territories, which social subjects should drive such transitions, and which governance arrangements would be needed. The paper argues in favor of the re-construction of food metabolisms, territorial flows, plural subjects and (bottom-up) governance assemblages, placing life at the center of the food system and going beyond the rural–urban divide.

Urban food policies are increasingly considered central instruments for the promotion of food systems sustainability. As for their social sustainability, justice and equity are expected to play a central role, but gender equity remains not fully developed. In order to explore how gender relations can be addressed in the context of urban food policies in global North settings, in this paper we analyze the drafting process of the Urban Food Strategy of Zaragoza (Spain), self-identified as agroecology-oriented and which aimed at introducing a gender-sensitive approach. Based on empirical insights from this case study, we show that a lack of reflection and empirical development exists on the food policy-gender equity nexus, while at the same time there is an emergent body of specific proposals to be obtained from feminist and agroecological reflections on urban lifestyles. Indeed, our paper shows that agroecological and feminist approaches converge in claiming for the visibilization of food-related care work, and in its de-privatization through community-based infrastructures. The paper also unveils limiting conditions which may hinder the transformative potential of agroecology and feminism in urban food policy co-production processes, such as top-down approaches to food policy production, weak participatory processes, and gender-blind decisions among city officers.

La presente investigación pretende identificar los ámbitos de gobernanza significativos en las políticas alimentarias urbanas, así como las deficiencias y potencialidades en su implementación. Para ello se analizan las acciones para mejorar la gobernanza alimentaria en 13 ciudades españolas, relacionadas todas ellas con la Red de Ciudades por la Agroecología. La información obtenida mediante un cuestionario ha sido complementada con entrevistas personales y análisis de documentación sobre acciones específicas. Además, se han analizado las Estrategias Alimentarias Urbanas de tres ciudades (Valladolid, Zaragoza y Segovia)., El estudio identifica 6 ámbitos de la gobernanza alimentaria (1-De base; 2-Multi-actor; 3-Intra-administración; 4-Multi-nivel; 5-Territorial; y 6-Gobernanza translocal). En torno a estos ámbitos se discuten conceptos como las nuevas institucionalidades multi-actor que se están generando en torno a las políticas alimentarias urbanas; la dialéctica entre administración, organizaciones sociales y sector agrario o la pertinencia de distintas miradas como los enfoques de Sistema Alimentario de Ciudad-Región. Las conclusiones sugieren profundizar en la articulación de los enfoques top-down y bottom-up de las políticas alimentarias, aportando centralidad al papel del sector agrario ecológico y a actores urbanos desfavorecidos, así como a la importancia de trascender la escala meramente local para poder desarrollar el potencial de sostenibilidad de las políticas alimentarias. De esta forma, la gobernanza de las políticas alimentarias urbanas va más allá de los territorios y paisajes urbanos, del mismo modo que las dinámicas generales urbanas generan importantes impactos sobre el conjunto del territorio.

In the past decades, both agroecology and alternative, urban food systems have been the subject of scientific attention. Simultaneously, the adoption of agroecology by major institutions (such as the FAO) has opened new discussions on how policies can promote sustainable, localized food systems, sparking an interest in what we call “political agroecology.” In this chapter, we aim to discuss some study cases where policy was used to promote agroecology in urban and metropolitan contexts. Our case studies highlight this process in Spain and the importance of cooperation between local authorities, food movements and farmers. We develop a theoretical dialogue around the concepts of ‘agroecological transition’ and ‘localized food systems’ and develop an empirical definition of what we call “Agroecology-Oriented Local Food Systems,” a framework for understanding urban food systems as agroecosystems. We specifically discuss the central importance of urban food policy co-production for scaling agroecology and the need for a diverse and fluid social ecosystem to promote change in urban agroecological contexts.

When public administrations promote agroecological transitionprocesses there is a risk that these be conventionalized and co-opted. However there is a notable lack of research on the adop-tion of participatory approaches to processes of agroecologicaltransition, especially in larger territories. This article analyzestwo case studies in which territorial Action Plans for agroecolo-gical transition have been co-produced through participatoryprocesses in metropolitan areas of the Spanish State. Analysis ofthese two cases leads us to outline a series of significant factorsthat may serve to adapt the methodological approach of LocalAgroecological Dynamization to different contexts. We alsopoint out some contradictions inherent to participatory pro-cesses for agroecological transitions promoted by the adminis-tration, in regards to the conflictive dialectics among top-downand bottom-up processes, and to the weakness of agroecology-oriented farmers in metropolitan environments. Finally, we pro-pose some efforts to overcome these contradictions.

