Agroecology in the Southeast of Buenos Aires: Controversies of Participatory Guarantee System

Abstract

This article aims to map controversies in the construction of the PGS of Southeast Buenos Aires around agroecology and is organized in the following thematic axes: the dimensions of agroecology and the quality of agroecological foods. Controversy mapping is very useful for tracking and monitoring agents, human and non-human, visions, and debates that reveal the particularities of a dispute. A qualitative methodological strategy was used, multi-situated ethnography, supported by participant observation, field notes and secondary data. Of the conflicts analyzed around what is meant by agroecology, what agroecological foods to value, and what quality guarantees the SPG will provide, four groups of visions or positions stand out: (1) those who advocate food without agrochemicals; (2) the “permissive” of the transition to agroecology; (3) those that link agroecology with food sovereignty, and (4) those that oppose or limit the development of agroecology.