Six
De acuerdo con el informe más reciente de la FAO sobre la situación de los jóvenes rurales y los sistemas agroalimentarios, el mundo tiene 1.3 billones de jóvenes rurales y el 85% de esta población vive en países de renta media o baja. La cifra y el lugar donde se encuentra esta población es sumamente importante teniendo en cuenta que, desde hace décadas, políticos, la cooperación internacional, los medios de comunicación y la academia ha alarmado sobre el envejecimiento de los campesinos y productores de alimentos y ¿cómo no? En una situación donde el cambio climático y la pérdida de biodiversidad tienen efectos directos en la producción de alimentos para una población que crece más cada día, alguien tiene que preocuparse por quiénes cultivaran la comida.
Pero este discurso, aunque tiene sentido, también ha tenido consecuencias nefastas sobre los jóvenes rurales y su bienestar. Al verlos como productores, la atención que se le ha dado a este grupo ha estado enfocada en que sigan en el campo, produciendo alimentos. Pero ¿Quién dice que por nacer en el campo deben dedicarse a eso? Claro, en países de renta baja y media la agricultura sigue siendo la principal fuente de empleo para los jóvenes, sin embargo, como lo han evidenciado decenas de estudios a nivel mundial, esto no quiere decir que esa sea su aspiración. De hecho, cuando hice mi trabajo de campo en Colombia una de las cosas que más me confrontó fue que la mayoría de los y las jóvenes asociaban ser campesino con ser pobre y ellos no quieren ser pobres. Ellos no quieren repetir la vida que sus padres y adultos cercanos tienen, sin embargo, viven con el temor que hay muy pocas opciones y si “toca toca”.
Ser un campesino o productor de alimentos no es una decisión individual y no se toma de la noche a la mañana. Es un proceso mediado por qué significa ser campesino en el contexto local, la familia, la cultura y si existen las condiciones económicas e históricas para serlo. Más allá de la decisión individual, cuestiono que pongamos el grito en el cielo cuando los jóvenes quieren migrar, pero no se hace la misma bulla/ruido al momento de entender que muchas áreas rurales carecen de los servicios mínimos y vitales para construir un proyecto de vida y gozárselo. El mismo informe de la FAO reporta que los jóvenes carecen de acceso a la tierra, líneas de crédito, espacio de toma de decisión en las zonas rurales.
Al final tratamos a los jóvenes rurales como ciudadanos de segunda categoría. Como sociedad nos preocupamos muy poco por brindarles un entorno donde tengan todas las condiciones mínimas para tener proyectos de vida que quieran explorar, pero les exigimos que se queden en el campo para asegurar la comida. Esto no puede ser así. Y sé que hay decenas de iniciativas y personas que intentan hacer el cambio. Tiene que cambiar.
En la última conferencia del Instituto Arrell el tema era re imaginar la resiliencia. Mientras escuchaba los panelistas y las increíbles nuevas tecnologías y emprendedores que están, literalmente, revolucionando lo que sabemos sobre alimentos en el mundo, pensaba lo mucho que debemos sacudir las narrativas que hemos construido y no funcionan. Entre estas, está re imaginar al productor de alimentos del presente y futuro y buscar desde todos los sectores reestructurar el sistema agroalimentario para que más jóvenes rurales en el mundo tengan aspiraciones más allá de los límites que viejas estructuras han dejado.
Hace un par de años de hecho fui parte de un grupo de personas que, desde Canadá empezó a preguntarse ¿Quién es el campesino del futuro? En caso de que este debate le interese acá el link: https://www.rbc.com/en/thought-leadership/economics/featured-insights/the-next-green-revolution-how-canada-can-produce-more-food-and-fewer-emissions/
Si quiere conocer más de mi tesis y el trabajo con jóvenes rurales dejó dos links:
1. La tesis. Es un documento muy largo y académico en inglés que, si lo lee, usted es uno de mis héroes. Y sí, mi supervisora y comité de supervisión lo leyeron múltiples veces, ellos son otro nivel: https://atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca/items/46d5b9e3-1ad3-409a-9e55-f2e2e39b534c
2. El proyecto de fotografía que desarrollamos con los jóvenes durante 2023. Link: https://arrellfoodinstitute.ca/rural-youth-in-columbia/
Sobre el informe de la FAO: https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/4fda5a87-b7d1-4f4f-a627-d765ba5061d3/content
English
According to the most recent FAO report on the situation of rural youth and agrifood systems, the world has 1.3 billion rural young people, and 85% of them live in low- or middle-income countries. This number, and where this population is located, is extremely important—especially considering that for decades, politicians, international cooperation agencies, the media, and academia have raised the alarm about the aging of farmers and food producers. And how could they not? In a world where climate change and biodiversity loss directly affect food production for a population that keeps growing every day, someone has to worry about who will grow our food.
But while this discourse makes sense, it has also had harmful consequences for rural youth and their well-being. By seeing them primarily as producers, most of the attention given to this group has focused on keeping them in the countryside, producing food. But who says that being born in a rural area means you must dedicate your life to farming? Of course, in low- and middle-income countries, agriculture remains the main source of employment for young people. However, as dozens of studies around the world have shown, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s their aspiration.
