The Generative Potential of Tensions within Belgian Agroecology

Food crises and ecologization have given rise to a Belgian dynamic that does not behave
according to the conventional tripod of agroecology: practitioners, social movement, and scientists.
Instead of simply recounting the history of Belgian agroecology, the authors trace the history and
dynamics in Belgium), a journey along six strands that weave themselves into a Belgian tapestry:
Genetically modified crop commandos, a scientific paradigm shift, hybrid expertise opening the
Northern route that intersects with a Southern political route, an original non-institutional dynamic
in the French-speaking part of Belgium and an institutional initiative that led to a rift in Flanders. In
the following section, we identify, emerging from those six strands, four tensions that create a space
of innovations, namely, politically differentiated discourses, land access, fair price, and epistemic
tensions. We discuss then the generative potential of the 4 tensions and describe the potential of
reconfigurations generated by boundaries organizations, food justice and transdisciplinarity. We
conclude that the concept of agroecology continues to have transformative potential in Belgium today.
However, no one can predict the course of such a largely non-institutional dynamic.

Publication year:2018

Keywords:agroecology, transition, transdisciplinary, food justice, controversies

Accessibility:Open