Participation in the Guarantee of healthy food: vegetables in agroecological transition processes, in Gran La Plata

Abstract

The horticultural belt of La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina constitutes the pole of vegetable production for fresh consumption, the most important nationwide in terms of quantity produced and productivity achieved. This production supplies the Central Market of Buenos Aires, wholesale markets in the Buenos Aires suburbs and Rosario and Mar del Plata. The producer families that go through processes of agroecological transition, defined by techniques and technologies that are sustainable with the environment and the social system, have developed experiences of short marketing circuits, which allow bringing producers and consumers closer together. The objective of this work is to share progress achieved in a participatory way, in the definition of a tool that allows guaranteeing the vegetables obtained in family farms with agroecological management, through the development of a Participatory Guarantee System. This experience is part of the Institutional Project for technological and social development “Participatory Guarantee System in Platense Horticulture: building food sovereignty”, of biennial duration accredited and financed by the Faculty of Agricultural and Forest Sciences, National University of La Plata; and in the University Extension Project: “Participatory guarantee systems. Tools built for agroecological transition processes”, financed by the National University of La Plata.