The global environmental and social-economic crises of industrialized agriculture have led to the emergence of agroecology as an alternative approach aiming to increase the ecological, social and economic sustainability of agri–food systems. The ‘multi-level perspective’ is now a widely used framework to understand and promote the upscaling of local innovation niches, such as agroecology, to broader scales (e.g., regional, national, international), thus reconfiguring the dominant socio-technical regimes. Additionally, emergent ‘hybrid forums’ can provide a space between niche and regime where niche innovators can become important actors in scaling up and out emergent innovations. In this paper, we examine a university training program (Postgraduate Diploma in Local Agroecological Dynamization at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), to better understand its role as a ‘hybrid forum’. Our analysis focuses especially on how the program, as an example of a hybrid forum, worked to reconfigure practices, concepts, and tools of local development practitioners. We also assess to what extent the program contributed to transitioning local development institutions toward agroecology. An online survey (n=46) and in-depth interviews (n=16) were carried out to determine how the training program has impacted the student’s opinions and their respective institutions. The results show that most of the students consider that they have acquired new theoretical frameworks and useful methods to re-framing their local development projects, that new alliances with multiactor networks have been perceived, and that some internal changes of the local development practices have taken place. We conclude that the training program, as a hybrid forum, is capable of outscaling niche innovations through linkages with different kind of actors both from the niche and the regime. Political changes in the socio-technical landscape level offer an opportunity to amplify the impact of the innovations whi

El presente artículo presenta una investigación comparada en cuatro comarcas andaluzas, de cara a identificar estrategias de supervivencia de pequeños operadores alimentarios en el contexto local. Para ello cruza distintas características territoriales y diferentes cadenas de distribución, en relación con tres alimentos distintos (hortaliza, vino y carne fresca de ovino). El análisis mixto (cualitativo-cuantitativo) realizado ofrece una tipología de operadores, así como los principales discursos que articulan sus estrategias frente a los mercados globales. La discusión aporta reflexiones relevantes respecto a las formas de articular la investigación, las políticas y organismos públicos, y los operadores locales de cara a incrementar la sostenibilidad de los sistemas agroalimentarios locales, así como límites y nuevos retos identificados para la transición hacia la sostenibilidad del sistema agroalimentario a escala regional.

A la hora de discutir las investigaciones volcadas en este número monográfico, cabe señalar en primer lugar que no ha resultado fácil conseguir un número suficiente de artículos de investigación con base empírica, con cierto recorrido, y con un enfoque de la investigación activista y participativa convergente con el que aquí se ha expuesto. La mayor parte de los artículos incluidos surgen, como ya se ha comentado, del Grupo de Trabajo 11 del VII Congreso Internacional en Agroecología celebrado en Córdoba (Estado español) en 2018. Aun así se difundió la convocatoria de este número monográfico por redes de investigación vinculadas con la Agroecología en diversos países de habla hispana, con muy escasa acogida.

La promoción de procesos de transición agroecológica desde las administraciones públicas presenta riesgos de convencionalización y cooptación. Diversos textos científicos plantean que estos riesgos pueden ser superados desde una adecuada articulación de procesos participativos que construyan el protagonismo del sector productor y las organizaciones sociales en la definición e implementación de estos procesos. Sin embargo, hay una importante carencia de trabajos empíricos que discutan la aplicación del enfoque participativo a procesos de transición agroecológica, especialmente en escalas territoriales superiores a la finca o la comunidad local. En el presente artículo se analizan dos estudios de caso de co-producción participativa de Planes de Acción territoriales con enfoque agroecológico, en entornos metropolitanos del Estado español. El análisis comparado de los dos casos deriva en una propuesta de variables significativas para la adaptación del enfoque metodológico de la Dinamización Local Agroecológica a distintos contextos. A su vez, señala algunas contradicciones inherentes al impulso de procesos participativos desde la administración, así como propuestas de trabajo para tratar de superarlas.

