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diciembre 15, 2020 , ,

Editorial 

PDF: BOLETIN_22

La militarización en Abya Yala ha sido un requisito constante para que el saqueo de los territorios no sea interrumpido por las revueltas populares. Actualmente los pueblos y comunidades viven la reestructuración de la acumulación capitalista bajo el horizonte de la pandemia; mientras abajo se organizaba la lucha por la vida, el arriba continuó ofertando muerte. Por un ado, se evidenció crudamente que el cuidado de la salud no es una alternativa para la clase trabajadora, a quien siempre se le obligó a cumplir sus funciones en el espacio público. El aumento de la presencia policial en las calles no obedece al cuidado de la salud colectiva, sino a la fiscalización y control de los cuerpos, cayendo en una lógica macabra de violaciones flagrantes a la dignidad humana, con casos de desaparición forzada bajo este contexto en Argentina. Por otro lado, el impulso que los estados nacionales dieron al despojo de tierras, recursos y derechos de los pueblos, en el marco de la pandemia global, desbordó la rabia digna de comunidades y barrios. Pese a los riesgos sanitarios, se ha tomado la calle para defender la vida digna, el territorio y la memoria.

​En este boletín se recogen algunas voces que nos abren el corazón para que a través de la palabra podamos conectarnos con las diversas geografías que aquí confluyen. La diversidad del pensamiento nos enriquece y nos obliga a repensar nuestra América, ya que los matices en que se articula el saqueo, la militarización y la represión en cada territorio nos permitirá comprendernos en una dimensión mayor y mucho más compleja. De la mano de discursos reaccionarios o acompañado de una retórica social, la militarización de los territorios en favor de la acumulación del capital no ha frenado en Abya Yala. Al contrario, se ha empoderado económicamente a las fuerzas castrenses para que amplíen sus labores bajo la justificación de la seguridad nacional y la lucha contra el narcotráfico. Quienes defienden el territorio son testigxs de cómo las fuerzas del “orden” acompañan y protegen la ocupación territorial que llevan a cabo empresas extractivas que saquean el agua, la madera, los minerales y demás recursos de las comunidades, como lo narra la compañera de El Salvador. 

​El territorio de Wallmapu y sus protectores viven diariamente la persecución que ejerce el Estado a través de los cuerpos policiacos y militares, encarcelando, violando y asesinando a quienes resisten y luchan por seguir ocupando los territorios ancestrales. La serie de violaciones a los Derechos Humanos, que cometieron los carabineros en el marco de la revuelta popular chilena, para el pueblo Mapuche es parte de su cotidianidad. Sin embargo y pese a la brutalidad con que intentan frenar la organización en pueblos y barrios, el triunfo en Chile es la recuperación de aquello que creían haber asesinado en tiempos de dictadura: la solidaridad. En Colombia, ya son tantos lxs defensorxs del territorio asesindxs por las fuerzas del paramilitarismo y por acción y omisión de las fuerzas públicas, que las cuentas numéricas aumentan pero no reflejan el drama colectivo de los pueblos constantemente masacrados y revictimizados por el Estado y las fuerzas reaccionarias. La Minga llega a la capital en un contexto marcado por las revueltas de la indignación en la ciudad por la represión policiaca. Con su sola presencia los pueblos nominan la indignidad de quien se dice gobernar desde casa Nariño y únicamente es un esbirro más de la guerra y de la muerte. 

​ La comunidad Otomí en la Ciudad de México ocupó las oficinas del Instituto Nacional de los Pueblos indígenas, para pedir se respete su derecho a la vivienda y a seguir existiendo como pueblos. Migrantes de sus comunidades, producto de los despojos sistemáticos de tierras y recursos, los pueblos originarios no dejan de padecer en las ciudades el exterminio, el desprecio y además la burla de los distintos niveles de gobierno, que hasta ahora no dan la cara frente a la ocupación del INPI. Este hecho se da en un contexto de fuerte cerco militar y paramilitar en diversos territorios originarios, lo cual evidencia que la lógica del actual gobierno continúa siendo preceder el despojo con la militarización y exterminio de los pueblos. En Guerrero, otro de los estados con mayor presencia de mineras canadienses, las comunidades indígenas y campesinas se enfrentan a la doble amenaza: la pandemia y el despojo violento de sustierras, tal como denuncia REMA en la nota incluida en el boletín.

​Esperamos que con este esfuerzo podamos acercar las luchas y resistencias en los múltiples rincones de nuestra Abya Yala. La lucha por la vida transita los caminos contra la militarización de los territorios y le apuesta a la posibilidad de tejer espacios donde ningún pueblo sea masacrado por existir y defender sus tierras ni ninguna persona sea nunca más asesinada o violada o desaparecida por carabineros o militares.

¡Por la memoria y dignidad de nuestros pueblos!

