The Bio-economy Chair, Professor Rachel Wynberg, and PhD candidate Morgan Lee reflect on the initiation of a new regional agroecology-based network.

Introduction
Throughout southern Africa, the outlook, know-how, and skillsets of future farmers, decision-makers, extension officers, and agricultural industry professionals, continue to be shaped by the industrial agricultural model. This is worrying as industrial agricultural production is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, soil degradation, and biodiversity loss. Its extensive use of chemicals also has harmful impacts on human health and ecosystems. Transforming our agricultural research and curricula is a critical step towards shifting our agricultural systems towards more sustainable approaches.

Establishing an agroecology network
Recognising these concerns, representatives from 11 South African research and tertiary institutions and non-governmental organisations gathered in May 2024 to establish an Agroecology Knowledge Network. The network is supported through the regional Seed and Knowledge Initiative (SKI), and is convened by the University of Cape Town, which is one of the 15 SKI partners. Through curriculum innovation, transformative research, and drawing on best practice examples, the interdisciplinary Knowledge Network aims to share experiences and inspire new ways of teaching and research. It also hopes to nurture a new generation of scholars and practitioners.

Starting in South Africa, the network intends to grow to a regional level, ultimately aiming to shift agricultural narratives and practices to approaches which are aligned with agroecological and regenerative ways of producing food, fiber, and fodder. Part of this shift requires new ways of teaching, using experiential and peer-to-peer learning, and dialogue-based approaches. It also needs research that is driven by farmer needs and environmental and climate considerations.

Why Agroecology?
Agroecology meets many of these requirements. It is a holistic approach to producing food that takes into account human health and socio-economic aspects alongside ecological wellbeing. It favours local over global, low-input over high-input, small- to medium-scale over large-scale production, diversity over homogeneity, and natural over synthetic. As a science, agroecology is highly knowledge-intensive. As a practice, it includes both indigenous and more contemporary scientific innovations. And as a social movement, it advocates for sustainable, just, and socially equitable food systems.

What will the network do?
Linked to a series of status reports, national and regional engagements, as well as post-graduate student exchanges, co-supervision and research activities, the network intends to bring together educators, researchers and institutions involved in agricultural studies across southern Africa. This will include both social and natural sciences, and those in universities, technical colleges, agricultural colleges and NGOs. As a peer group they will share their experiences and insights, identify new training and research needs, and jointly plan a way forward to incorporate agroecology into their research and training.

Although the network is still in its early days, there are five key components it will focus on.
1. Curriculum innovation: The network aims to influence and shape the curricula of higher education by integrating agroecology into educational programs.
2. Best practice sharing: The network will facilitate knowledge exchange among researchers, educators and practitioners. through sharing best practices in teaching, learning, and research, including case studies and success stories in agroecology.
3. Coordination and collaboration: By fostering collaboration among various organisations and research groups, it aims to improve the coordination of agroecology research, maximising impact and effectiveness.
4. Transformative research: Through collaborative efforts, the network intends to conduct innovative research that highlights the efficacy and benefits of agroecological practices, showcasing their ability to transform agriculture.
5. Policy: The network will provide a strong agroecology evidence base from which to influence agricultural policy in Southern Africa and enable its effective implementation.

Participants at the first meeting of the Knowledge Network had a rich and frank exchange about how to achieve these objectives. Many remarked on how curriculum change required a paradigm shift in knowledge making to recognise multiple ways of knowing, including indigenous knowledge. Others stressed the importance of systems thinking, and the need to break down disciplinary silos. Inspiring examples were presented on new curricula, both in South Africa and abroad. The importance of systemic change in curricula was emphasised, with caution expressed about maintaining the foundations of agricultural science. Robust discussions were held about research and ways to implement agroecology research in practice. Research gaps were identified, alongside possibilities to enable a more cogent and strategic research agenda. Participatory, long-term research with farmers was observed as a powerful strategy to ensure social impact.

Conclusion
The establishment of the South African agroecology network is an important step in moving curricula and research in tertiary education towards an agroecology approach. The aspirations and work of this network are not isolated to South Africa. Similar approaches are appearing across the world, including a growing network of universities in the US, Canada, UK, South America, New Zealand, and Europe. A similar network will be launched in Zimbabwe later this year. Such efforts will bring agroecology front and centre in classrooms, on farmers’ fields, and in the lived experiences of educators, researchers, students and farmers. In so doing important steps will be taken towards transforming our agricultural education, training and research to support a sustainable food and agricultural system.