El presente número monográfico de la revista Agroecología se ha construido a partir de una selección de los trabajos presentados al Grupo de Trabajo 11, denominado “Investigación Militante y Participativa”, del VII Congreso Internacional de Agroecología, celebrado en Córdoba (Estado español) en la primavera de 2018. Este grupo de trabajo planteaba la oportunidad de discutir y compartir experiencias concretas enmarcadas alrededor de ambos paradigmas de investigación, que tienen en común el objetivo de generar conocimiento desde, con y para las comunidades locales. A la selección de trabajos realizada se ha incluido un trabajo poterior y original de Mamen Cuéllar y Eduardo Sevilla sobre los vínculos entre investigación militante, Agroecología e investigación feminista, a modo de propuesta teórico-conceptual; otro del equipo de Ernesto Méndez sobre casos en Nicaragua; así como dos artículos elaborados por parte del equipo coordinador del Grupo de Trabajo, en base a las discusiones habidas en las dos sesiones que éste tuvo y la revisión de los textos que componen el monográfico: el presente texto introductorio y un artículo de cierre, que trata de recoger estas conclusiones.

En este artículo se parte de la situación de inviabilidad del modelo de agricultura industrializada y del régimen agroalimentario dominante y de la necesidad de construir alternativas sustentables que reviertan la crisis. En las últimas décadas han aparecido gran cantidad de experiencias que constituyen, por su carácter innovador, la vanguardia de un sistema agroalimentario alternativo. Sin embargo, estas experiencias no son suficientes para producir un cambio a escalas superiores de organización social e incluso para su propia supervivencia como tales experiencias. El reto principal que la Agroecología tiene planteado es el de ampliar la escala de las experiencias agroecológicas. En este artículo proponemos un cambio de enfoque en la propia práctica agroecológica, apostando por la conformación de sistemas agroalimentarios locales de base agroecológica que al ganar en escala impongan un nuevo arreglo institucional favorable. Ello sólo será posible mediante una movilización social no sólo centrada en la producción agraria o en la distribución, sino en la alimentación, tejiendo alianzas sociales con capacidad de cambio. Ello se puede hacer politizando el consumo alimentario.

En el presente artículo aplicamos el enfoque de las redes alimentarias para analizar el desarrollo de las redes de distribución de pequeños productores en el mercado interior de alimentos ecológicos, así como las estrategias de los productores para tratar de conseguir un valor añadido óptimo. El artículo analiza los discursos de productores ecológicos horto-frutícolas en dos Comunidades Autónomas (Madrid y Extremadura), implicados en redes alimentarias alternativas, respecto a los circuitos comerciales utilizados. El análisis nos ha llevado a afirmar que las estrategias más generalizadas combinan distintos canales (estrategias multicanal) y que las explotaciones de mayor tamaño situadas en territorios menos densamente poblados muestran mayor tendencia a combinar redes de distribución convencionales y alternativas (redes híbridas). A su vez, el artículo identifica distintas variables (cercanía a grandes centros de consumo, tamaño de las explotaciones, antigüedad de la explotación y otras de carácter socio-cultural) que condicionan y caracterizan a las estrategias específicas de distribución puestas en práctica por las explotaciones analizadas.

La Dinamización Local Agroecológica (DLAe) forma parte del paradigma agroecológico, un paradigma alternativo de desarrollo rural que se despliega en tres frentes: como disciplina científica, como conjunto de prácticas de manejo agrario y como movimiento social transformador. La triple propuesta ofrecida por la DLAe cuestiona el sistema agroalimentario industrial basado en el productivismo e incentiva la soberanía local mediante el análisis de las acciones de los diferentes actores sociales, de sus relaciones de interdependencia y de las formas en las que interactúan con el sistema agroalimentario local, al tiempo que promueve la gestión colectiva y sostenible de bienes comunes como la alimentación, la tierra, las semillas o el agua. La DLAe es una estrategia que promueve la soberanía local porque parte de un enfoque eminentemente territorial y participativo, empoderando a la población local, redefiniendo el papel del Estado y promoviendo la resiliencia de las sociedades locales.

The serious problems of agrarian unsustainability cannot be solvedthrough technological changes that lessen environmental impacts.Although technological change is important, it is also necessaryto change the agri-food system as a whole. Participatory actionresearch (PAR) is a methodological approach to collaborate withlocal communities. It enables us to advance in the restructuringof physical flows, economies, and information that support localfarming, as a means to achieve greater autonomy and self-man-agement. This article presents several case studies in Spain in whichPAR has been applied to build local organic food networks. Theseare characterized by a more sustainable use of local resources andthe development of short food supply chains