In 1968, William Gaud of USAID coined the term "Green Revolution," promising to feed the world through high-yield crop varieties and chemical fertilizers. Production doubled in some countries, but hunger persisted, and new problems arose: dependence on external inputs, soil degradation, and loss of local control over food systems.
This is where the story takes a hopeful turn. In 1996, a revolutionary concept emerged from the grassroots: food sovereignty. The concept of food sovereignty did not exist as such until 1996. In that year, the young organization La Vía Campesina mentioned it for the first time, raising a fundamental point that we had forgotten.
The difference is profound: While food security focuses on having enough food (regardless of its source), food sovereignty centers on who decides what, how, and where that food is produced. While food security guarantees free and unrestricted access to nutritious food at all times, food sovereignty promotes local control by those who work the land.
And here's the best news: The answer isn't in distant laboratories or complex global distribution chains. It's literally around the corner, in the hands of our local producers.
When we choose the green mix from the Arrayán orchard, the D'Cabra cheeses , or the agroecological flours With Calendula, we're not just buying fresher and more nutritious food. We are exercising food sovereignty . We are deciding that we want to know who grows our food, how they grow it, and that this relationship be direct and transparent.
Every product at Vecinos represents a small declaration of food independence. When we buy local, we don't depend on complex systems that can fail. We build resilience, community, and control over the most basic things: how we feed ourselves.
The real revolution is not about producing more with less land, but about decide collectively We want food systems that nourish both our bodies and our territory and our relationships.
