Pandemic-Era Agroecology in Guatemala: Economic Solidarity and Smallholder Resilience to Economic Shock

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic’s unprecedented market and mobility restrictions (2020-2021) created a distinct economic shock for Guatemalan smallholders, which arrived on the trails of other economic and environmental shocks. At the same time, farmer organizations have promoted agroecology in Guatemala for decades in order to strengthen rural livelihoods, develop food-sovereign communities, defend indigenous rights, and develop climate change adaptations. This study works with eight smallholder farmer organizations to document the pandemic’s impacts on smallholders, explore how agroecology affects smallholder resilience to economic shock, and to identify constraints and opportunities for agroecology in Guatemala with regards to market access and solidarity building. Analyses of qualitative and quantitative data show that agroecological practices and prior engagement with agroecology organizations are correlated with increased resilience to economic shock at the farm level, in terms of production and consumption. Farmer organizations that promote agroecology support social networks that increase farmer ability to respond to market shock and mobility restrictions. This study highlights collective actions that organizations took during the pandemic to support food and market access. The variation across organizations offers salient examples of farmers and movement organizers working toward economic solidarity within agroecology, while facing myriad constraints which may require structural change beyond resilience frameworks.