PDF: VER/DESCARGAR BOLETIN_22

PDF: VER/DESCARGAR BOLETIN_22

 

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abril 19, 2020 , , ,
Editorial (English and Portugese ↓)
En medio de un escenario que nos ubica en la anormalidad de un aislamiento social de la humanidad, impuesto por una pandemia global, observamos cómo el capitalismo ha despojado a los sistemas de atención en salud de una capacidad real de respuesta ante una crisis humanitaria. Mientras vemos incrementar los índices de contagio desde la impotencia de nuestros hogares, denunciamos las bases de un desarrollo sostenido por explotación y muerte, donde la acumulación de capital prevalece y mercantiliza todas las formas de vida. Ahora, el turno es nuestro.
Por ello, si bien la presente edición se ocupa temáticamente de la migración forzada y el desplazamiento forzado interno en nuestro continente, está atravesada de modo transversal por reflexiones acerca de los males que nos han azotado con la invasión europea y dentro de los cuales las enfermedades han ocupado un lugar específico. Así, los pueblos indígenas que perviven en la región de Cuzcatlán nos recuerdan las epidemias anteriores traídas con la llegada de los españoles, y nos hacen un llamado a cuidarnos desde saberes y sabores ancestrales cultivados en el campo que nos da la salud por medio de sanos alimentos y medicinas naturales.  
También los pueblos indígenas, pero en Colombia, son víctimas directas de la disputa por el control territorial entre los distintos actores del conflicto armado interno, y una de las consecuencias más lamentables ha sido la pérdida de sus identidades ocasionada con la extinción de sus propias lenguas a causa del desplazamiento forzado. Al verse obligados a abandonar sus territorios, se genera una ruptura con la posibilidad de transmitir su aprendizaje a las nuevas generaciones perdiendo sus lugares sagrados, prácticas culturales, creencias religiosas y conocimientos ancestrales en un contexto de desprotección estatal que les deja en una situación vulnerable.   
De otra parte, la Red Juvenil Centroamericana Previos nos relata una génesis de la rebelión cívica espontánea germinada en Nicaragua contra el régimen de Ortega, cuya estrategia de represión conformada por una “caravana de la muerte” compuesta por agentes de seguridad del Estado y paramilitares, ha dejado un triste legado de graves violaciones a derechos humanos incluidas miles de víctimas de desplazamiento forzado interno y en el exilio.
Además, desde Chile, nos cuentan sobre la campaña “Mundo sin muros” que cuestiona aquellos monumentos divisorios de la población como símbolos de exclusión, expulsión, opresión y discriminación. Para el caso del muro entre Estados Unidos y Méjico, este data de 1994 en el marco de la denominada «Operación Guardián», pero las medidas de tolerancia cero adoptadas por el gobierno de Trump han agudizado las cifras de migrantes detenidos por las patrullas fronterizas que ascendieron a más de 850.000 personas en 2019, y dejan cientos de familias separadas apartando a la niñez de sus padres y madres bajo el inminente riesgo que la población migrante sufre de ser víctima de desaparición forzada. Estos y otros temas puedes encontrar a continuación. Anímate a leerlo. 
Coordinación Somos una América Abya Yala
MI G R AÇÃO E DESLOCAMENTO I NT ERNO FORÇADO: CRUZ A N DO FRONT EIRAS EM NOS S A
ABYA YALA

