Tackling deforestation and food security with regenerative agriculture system design alongside indigenous communities in Latin America. PhD Management - Science, Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship (funded)

Background

There is mounting evidence of the negative socio-ecological impacts of global agri-food systems on use of natural resources and local food security issues. This evidence illustrates the need to re-think how we grow, process, sell, eat and dispose of agricultural commodities and the relationship between development of global agri-food value chains and systems and local communities. Although globalised agri-food systems, which are often large scale, industrialised, resource extractive and exploitative, have provided unprecedented growth in agricultural productivity, they have also proven unable to feed the world in a safe, sustainable and just way. Global agri-food systems designed to produce, distribute and consume agricultural commodities are not able to keep planetary boundaries, thus contributing to deforestation, reduction of biodiversity, climate change and ultimately fail to ensure access to food security to everyone. While these systems can be highly resource efficient, the drive to standardize and simplify leads to over-reliance on a few productive varieties and an over-dependency on external inputs, including biological materials. This has also significant impacts on local communities particularly in terms of food security, which to date remain largely under-investigated.

This project will focus on how to address the issue of re-imagining and re-designing food systems by looking at small-scale, community-oriented and inclusive food systems based on the principles and practices of regenerative agriculture, agro-forestry and biomimicry. Particularly we aim at analysing the potentials of designing community-based and inclusive agri-food systems, in which fostering forest conservation, bio-diversity, soil health, abundance of ecosystem service provision, and a fair and just access to food.

Research Questions
• How do we imagine and design regenerative agri-food systems contributing to find structural solutions to global deforestation and food security issues?
• What are the socio-ecological dimensions of community-based and participatory agri-food systems?
• What are the enabling factors for implementing regenerative agri-food systems at both global and local-community scale?

Methods and expected impacts

Our proposed research focuses on understanding how regenerative agriculture principles and practices can foster transformative processes in natural capital and resource intensive agri-food systems. Specifically, we will investigate how to engage with these principles and practices to design restorative, resilient and just systems by: (i) identify community-based strategies to scale-up and out agri-food systems inspired by regenerative and bio-mimetic thinking, and (ii) fostering ecological and social diversity, protecting eco-system services, and recognising cultural, economic and social aspects in communities based on agro-forestry practices.

This project will first map out the different initiatives, practices and related impacts (case studies) that are already engaging with principles of regenerative agriculture (Research Activity 1). We will then identify and analyse the drivers which may facilitate the transition towards community-based practices based on closed loops of nutrients, shared resources and diversified agro-ecological systems (Research Activity 2). We will assess the potential outcomes and impacts of the different transitions in terms of resource efficiency, equity, inclusiveness and resilience of the system. Particularly we will look at patterns of increased sustainable and ecological intensification, resource use optimisation and adaptability to external shocks in communities practicing agro-forestry (Research Activity 3). Based on a mixed method approach, comparison within and between cases will be used to define key findings, which can be used to theorise on community-based regenerative and resilient agri-food systems (Research Activity 4).

For more information about the project and informal enquiries, please contact the primary supervisor, Prof. Stefano Pascucci
http://business-school.exeter.ac.uk/about/people/profile/index.php?web_id=Stefano_Pascucci