Decolonizing Farming Knowledge through Farmer Training Programs:Observations from China

In this roundtable session, I would draw on my fieldwork on an ecological farming training program in China to discuss the efforts of decolonizing knowledge in food systems, the challenges these initiatives face, and how we, as scholars, can help it move forward. The program is organized by several NGOs focusing on sustainability issues, and I participated in a pilot study led by one partner, Foodthink, which interviewed a dozen ecological farmers in China with varying circumstances to understand what they would need from the training program. Our findings reveal that decolonizing knowledge production in agroecology must be paired with efforts to improve market access for small producers. Most of the training programs for ecological farming in China have solely focused on techniques and leave market access outside of their scope. However, the majority of farmers mentioned that a major obstacle to improving ecological practices is their lack of knowledge about where the market is and what it demands. It is important for organizers of training programs to realize that markets are not just economic spaces but also sites where knowledge is produced and where moral claims about sustainability and equity are made. With AFNs thriving in the Global South, it is important to articulate the relationship between the moral claims of alternative markets and the necessity of promoting ecological, indigenous farming knowledge.