Em meio a um cenário que nos coloca na anormalidade de um isolamento social da humanidade, imposto por uma pandemia global, observamos como o capitalismo roubou aos sistemas de saúde uma capacidade real de responder a uma crise humanitária. Enquanto vemos as taxas de contágio aumentarem com a impotência de nossas casas, denunciamos as bases de um desenvolvimento sustentado por meio da exploração e da morte, onde a acumulação de capital prevalece e mercantiliza todas as formas de vida. Agora é a nossa vez.Por esse motivo, embora esta edição lide tematicamente com a migração forçada e o deslocamento forçado interno em nosso continente, ela é atravessada transversalmente por reflexões sobre os males que nos atormentaram com as invasões que enfrentamos por séculos. Vejamos, por exemplo o caso dos povos indígenas, que são também as vítimas diretas da disputa pelo controle territorial.
Neste boletim nos aprofundamos sobre o caso da Colômbia, em que diferentes atores do conflito armado interno forçam os povos tradicionais a se deslocarem. Esse deslocamento gera uma ruptura na transmissão de seus aprendizados às novas gerações. Além de perder seus lugares sagrados, práticas culturais, crenças religiosas e conhecimentos ancestrais e os colocarem em um contexto de vulnerabilidade.Já a Rede Central da Juventude da América Central anterior nos fala sobre a gênese da rebelião cívica espontânea que eclodiu na Nicarágua contra o regime Ortega, cuja estratégia de repressão composta por uma “caravana da morte” composta por agentes de segurança estatal e paramilitares, deixou um triste legado de graves violações dos direitos humanos, incluindo milhares de vítimas de deslocamento interno forçado e exílio.Do Chile, nos contam sobre a campanha “Mundo sem Muros”, que questiona aqueles que dividem monumentos da população como símbolos de exclusão, expulsão, opressão e discriminação.
No caso do muro entre os Estados Unidos e o México, isso data de 1994, no âmbito da chamada “Operação Guardião”, mas as medidas de tolerância zero adotadas pelo governo Trump aumentaram o número de migrantes detidos por patrulhas de fronteira que Eles somavam mais de 850.000 pessoas em 2019 e deixam centenas de famílias separadas, separando os filhos dos pais sob o risco iminente de que a população migrante sofra por ser vítima de desaparecimento forçado. Esses e outros tópicos podem ser encontrados abaixo. Aprecie a leitura e as lutas dos povos.
Coordenação Somos uma Améria – Somos Abya Yala
FORCED  MIGRATION AND FORCER INTERNAL DISPLACEMENT ACROSS  OUR ABYA YALA 
In the midst of a situation that places humanity in the anomaly of the social isolation imposed by a global pandemic, capitalism is depriving healthcare systems of any real capacity to respond to a humanitarian crisis. As we witness the increasing contagion rate from the powerlessness of our homes, we denounce the systems of development sustained by exploitation and death, where capital accumulation prevails and commodifies all forms of life. Now, it is our turn.
While this edition focuses on forced migration and forced internal displacement throughout our continent, it is intertwined with reflections on the evils, including diseases, that plague us since the European invasion. The indigenous peoples in the region of Cuzcatlán show us how they survived previous epidemics brought by Spanish colonization and remind us to care for ourselves with ancestral knowledge and fresh foods grown in the Earth that keep us healthy through nourishment and natural medicines.
Indigenous peoples in Colombia are direct victims of territorial control disputes between the internal
armed conflict’s various actors. One of the most regrettable consequences has been their forced
displacement resulting from these disputes, threatening their identities, including the extinction of their languages. Being forced to flee their territories greatly disrupts the ability to transmit indigenous knowledge to new generations, also resulting in the loss of sacred places, cultural practices, religious beliefs and ancestral knowledge. Indigenous communities are left even more vulnerable due to the lack of state protection.

Elsewhere, the Red Juvenil Centroamericana Previos shares about the roots and evolution of civic rebellion in Nicaragua against the Ortega regime, whose strategy of repression consists of a “caravan of death” comprised of state security agents and paramilitaries. The state’s legacy of serious human rights violations includes thousands of victims of forced internal displacement and exile. From Chile, we learn about the “World without Walls” campaign, which questions divisive symbols of exclusion, expulsion, oppression and discrimination against our communities. An example of these
divisive symbols is the wall between the United States and Mexico, which dates back to 1994’s “Operation Gatekeeper”. Nevertheless, the zero tolerance measures adopted by the Trump administration have increased the numbers of migrants detained by US Border Patrol — over 850,000 people were detained in 2019 and thousands of children were separated from their parents. The imminent risks endured by migrant populations, including forced disappearance, are highlighted below. Read on.

We Are One America Abya Yala Coordination
PUEDE VER TAMBIEN EN ISSUU:

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enero 08, 2020 , ,
La militarización en Latinoamérica se ha recrudecido en los últimos 60 años, después de las dictaduras militares que gobernaron y dominaron todo el territorio de Abya Yala. Las grandes mayorías pensaron que se harían cambios para vivir en una era democrática, pero para los territorios indígenas y ricos en biodiversidad (recursos), la guerra no ha parado ni un solo segundo, pues esta riqueza que ha sido otorgada por la madre tierra, en gran parte de los países de esta patria grande, es la razón fundamental para el despojo, por medio de las guerras.
Se hizo creer, como parte de las estrategias de domesticación y relajación masiva, que la militarización es sólo ver a militares en las calles y se nos ha impuesto la idea de que los cuerpos policiales son “más amigables” ante la sociedad, a manera de generar empatía y aceptación en la población. Pero en los territorios que están en resistencia, lucha y defensa de la Madre tierra, esta guerra no ha parado en los últimos años. Asesinatos como el de la hermana Berta Cáceres, Betty Cariño, Macarena Valdez, y muchas defensoras y defensores de la vida, es la muestra de cómo los gobiernos (aparatos represores de los Estados), el poder militar y paramilitar, se ha mantenido vigente y permanente.
En todo este continente, hay varios matices y análisis que debemos mirar. La cercanía con EEUU, definitivamente, tiene mucho que ver con la militarización, pues este país ha generado su riqueza a partir de la venta y fabricación de armas, como también de la intervención y la injerencia en la política interna de todos los países de este continente, Asia y África, estrategia clásica de un imperio neocolonial.

Con el regreso con fuerza y descaro del fascismo, como proyectos de gobierno de Mauricio Macri en Argentina, Jair Bolsonaro en Brasil, Alejandro Giammattei en Guatemala, Juan Orlando Hernández en Honduras, etc. Las políticas de aumentar y mantener en la calle a las fuerzas militares disfrazadas de policías o viceversa se fortalecieron de manera rápida y abrumadora, pues no hay diferencia sustancial entre las décadas de los 70´s y el presente en Latinoamérica. Recientemente, brotaron días de lucha contra abusos de poder militar y policial, en Chile, Ecuador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Haití y Guatemala.

