Oldal 201 [201]
FOOD SUPPLY AS A GLOBAL CHALLENGE 199
2015) and “Vedegylet” Association (E Téth — Réthy 2020) represents the activist
side of the agroecology movement’, but both organizations find it a great challenge
to build a social basis that could promote a socially just, systemic transformation
founded on local communities: “Nobody understands the term [agroecology]
outside Gödöllő, and [there, too] it is used according to its academic interpretation.
A complex understanding with active movements and a variety of practices, which
was supported by the Friends of the Earth or the Nyéléni declaration of La Via
Campesina, has not reached the general public in Hungary” (cited from a
representative of the Hungarian Green movement in Balazs — Balogh — Réthy
2021: 257 — 258). Since policies aiming to transform the food-system at least at
the level of narrative — also include agroecology as a practice worthy of support,
a framing competition evolved between non-governmental movements and the
actors of industrial agriculture for the definition of the term (see Balazs — Balogh
— Réthy 2021). Global pesticide-producing and trading companies interested in
mass production fight for an interpretation of agroecology which conforms to the
system. Their interpretation has attracted policy support in Hungary: “the dominant
position is not the development of [a system-critical definition of] agroecology
but that of precision agriculture and improved irrigation. They are now the flagship
programs of the National Chamber of Agriculture and promote efficiency and
competitiveness. In agrarian communities, the strongest motivation is the fear of
yield reduction. This makes them use excessive amounts of pesticides to avoid a
decrease in volume” (Balazs — Balogh — Réthy 2021: 260). The actors interested
in conformist interpretations of agroecology (representatives of industrial
agriculture) possess considerable resources for asserting their interests and enjoy
the support of policy makers. In comparison, NGOs, small-scale farmers and
researchers fighting for an interpretation of agroecology which is critical of the
system lack the necessary resources for building a social foundation and for
advocating for their interests effectively.
The practical knowledge of agroecology is utilized in organic and biodynamic
farming, permaculture, agro-forestry and regenerative agriculture (Balazs — Balogh
— Réthy 2021). Of these, permaculture, a system-critical movement whose
popularity is also growing in Hungary, is introduced below.
Permaculture
Permaculture is a movement which seeks an alternative to industrial agriculture
mainly but not exclusively in the field of food production. It is associated with
the names of two Australian men, biologist Bill Mollison (1928-2016) and
environmental designer David Holmgren (1955 —).? Permaculture takes a specific
There are efforts to establish a Hungarian Agroecological Network which wishes to provide a
forum of dialogue between scholarship, social movements and policy-makers, in the hope of
contributing to a just, healthy and regenerative food system under the umbrella of agroecology
in Hungary (see Balázs — Balogh — Réthy 2021).
In Hungary, permaforum.hu, a platform for sharing knowledge, the Hungarian Permaculture
Association, as the umbrella organization of permaculture (highlighting education and research
and spreading information) and Életfa [Tree of Life] Permakultúra constitute the background for
activism (chiefly in education).