Thread by @shared_assets

Day 4 in Rosario with the #Urbanisinginplace project. Today we are visiting peri urban agroecological farms around the city.

Follow this #thread to find out about today’s activities!

urbanisinginplace.org

Did you know that the pomegranate peel can be dried and used as a cure for diarrhoea and the seeds for constipation...?! It also contributes to biological control #urban #agroecology

Guava leaves can be used a diuretic and olive leaves can be used to control blood pressure - Reuben takes them to help deal with the stresses of managing the different farmers who grow on the site!

16 farmers grow on this site and Reuben is the most experienced. He is now employed by the municipality to support the other less experienced growers. He is part teacher, part helper and part psychologist!

Site 2 today is an old municipal tree nursary. Here the project team test different seed varieties to understand their performance in local conditions

Climate change is impacting here in Rosario. Hotter summers mean they have to plant earlier and mulch around the plants to prevent sun damage and soil drying

Tobacco production is heavily controlled by corporate cartels. It has to be licensed, varieties are controlled and sale is restricted.

Agroecological farmers all over the world use comfrey as green manure!

Artemesia can be used to regulate menstruation and relieve symptoms of the menopause

And this one’s an aphrodisiac!

The maintenance of these local, folk and original indigenous systems of knowledge are important in the maintenance of health and treatment of illness - especially where access to pharmaceutical medicines may be limited

“These systems of maintaining and sharing knowledge are based in the family and social structures of the original people’s of the region.They risk being lost whilst the corporations sell us food that makes us ill and then the treatments for the illnesses they have caused”

But this pharmacy is teaming with life

Stevia is the sugar of the Guarani people. It is subject to a range of patents privatising it’s use - and the indigenous knowledge of the Guarani - for profit. “Sharing and maintaining our Guarani knowledge is a form of resistance”

Oregano can be mixed with gum to produce a treatment for toothache

A table full of beautiful produce

“The key to #agroecology is biodiversity and the biggest threat to this is the homogenisation of diets and widespread mono cultures producing commodities for a global industrial food system”

The collection, treating and sharing of seed is a critical part of #agroecological practice and deeply embedded cultural knowledge

Site 3 is La Bosque where we are meeting Mario ... and his chickens ...

Mario thinks that the current food system is just putting poisons straight in your mouth. We grow food too fast to make money. He comes from a farming family and wants to grow good food.

Compost is being made from waste from abattoirs and craft breweries. Diverting useful resources before they enter the waste system. These are added to other materials such as grass and straw.

Fun fact: every farm visit includes an invitation to “smell the compost”.

It’s the law.

Rose is developing a new plot at the site. It’s going to be hard work to bring it into cultivation.

19 families earn a living from this 3Ha site. The growers want to extend to another 2Ha between the current site and the river to increase the amount and variety of produce.

La Bosque is a peri urban site in the north of the city. At night it needs a police guard to prevent thefts of tools and produce.

But the vast majority of Rosario’s #greenbelt is this .... a desert of GMO soya, limited labour, heavily sprayed with toxic pesticides and resulting in widespread soil erosion.

“This does damage to the ground, to the people, to the city”

The soil in these fields is so compacted and lifeless you can’t dig into it with you hands. 18cm of topsoil has been lost in this area in 10 years.

Discussing the potential for the future restoration of these industrially farmed soils