UNDERGROUND
UNDERGROUND
Who are the new farmers of Puglia, what do they do, and what do they want?
XFARM, along with numerous agricultural and social organizations from Puglia, is conducting independent research on the emerging agricultural scene in the Puglia Region.
The thesis of UNDERGROUND is that a new generation of alternative agricultural organizations to mainstream agriculture is emerging in Puglia: these are businesses, cooperatives, and associations that pursue ecological goals in their production processes, manage lands confiscated from organized crime, offer opportunities for social and work inclusion for disadvantaged individuals, involve communities in local development, build ethical local supply chains, organize farmers’ markets that bring producers and consumers together, rediscover ancient varieties at risk of extinction, use new technologies to manage environmental resources, combat the plague of labor exploitation in agriculture, and promote agro-ecological education and training.
These experiences, spread throughout the regional territory, represent a real emerging agricultural scene that shares values, lifestyles, objectives, aspirations, inspirations, cultural references, codes, practices, and language. They can therefore be analyzed and interpreted as a subculture, a social segment that differs from the larger culture it is part of in terms of worldview and customs. The argument being made is that this Puglian ‘agricultural subculture’ is sufficiently homogeneous within itself and heterogeneous in relation to the outside to develop not only a coherent distinction, forms of identity and belonging, involvement and autonomy, but also interaction and mixing with conventional agriculture, such that it forms a living laboratory of research and innovation capable of contaminating and innovating the entire Puglian agricultural sector towards ecological and social sustainability.
Focusing on agricultural realities that are introducing new productive, social, ecological, and political visions into the agricultural sector aims to identify the ‘evolutionary tension’ of the entire agricultural sector, which is currently facing epochal ecological, social, and labor challenges.
If you want to report an ‘underground’ farming experience in Puglia, fill out the form by clicking below!