This talk explores the colonial origins of modern international trade. Since the 1990s, the World Trade Organization, bilateral investment treaties, and free trade agreements have governed the international trade and investment regime based on free market ideology, but geopolitics, power relations, and corporate interests have shaped trade rules for over 500 years before they reached their current form.

Agroecology seeks to emulate nature in agro-ecosystems. It works in concert with natural flows and cycles and embraces diversity. It has been shown to enhance food production in small scale farming systems with low inputs and in the midst of climatic variability. But what does agroecology look like when scaled up to encompass diversified large crop fields and pastures?  What does it look like when practiced in drier places?  Does it imply or require larger social and economic shifts?  Join us as we delve into how to think of agroecology on a larger scale.

The NFU is a partner organization to the Leveraging Ecosystems to transform Agriculture on the Prairies (LEAP) Project at the University of Manitoba. The LEAP Project seeks to explore agricultural intensification strategies and design farming systems that use technology and nature-based tools to reduce GHG emissions, capture carbon, support biodiversity, and help agriculture mitigate and adapt to negative effects of climate change.