Beyond Our Backyards (BoB) is an European project aiming at capacity building of actors of local agroecological initiatives (permaculture, community supported agriculture, transition initiatives, urban agriculture, among others) to study and engage in large scale political issues and processes which impact the local agroecological initiatives (e.g. seed policies, common agricultural policy, property related laws), and in the agro-ecological practices affecting these major political issues (e.g. seed exchanges, cultural practices, solidarity networks, political mobilizations). For this purpose the project brings together actors from three distinct spheres of action: academics, political activists and the developers of local agroecological initiatives.

Initiatives carrying an ``agroecological identity'' are expanding in Europe and worldwide. Among these initiatives are land communes, permaculture projects, urban gardens or even transition initiatives. To a large extent, these initiatives share the values and even languages of agrarian and ecological movements of the Global South and of anti-capitalist social movements. However, most of them are focused on the very local practical work of their project because of the conditions within which they try to survive. This leads to:

• a downplay of the political context in which they operate (such as the agro-industrial complex, its safeguarding institutions and lobbyism; as well as market capitalism itself);
• a disregard of the historical background of social struggles and alternative modes of organization, together with the history of scientific and political thought.

The Beyond Our Backyards project idea departed from this observation of a lack of engagement of these rapidly expanding local agroecological initiatives in the political movements and campaigns that deal with topics that directly affect them. This leads to difficulties in intertwining and developing collective action to tackle the common problems of these initiatives, resulting not only in an increased fragility, but also in the lack of a true social movement, capable of confronting industrial agribusiness and changing the functioning of the global food system. To overcome this issue, the project aims at building up an social movement based on an agroecological identity, by bringing together actors from the expanding local initiatives with those of the academia and political movements and campaigns. Rather than recreating campaigns and issues, the project aims at working synergistically with existing projects and campaigns, including several initiatives within the Reclaim the Fields constellation (e.g. reclaim the seeds, access to land). Furthermore, we also expect to be able to develop joint political strategies and synergies with Southern movements sharing the language of agroecology (such as Via Campesina or Navdanya).

The first international BoB meeting took place in the community of Gastwerke, in Escherode (near Kassel, Germany) by the end of October 2011. During this meeting, 30 people - and a few more online - took part in an open space where it was possible to approach the different backgrounds, find points and interests in common and make them converge into common ends. As a result of this meeting, several initiatives (see below) are being planned and developed. New participants and contributions are therefore very welcome in any of them.

For any additional information on the BoB project, please write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. More information and updates will be made available at this website: http://agroecol.eu/