Participatory Action Research in Agroecology: Building Local Organic Food Networks in Spain

The serious problems of agrarian unsustainability cannot be solvedthrough technological changes that lessen environmental impacts.Although technological change is important, it is also necessaryto change the agri-food system as a whole. Participatory actionresearch (PAR) is a methodological approach to collaborate withlocal communities. It enables us to advance in the restructuringof physical flows, economies, and information that support localfarming, as a means to achieve greater autonomy and self-man-agement. This article presents several case studies in Spain in whichPAR has been applied to build local organic food networks. Theseare characterized by a more sustainable use of local resources andthe development of short food supply chains