Project Summary
“Agroecological Transformation with Food Communities in Güdül” project foresees a series of activities that include all the stakeholders in the food system in order to strengthen and promote the agroecological production model supported by food communities that has already started in the Tahtacıörencik village of Güdül district of Ankara: establishing application garden and pilot application areas that examplifies agroecological production methods, identifying leader farmers in Güdül district, organising trainings and consultancy for leader farmers, organising farm visits based on community supported agriculture (CSA) and participatory guarantee systems (PGS) and bringing producers and consumers together in a learning environment, increasing opportunities for on-premise sales for farmers and villages, increasing knowledge and capacity of food community facilitators and decision makers on agroecology and local solidarity partnerships (LSPs), promoting active participation of consumers in food communities with seminars and agroecology meetings and documenting and sharing the activities and achievements of the projects, making them widely available.
Making use of the experiences of Buğday Association for Supporting Ecological Living in Çanakkale and of Dört Mevsim Ecological Living Association in Tahtacıörencik on natural production and short chain distribution, the project has a wide range of activities for both urban and rural settings. The activities will be realised in a holistic manner, with both an ecological (demonstration and training based on agroecological practices) and a socioeconomical (direct contact and rural tourism based on LSPs) perspective.
From the ecological perspective, data and proof obtained from the activities to improve the soil in sample production areas, to support agricultural and wild biodiversity, to practice regenerative techniques that sequestre carbon and to eliminate chemical pollutants, will create a motivation for agroecological transformation in lands in Güdül and beyond. From the social perspective, the project will activate a high level of capacity for participation in food based social networks towards solving multi-dimensional problems in the food system.