Los días próximos en la región serán de resistencia y lucha digna ante el saqueo de grandes corporaciones, cuidadas y vigiladas por los ejércitos y Estados de la región, es decir sus guardianes. Sólo queda que las organizaciones civiles, colectivas de mujeres, jóvenes, organizaciones campesinas, de la diversidad y demás agrupaciones que se declaren anti-militares, nos articulemos para defender la soberanía de nuestros territorios y, así, poder decidir nosotros y nosotras el rumbo que queremos para la región.
Los Estados-nación no son más que las comisarías de las grandes corporaciones que desean seguir con el saqueo permanente que han tenido durante más de 500 años, pero este sistema de despojo y extractivismo está llegando a su fin y lo vemos en las calles de Chile, Colombia, Centroamérica, a través de las manifestaciones pacíficas y la acción directa que está poniendo en jaque a las comisarías de las corporaciones y sus secuaces.



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agosto 15, 2019 , , ,
Editorial  – Descarga el Boletín #18 Abya Yala
La convocatoria a este boletín surgió de las serias preocupaciones que como personas y colectivos, detrás de esta plataforma, tenemos respecto al cambio climático. Sobre todo, en los últimos años y meses, hemos sido testigos de cómo en el territorio del Abya Yala se han suscitado fenómenos semejantes, cuyo origen es la devastación ambiental y las consecuencias dan muestra de que los pueblos, que abajo resisten, caminan y se organizan, son también las primeras víctimas de la destrucción de la Madre Tierra.
Sin embargo, estamos ante un horizonte poco prometedor, al cual algunxs estudiosxs han dado en llamar “colapso”, en el que no sólo los espacios campesinos e indígenas están sufriendo las  consecuencias del crecimiento y producción capitalista; sino que, también, y como consecuencia lógica del propio sistema, son los espacios urbanos los que están viviendo y padecerán de la peor manera las consecuencias de este período.
Los artículos que recibimos trascendieron las fronteras de nuestra Abya Yala, lo cual celebramos. La gran devastación de los ecosistemas, producto de las relaciones sociales, capitalistas-patriarcales, se viven en todos los territorios del planeta. Es para nosotrxs, interesante abrir nuestros horizontes organizativos más allá de nuestro continente e imaginar cómo lo que sucede también en territorios lejanos como Rusia tiene consecuencias climáticas de gran envergadura para todo el globo. Sobre todo, los artículos llegados desde Rusia y Cuba nos permiten cuestionar cómo también otros sistemas políticos le han apostado al desarrollo y crecimiento, sin pensar demasiado en los costos ambientales.
Por otro lado, desde Colombia, Surinam, Panamá y Argentina nos comparten casos particulares en donde las consecuencias sociales y climáticas de la depredación ambiental son gravemente palpables; cómo las comunidades no sin dificultad se organizan y resisten no sólo para seguir viviendo, sino para vivir de una manera diferente, con relaciones sociales distintas.
Con mayores preocupaciones y preguntas por hacer, atesoramos la certeza de que es urgente la construcción de esos otros mundos que soñamos, no podemos esperar más, puesto que nos rebasa el cambio radical en los ecosistemas que habitamos y las consecuencias parecieran indicar que no habría futuro. De no frenar el ritmo de este mundo, estaríamos condenados a la extinción junto con las demás especies con quienes compartimos nuestros territorios. Como señala Carlos Taibo, será
necesario comenzar por despatriarcalizar nuestras relaciones sociales, para poder ir construyendo bastiones de resistencia y sobrevivencia ante el “colapso” que ya estamos padeciendo.

Descarga el Boletín #18 Abya Yala


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agosto 01, 2019 , ,

Initial questions. Briefs About Rural Development in the United States and Views from California (full document)

 By Jorge Andres Forero-Gonzalez Fulbright Humphrey Fellow, University of California, Davis & Ricardo Amon California Institute for Food and Agriculture Research, Department to Food Science and Technology, University of California, Davis.
While in Colombia it is not rare to wonder about the development of rural politics in the United States. In the memory of the Andean peasantry, as in the 1970’s, with the opening of international agricultural markets, Colombia subordinated the national production of wheat to American flour. Resulting from green revolution productivity achievements in the northern country. Following neoliberalism principles since the 1990’s, the Colombian peasantry and their local economies, were confronted with economic globalization. In 2012, the Free Trade Agreement between Colombia and the United States was consolidated, in retrospect is recognized as favorable in the exchange of trade for US agricultural products. 

