Andrea P Sosa Varrotti
Research interests: Agroecology, Transitions, Food Systems, Participatory Evaluation, Social Indicators
Agroecology for sustainable rural development. Elaboration of indicators for the analysis of agroecological transitions
This research aims to contribute to knowledge about the potentialities and limitations of agroecology as a sustainable rural development strategy. It also aims to provide cognitive inputs to actors involved in agroecological transitions in order to strengthen these experiences, as well as to contribute to the elaboration of public policies regarding these transformations. The proposal aims to integrate the research I am conducting in the province of Buenos Aires, Argentina (‘Agroecological systems as a strategy for sustainable rural development. Elaboration of economic, social and political indicators for the analysis of agroecological transitions in Argentina’), and the larger project TAFS (‘Transitions to Agroecological Food Systems: a case for policy support’). TAFS project is organised by the Research Unit Art-Dev (Cirad Montpellier) through five platforms of more than thirty researchers in partnership for research, training and development in Africa, Southeast Asia, and Latin America, including Argentina. I am currently studying the case of the Trenque Lauquen District, in particular, its peri-urban area of its central city where, after the regulation of the application of agrochemicals, diverse and heterogeneous processes of agroecological transition have been unfolding for five years.
To analyse experiences of transition from industrial agricultural systems to agroecology based on a) the economic, social and political changes involved in agroecological transitions – both at the farm, the local food system, and the institutional levels – and the aspects that favour or hinder these transitions, and b) the capacity of these systems to provide food to the population and create employment at the local level. This analysis will allow the elaboration of indicators on critical aspects of the transition processes, which will be inputs for the design of actions by the actors involved – producers, technicians, advisors, extensionists, related public institutions, local and national governments, policymakers.
Andrea P. Sosa Varrotti is an Argentine food sociologist specialising in political ecology and economic sociology with an emphasis on Latin American studies, concerned about the future of food systems and gender equality in transitions to sustainability. She holds a PhD in Rural Studies (University of Toulouse II - Jean Jaurès, France), a PhD in Social Sciences (University of Buenos Aires, UBA, Argentina), and a degree in Sociology (UBA).
Since 2008, Andrea has obtained numerous scholarships, grants and awards to study and conduct research in Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Mexico, Paraguay, and Uruguay. She is currently part of the Journal of Peasant Studies Book editorial team. Also, she does consulting for ministries, international organisations and universities in Argentina and abroad and is an experienced French translator. She has published numerous journal articles and book chapters in four languages, as well as a book on: globalisation, financialisation, network production, land grabbing, agribusiness, corporate practices, hegemony, fair trade, social movements, food sovereignty, food systems transitions, social economy, agroecology, and social research methods.
Since 2009, she has taught the three ‘Research Methods in Social Sciences’ courses of the Sociology Major at the University of Buenos Aires (UBA) and has participated as a visiting professor in other graduate and undergraduate courses in Brazil, Canada, Argentina and Uruguay.