Abstract

The processes of production, marketing, acquisition and consumption of food are correlated with beneficial or harmful socio-environmental impacts. The agri-food industry, from the knowledge of the socio-environmental damage that its productivism and consumerist practices generate, permanently seeks to expand its scope; in response to this, the social movement for food sovereignty opposes it through concrete actions based on socio-environmental reciprocity. Objective: to argue the contributions of degrowth in agrifood chains as a contribution to food sovereignty, through the integration of contributions from suppliers of a local, agroecological and fair-trade alternative market. Methodology: it is qualitative research, implemented in two phases: 1) application of a semi-structured interview to eight suppliers of the Ahimsa Agroecological Fair Trade Market (AAFTM); in Toluca, Mexico; from November 2021 to March 2022; 2) development of a reciprocal training cycle between the university and suppliers of AAFTM, with a monthly session in October and November 2022, and January and February 2023. Results: the projects are implementing practices in their agrifood chains that are in line with degrowth. Conclusions: the degrowth represents an affordable way to rethink, reevaluate and reorient processes in agrifood chains in order to scale up food sovereignty.

Keywords:
Food sovereignty; degrowth; agrifood chains; agroecology; alternative market