This is how we arrived at the national agrarian strike in 2013, which gave relevance to the negative impacts on the Colombian peasantry, resulting from this treaty and other free trade agreements. The historical problems with agrarian reform efforts, the new investments and institutions that the rural areas need, and the socio-economic impact that free trade has had on the peasantry, was debated during the 2016, Peace Agreement between the Colombian State and the FARC-EP organization. The concept of Integral Rural Reform, becomes the most discussed point at the negotiations and was considered a structural pillar of the peace accord. 

Unfortunately, “rural reform is now frozen”, as recently described by former Vice-president of Colombia, Humberto de la Calle. The land conflict between socio-economic classes of people is old and permanent. In April of 2019, after the Minga in the southwest of the country, indigenous and campesino populations announced the suspension of a dialogue with the Duque government, because of lack of progress with access to land and the implementation of the peace accord. The National Indigenous Organization of Colombia expressed that there were "no guarantees of NO stigmatization, accusations or judicialization of the Minga people”. 

Drawing a parallel with the United States, and what it has taken to develop their agricultural productivity, Colombia’s challenge is to build engineering infrastructure to deliver water and power, supported with research, education, and extension foundations. To deliver a wholistic national rural socio-economic and environmental development program, to meet promises made and agreements signed. A humbling reflection.

Being in the " Farmer's Market " in the central park of the City of Davis, a university town in the central valley of California and in a large food production region of the State, we asked questions such as: What is the current reality of agricultural production in the United States? What conditions the structure of land ownership? How do subsidies operate, and institutions articulate? How do farming families live? What is happening with migrant rural workers? Why this desolation in the monocultures of walnuts, almonds, and tomato fields bordering the city? 

So it was that in the framework of a Humphrey Program stay for professional and academic development at the University of California in Davis (UCD), we undertook a basic approach from secondary sources contrasted with interviews with professors and dialogue with food producers, researchers and rural youth. This text is divided into two sections, the 1st. section presents 4 characteristics of the agro-industrial model in the United States and 3 more sections to understand the scope and potential flows of the American agro-industrial complex, and the impact it has had on Colombia, and challenges for the future.


One.   Some historical premises and land conflicts in the United States.

To speak about the lands of the Americas continent or the Abya Yala, it calls to recognize historical truths. Rural politics in the United States, like that of the rest of the republics of the continent, is based on multiple social, political and environmental conflicts: 1. At the base, the dispossession of the territories of the indigenous peoples or Native Americans. 2. The relations of slavery with the African people and the impact they made on the development of capitalism in the country. 3. The relationship with migrant labor as a constant in the development and sustainability of agriculture and agro-industry. 4. The history of agricultural science and technical innovation that began with European settlers living in the United States. While this document will not delve into these issues, it presents some considerations in these regards. 

The dispossession of land from indigenous peoples is a fundamental factor to explaining the current marginalization, even in the dominant collective memory. Today despite being more than 6 million inhabitants, indigenous peoples in the United States only have 2% of the land. They were exiled from their ancestral territories, and in most cases characterized by little institutional investment. An example that shows the current conflicts over access to land was seen in the mobilization at Standing Rock in 2016, to protest the passage of an oil pipeline in the territory of the Sioux people.  It also concerned the constant demand of the indigenous people who continue to claim their right to land, based on historical documents signed with the federal government.  A parallel with similar conflicts exits with the natural preservation and ecological conservation policies of National Parks, which are denounced by the Natives as exercises of territorial dispossession in the 20th century. National Parks like Yellowstone or Glacier in the north of the country, are territories demanded by dozens of towns and tribes as sacred territories and ancestral sites, where nowadays they can’t live in and can only access with special permits.

Inquiring about historical protagonists in the rural history of the country, black people were restricted from collective access to land, even after the abolition of slavery and its protagonist participation in the American Civil War (1861 to 1865), that finally consolidated the country.  Slave labor is an essential part of the economic development of cotton, sugar and tobacco.  The subsequent industrialization process provides a key to understanding the economic development of capitalism in the United States, and again the black labor is a full protagonist
 
In the south of the country where some black families accessed agricultural lands, today they have lost them or are unable to access more. This feature contrasts with countries such as Colombia or Brazil that, with the demand and struggle of the indigenous communities, their governments have recognized the palenques, quilombos or collective territories of black communities, as part of rural public policies providing access to land. According to leaders and activists for Afro rights in the USA, this impossibility of access to land can explain, in-part the alarming condition of racism and segregation inherited from the relations of slavery, still present in the country and across the American continent.

 In recent memory, the legacy of having been part of Mexico is still alive in California, and around the southern border of the United States.  Spanish is spoken as a symbol of difference and mention is made of conflicts arising in colonial times.  Also to inquire about agriculture is to bring to mind programs such as those of the “braceros”, imported migrant labor from Mexico in the 1940’s and 50’s. These generation of Mexicans become the protagonists of the “Chicano” culture.  In the sixties and seventies the agricultural worker movement comes to life with the efforts of Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta, creating with the support of the Filipino people, the United Farm Workers (UFW) union. The agricultural worker movement is consolidated through state legislation, granting the right to obtain collective representation in labor negotiations. Much has changed since the days of UFW; most agricultural workers are now day-hired by labor contractors delivering workers to agricultural companies.  In addition, the question of whether agricultural workers have options to obtain land seems closed.   

