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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).