In fact, when I did my fieldwork in Colombia, one of the most striking realizations was that most young people associated being a campesino (farmer) with being poor—and they don’t want to be poor. They don’t want to repeat the lives of their parents or other adults around them. Yet, they live with the fear that there are very few options, and that “if we have to, we have to.”
Becoming a farmer or food producer isn’t an individual decision made overnight. It’s a process shaped by what being campesino means in a given context—by family, culture, social norms and whether there are economic and historical conditions that make it possible. Beyond the individual decision, I question why we raise the alarm when young people want to migrate, yet we don’t make nearly as much noise about the fact that many rural areas lack even the most basic services necessary to build and enjoy a meaningful life. The same FAO report shows that rural youth often lack access to land, credit, and spaces where they can participate in decision-making.
In the end, we treat rural youth as second-class citizens. As a society, we do very little to ensure that they have the basic conditions to build the lives they want, yet we demand that they stay in the countryside to feed us. It shouldn’t be this way—and I know there are many initiatives and people trying to make change happen. But it has to change.
At the last Arrell Institute conference, the theme was “reimagining resilience.” As I listened to the panelists and the incredible new technologies and entrepreneurs who are literally revolutionizing what we know about food systems, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much we need to shake the narratives we’ve built—and that no longer work. Among these is the need to reimagine the food producer of the present and future and to work across all sectors to rebuild agrifood systems so that more rural youth around the world can dream beyond the limits that old structures have imposed.
A few years ago, I was part of a group of people in Canada who began asking ourselves: Who is the farmer of the future?
If you’d like to learn more about my dissertation and the work I did with rural youth, here are two links:
The dissertation. It’s a very long and academic document in English—and if you read it, you’re one of my heroes. (Yes, my supervisor and committee read it multiple times—they’re on another level!)
The photography project we developed with young people throughout 2023.
According to the most recent FAO report on the situation of rural youth and agrifood systems, the world has 1.3 billion rural young people, and 85% of them live in low- or middle-income countries. This number, and where this population is located, is extremely important—especially considering that for decades, politicians, international cooperation agencies, the media, and academia have raised the alarm about the aging of farmers and food producers. And how could they not? In a world where climate change and biodiversity loss directly affect food production for a population that keeps growing every day, someone has to worry about who will grow our food.
But while this discourse makes sense, it has also had harmful consequences for rural youth and their well-being. By seeing them primarily as producers, most of the attention given to this group has focused on keeping them in the countryside, producing food. But who says that being born in a rural area means you must dedicate your life to farming? Of course, in low- and middle-income countries, agriculture remains the main source of employment for young people. However, as dozens of studies around the world have shown, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s their aspiration.
In fact, when I did my fieldwork in Colombia, one of the most striking realizations was that most young people associated being a campesino (farmer) with being poor—and they don’t want to be poor. They don’t want to repeat the lives of their parents or other adults around them. Yet, they live with the fear that there are very few options, and that “if we have to, we have to.”
Becoming a farmer or food producer isn’t an individual decision made overnight. It’s a process shaped by what being campesino means in a given context—by family, culture, and whether there are economic and historical conditions that make it possible. Beyond the individual decision, I question why we raise the alarm when young people want to migrate, yet we don’t make nearly as much noise about the fact that many rural areas lack even the most basic services necessary to build and enjoy a meaningful life. The same FAO report shows that rural youth often lack access to land, credit, and spaces where they can participate in decision-making.
In the end, we treat rural youth as second-class citizens. As a society, we do very little to ensure that they have the basic conditions to build the lives they want, yet we demand that they stay in the countryside to feed us. It shouldn’t be this way—and I know there are many initiatives and people trying to make change happen. But it has to change.
At the last Arrell Institute conference, the theme was “reimagining resilience.” As I listened to the panelists and the incredible new technologies and entrepreneurs who are literally revolutionizing what we know about food systems, I couldn’t stop thinking about how much we need to shake the narratives we’ve built—and that no longer work. Among these is the need to reimagine the food producer of the present and future and to work across all sectors to rebuild agrifood systems so that more rural youth around the world can dream beyond the limits that old structures have imposed.
A few years ago, I was part of a group of people in Canada who began asking ourselves: Who is the farmer of the future? In case you want to read more here is the link: https://www.rbc.com/en/thought-leadership/economics/featured-insights/the-next-green-revolution-how-canada-can-produce-more-food-and-fewer-emissions/
If you’d like to learn more about my dissertation and the work I did with rural youth, here are two links:
3. The dissertation. It’s a very long and academic document in English—and if you read it, you’re one of my heroes. (Yes, my supervisor and committee read it multiple times—they’re on another level!): https://atrium.lib.uoguelph.ca/items/46d5b9e3-1ad3-409a-9e55-f2e2e39b534c
4. The photography project we developed with young people throughout 2023 link: https://arrellfoodinstitute.ca/rural-youth-in-columbia/
The FAO report: https://openknowledge.fao.org/server/api/core/bitstreams/4fda5a87-b7d1-4f4f-a627-d765ba5061d3/content
I used AI to correct my grammar and some sentences of the article.