We recognize the creative impact on the development of agriculture and agro-industry from European families migrating to the north American continent. Focusing their talent on innovation and the commitment to productivity and efficiency, driving technological development.  From the time when they were peasants of the eighteenth century, to become farmers and agro-industrial producers. In the history of agriculture, the United States has played an undeniable leadership role. The country is still a living example of diversity and creativity, with a reservoir of cultures and practices that surely explains their leadership as an economic, military and political power.

Two.   Long-term policy, institutional infrastructure development


The development of rural policies dates to the mid-1800s, and the post-civil war period. It is impressive to see the link since the creation of the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), with the creation of private businesses in rural communities. With the public sector creating incentives to consolidate a robust rural private sector, focused on agricultural production and processing. In 1862, fifty percent of the 31 million population lived in the countryside and with the USDA and a long-term vision of agricultural development, public policy in the United States linked several strategies.

A significant investment in the evolution of the agricultural sector had to do with the creation of  the Land Grant Universities, at the service of agricultural development.  With the purpose to support institutional infrastructure, projecting a direct link between academic science and the rural sector. This academic development quickly turned to extension activities and began to cover large areas at the federal (national) level, and for each state. This system is built with legal precedent through 31 major legislative and institutional acts since 1862. From the origins of the Morrill Act, prioritizing innovation and competition for public resources, at the federal and state levels.  Multiple economic incentives are generated to strengthen the university system and its direct link with rural economic activities.  In 1994, the Land Grant system added more than 70 universities, articulated with the system of   Community Colleges   of higher education. The national deployment includes island territories such as Puerto Rico and Hawaii where much of the tropical agroindustry research is conducted.

Likewise, the commitment to rural development has included for more than 150 years the creation of a solid infrastructure that includes the development of hydroelectric dams, a wide rural electrification network, irrigation systems, and high-quality road interconnections with secondary and tertiary networks. Enhancing access to markets. With the adoption of the Cooperative Extension Service the farmer is empowered with information and technology, generating intangibles ranging from celebrating the " pride of feeding the United States and the world", to having important influence on public policy decisions.  With very powerful interest groups, like the sugar sector of Florida in the 1960’s, to the corn ethanol agro-industrial system, producing alternative fuels for national security. Despite these benefits, USDA data shows that farmers and food producers only receive fourteen cents per dollar sold in the consumer markets.  

After California is annexed to the United States, it begins to receive federal funds to invest in water and power development infrastructure projects in the west.  With federal and state funds, the following water and power development projects become the foundation for the state’s agricultural industries. Starting with Shasta Dam, built in the 1930’ and 1940’s, the  Federal Central Valley Project completed in 1948, and the State of California Aqueduct, started in 1963.  These projects provided regional water and electricity supply infrastructure delivering water and power to farms in the San Joaquin Valley. The Modesto Irrigation District provides an example of a public and private partnership providing water and electricity services to farms, industrial facilities and urban customers. Today, California is the largest food producer in the United States, highlighted in the globalization of markets and agribusiness, with valued experiences in organic agriculture. It represents the fifth largest economy in the world.


Three.   Importance of ecosystem conservation and rural extension.


There are important historical milestones in the development and institutional adjustments that characterize rural policy in the United States. The effects of the "great depression" in the 1930’s. In addition, the environmental and socio-economic impact of the dust bowl, that results from intensive land use creating significant erosion of the land. This phenomenon displaced millions of people and caused famine in the country.  As a response to this problem, public policy is adjusted to create the Soil Conservation Service within USDA, to develop and disseminate soil conservation practices in agricultural production. This effort starts a trend to research and develop ecological agronomic practices. Institutions attached to the USDA, like the National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA), are charged with balancing food production with environmental practices that sustain agricultural activities, while mitigating the impacts of climate change.   

In this balance between production and conservation are rural extension services that include a network of institutional, federal, state and local order organizations. Specialized to support agricultural producers, with the development of technologies to increase rural productivity. In the rural areas, there are federal, state and local government institutions designed to provide financial support and technical assistance to agro-producers. In states such as California, each county has a network of specialized professionals who constantly provide advice, do research and provide detailed information to increase crop yields and quality. These services are offered by public employees but over time, this technical assistance model created a demand for private sector companies offering science and technology. There are private investments to improve seeds, advance agronomic practices, develop and adopt water irrigation efficiency, and to develop methods to control weeds and pests.  Including a progressive movement to new concepts of agroecology.


Four.   Subsidies and investment policy


Another factor of relevant importance are federal policies that support agricultural producers with payments to protect and reduce production risks. Including the stabilization of prices. Since 1933, the USDA's Farm Service Agency created mechanisms to protect rural economies and rural power sectors, establishing a system of protected products (commodities) including sugar, rice, corn, wheat, soy,  cotton, milk and pigs. The aim of the Commodity Program was to stabilize price fluctuations from international markets. In this regard, agriculture and food production are understood as a matter of national security, creating synergies for the protection of the rural sector, not only agriculture as a business but also as a social component. Providing community support systems that need to be protected with public policy.  As such, agricultural products produced in the United States go to the international markets with guarantees of price stabilization, providing an advantage in the globalized economy.

The Federal Farm Bill is a large umbrella legislation that sustains public investments in the agricultural sector, with components ranging from the conservation of ecosystems, to nutrition programs for low income citizens. The Farm Bill is a public policy exercise that is presented every 5 years in the national congress, where the priorities and investments that support, subsidize and encourage the production of food in the United States are defined. The 2018, Farm Bill exceeds 867 billion dollars. In general, these investments include differentiated policies for livestock, it understands food production as part of a system that links programs with access to healthy food, allocates resources for the protection and management of water and soil, and understands the challenges of climate change.  


Five . Some criticisms of the current agro-industrial model in the United States

For organizations such as Farm Aid, which have been supporting small and medium farmers since 1985, it is urgent to recognize that despite all the institutional resources available to agriculture, there has been unequal distribution of technical resources and technologies favoring multinational corporations, investors and large-scale agribusinesses, to the detriment of small and medium family farmers.  These conglomerates have managed to appropriate the agro-industrial system via political lobbying, allowing them to benefit their businesses in different agricultural states of the country.  In the process they tend to receive the largest amount of commodity program subsidies.

In California, there is the experience of the J.G. Boswell Company.  With financial and political power, the family gained influence in the acquisition of land supplied with federally subsidized irrigation water projects, for the cultivation of cotton, a commodity also subsidized by the federal government.  As a result of private and public investigations, it is possible to document the excess power and influence of the Boswell family, obtaining more benefits than were considered fair.  As a result of these disclosures the US Congress makes legislative changes to the maximum number of acres any one person can have to receive subsidies. Despite these efforts, the Boswell family manages to find "loopholes" to continue receiving subsidies from the federal government.  

As a trend, multinational corporations have consolidated vertically integrated agro-industrial systems; to produce and distribute proprietary seeds and to develop petroleum-based chemical herbicides and pesticides.  In addition to conducting in-house research and development, corporations are an important source of research funds at public and private universities.  Large food manufacturing companies, like Campbell Soup, have also established in-house research and development centers to create proprietary crop varieties, using company expertise to transfer the technology to contract farmers.   Giving them the ability to create competitive advantage positions against competitors. These private efforts surpass public investments in agriculture, reducing publicly available cutting age technologies, to the potential detriment of medium and small-scale farmers and food manufacturers.

Other criticisms come from the farmers and producers. In the 1970s and 1980’s, the California Certified Organic Farmers (CCOF), established a farmer network to exchange knowledge and methods, that were not being researched at public universities.  CCOF also developed protocols to establish standards to certify organic farms.  

Six. Access to land and possibilities of family farming?

Within the challenges of the globalized market and the financialization of the economy, it is key to see in perspective, issues such as the structure of land ownership and social relations around food production and consumption.  A case study from Yolo County, California, informed by the County Assessor’s office, estimated that 75 percent of the agricultural land is rented to farmers.  From interviews with farmers, is learned that in Yolo County many of the absentee landowners are descendants of previous farming families.  With younger generations not interested in farming, the families have kept the land for lease to established family farmers.  It is possible that many of these lands are enrolled in the Williamson Act, a state of California legislative rule that offers state tax exemptions, to conserve agricultural land. This measure was designed to counteract rampant urban sprawl from further negatively impacting the preservation of agricultural lands.

The Yolo County case study shows that the monetary expansion of the past ten years has motivated new investments in agricultural land, looking for higher valued crops. Data shows significant growth in acreage planted with almond and pistachio orchards.  New and replacement walnut orchards are also being planted.  Most of these new orchards are expansions or replacement of land, driven by established Yolo farm families looking for better returns on investment.  Some of these new orchards are developed by land speculators, buying Class one soils used for tomato crop rotations, costing between $5,000 to $7,000 dollars per acre.  A pistachio orchard went for sale in 2018, at $28,000 dollars per acre, after five years from the original purchase.  Large investments in equipment, materials and labor are required to establish nut orchards, increasing the value to the land. These economic multiplying effects benefit individual investors and local economies, not without increasing price barriers to entry for medium and small farmers.

There are also public lands that have an agricultural vocation for farmers and ranchers, through agencies such as the US Bureau of Land Management. Talking about agrarian reform is a closed issue and is not on the public agenda, whereas there is evidence of a housing crisis for millions of Americans.  Because of favorable weather California has among the largest homeless population in the country.  It is depressing to know the cases of thousands of active workers who live in cars and in parking lots, in Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area, because of the financial impossibility to pay high rent costs, much less of dreaming about owning a home.

The institutional development that supports agricultural production in the United States, has been skewed to benefit and expand agro-industrial agricultural enterprises.  There is, in northern California, a noticeable movement of people that would like to receive institutional support, to access agricultural land and start or expand eco-agrarian ventures. The issue is not simple.  In conversations with people from the UC Davis Student Farm, the topic of starting a 20 to 40-acre organic agriculture farm would require no less than one million dollars, not including land ownership.  Establishing the land would require investments in soil building practices and materials, deep wells with pumping and irrigation systems, and multiple other tools and inputs needed to operate an organic farm. Depending on climatic conditions and the selected cropping systems. To access bank loans requires business plans and loan collateral guarantees.  

Today with more than 300 million inhabitants in the United States, only 2% are living strictly in rural areas and are considered farmers.  About 60,000 of these producers are indigenous Native Americans.  Agricultural migrant people from Mexico have provided, over decades, the work force to make fruit and vegetable agriculture production and processing a viable economic enterprise.  Food processing facilities also rely on workers from Mexico and Central America.  Often the labor force is exploited by labor contractors and taken advantage of by employers due to their undocumented status.  For the past few years, the supply of farm workers has declined, challenging farmers to enforce zero tolerance policies with undocumented people, many of whom labor in agriculture.  Technological innovation, the mechanization of agriculture and the transition to agro-industrial conglomerates, will continue to reduce the number of persons needed to work in agriculture and food manufacturing.  

Seven. Protection of the rural world at risk.

Traveling from Chicago, where the first global futures market (Chicago Board of Trade) was created and the food market became speculative, to Madison, the state capital of Wisconsin, where the  Mayberry  family farms less than 40 acres.  Six acres of which are dedicated for strawberry production.  For this young Midwest family, the main challenge is the workforce.  There are no young people in the rural areas, local young left town, and abundant migrant rural workers are no longer readily available.

Local colleges and universities offer degrees in agricultural sciences, but often young people are not showing interest in the rural economy, despite the upcoming demographic generational change in agricultural production.  With most farmers aged over 65 years old.  This process is known in the world as de-agrarization. Mayberry also confirms that apart from the challenge of producing food, farmers now need to be marketing specialists, interact in social networks, create gastronomic festivals and look for the direct sale of their products in order to survive in the marketplace.

With similar circumstances in California, where there are some initiatives to face the challenge of the generational change.  In a dialogue with Sri Sethuratnam, Director of the Center for Land-Based Learning, with expertise in India, Canada and the USA; Ricardo Amon, water and energy nexus researcher with the UC Davis California Institute for Food and Agricultural Research; Marlen Navarro PHD professor of agriculture in Cuba; and Irina Mkrtchyan of Armenia, a specialist in environmental marketing, we contrasted these challenges with Colombia and other developing economies.
  
There is a common view: the global urge to create incentives to support and maintain the economic and environmental viability of peasantry populations.  Producing food and taking care of their indigenous and peasant territories.  As well as the importance of "creating new farmers".  Industrialization, the displacement of people to cities, the concentration of property and the financial globalization of agriculture, have generated apathy and lack of interest for young people to engage in agriculture.  Which is easy to understand, investing in agriculture as a producer or peasant is high risk, hard work, and often producing losses.

In Winters California, the Center for Land-Based Learning, California Land Academy project, leases land from Sierra Farms, to "grow farmers", as described by Sri.  The process includes up to 10 months of hands-on training, with the academy sub-leasing land to graduates, for them to test their interest and abilities in food production.  People acquire practical skills and technical knowledge, using machinery as well as understanding natural cycles in agriculture. The project wants to move from the "idea" of producing to the practice.  The center’s basic principle is to engage in agriculture by preparing the land, cultivating and harvesting crops,with field experience to complement educational training.  This process is increasingly known in the Central Valley of California and they already have several cohorts of graduates. Some who have already created new productive ventures.

By way of closure.

Thinking again about Colombia and the challenges of peacebuilding, a policy such as the Integral Rural Reform agreed to in the 2016 peace agreement, refers to the minimum infrastructure and institutional development that the country needs, to participate in global markets. Plans such as rural electrification and secondary and tertiary road access, enunciated in the peace accord, began to develop in the United States for more than 150 years. Proving successful to integrate local, regional, national and international markets. The public university system, at the service of agricultural production has also proven paramount to advance science and technology, becoming a protagonist by encouraging economic rural development.  
The United States experience shows that rural public policy was needed to establish a strong agricultural industry that supports local economies and protects the national market.  Development of rural areas results from a national dialogue on priorities, to strengthen institutions in a position to adapt.  With solid infrastructure and institutional development that favors the interests of rural communities.  Overcoming barriers of access to land is a challenge for a new breed of agriculturalists, whom may open the way to new ventures where local markets are protagonists.  Experiences like those in California demonstrate the potential of agricultural economies to generate virtuous circles and productive chains.

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