The RIAC-Joven (Red Internacional de Agroecología Comunitaria – Joven) is a youth movement that transcends borders to defend Agroecology and Food Sovereignty in rural and urban communities. Indigenous, Afro-descendent and campesino youth build from their ancestral foodways to innovate agroecological practices and solidarity economies

Youth Blooming Agrarian Lands and Community Life

Solidarity Economies and Agroecological Coffee: The Flourishing of AgroEco’s Youth

What happens when youth lead in connecting a solidarity economy based

Youth Blooming Agrarian Lands and Community Life

Return to the Land and the Commons: The Flowering of Growing Justice

Growing Justice, located in Watsonville, California, is a youth-led

Youth Blooming Agrarian Lands and Community Life

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Agrarian lands and community life bloom when youth work alongside their elders to save and sow seed, nurture the soil, tend

Youth, Agroeocology and Commercialization: The blossoming of CAJAC

We continue our fundraising campaign sharing our collaborations with youth in the Maya homelands of southern Mexico. Here, campesino families give life to the milpa, growing corn

Youth Blooming Agrarian Lands and Community Life
Seeds of change: The blossoming of RIAC-Joven

Dear Friends,

Agrarian lands and community life bloom when youth work alongside their elders to save and sow seed, nurture the soil, tend

Dear Community & Friends,

The Community Agroecology Network (CAN) works in close collaboration with Tierras Milperas. Since 2015 our youth group, Growing Justice

SUPPORT CAN IN 2023

BUILDING SOLIDARITY NETWORKS FOR OTHER ECONOMIES

Building solidarity networks for other economies requires us to re-imagine our relationships and work towards more just interconnections. Thank

SOLIDARITY NETWORKS FOR OTHER ECONOMIES

Dear Friends,

Solidarity economies focus on reproducing life and livelihoods, over generating a profit. This difference is everything to the women in the Danilo Gonzales Cooperative, the Denis Gutiérrez Cooperative and the El Privilegio Cooperative, all of which contribute to

In 2020 CAN was approached with a proposal to become the fiscal agent of an emerging organized group of farmworkers and campesinx families within the community gardens of Watsonville and Pajaro. After years of working directly with Growing Justice youth and many of these same farmworker families, the

Work with a small but incredibly active International team focused on accompanying small scale farming communities in rural Colombia, Nicaragua, Mexico, and California’s Central Coast towards a just food sovereign future with agroecology. See full job descriptions below: 

YOUTH COORDINATOR Job Description pdf

OPERATIONS MANAGER Job Description pdf

We are grateful to CAN Co-Founder Steve Gliessman for his many contributions as he steps down from his role as Board Chair. During his tenure, he established agroecology as the organization’s guiding tenet, built a network of researchers, reached hundreds of people through the International Agroecology

Roberto harvesting corn planted on the hillside of his coffee forest.

Roberto Enrique Jiménez Ruiz

22 July 1953–28 June 2021

A gentle giant is a person who has widespread positive impact on the world but draws very little attention to themselves in the process. The world recently lost one of

When the corona virus pandemic hit, indigenous peoples around the world began organizing a response that centered their community’s spiritual and physical well-being. For Ka Kuxtal Much Meyaj, native seeds grounded their response.

Protecting the Community with Traditional Medicine

Supported by funding from the Seed, Soil & Culture Fund of RSF

The Community Agroecology Network (CAN) seeks an experienced
Operations Manager and an experienced Development and Communications Director. 

The Operations Manager will ensure that CAN’s infrastructure and systems effectively support staff and partners both programmatically and in relation to the organization’s fund development efforts. The Development

Growing Justice (GJ), a diverse group of 12-19 year olds from Watsonville, California, meets weekly to learn about the food system and identify what they like about their community, and what they would like to see change. The team’s origins are rooted in the community gardens of Mesa Verde Gardens, and their lived experiences as children

The CAN Associate Director position will work closely with the CAN team and our partner organizations to build the organization, further develop the network and promote CAN’s mission and programs. The ideal candidate will possess a range of skills in fundraising, program management, and participatory community development.

The documentary film, “Ending Seasonal Hunger in Nicaragua” explores food cultures, agroecological farming practices, and innovative solutions to improve diets and reduce seasonal hunger among smallholder coffee farming families in northern Nicaragua. It captures breathtaking tropical landscapes and the daily rhythms of rural life connected to Nicaragua’s rich history of struggle and solidarity. The film highlights

The Agroecology and Livelihoods Collaborative (ALC)* at the University of Vermont (UVM), in partnership with the Community Agroecology Network (CAN), announce the 2017 International Agroecology Shortcourse. The course theme is: Pathways to Resilience: An Agroecological Approach. This year’s shortcourse will

The Agroecology Training course was held in Marracuene District, Mozambique, which is approximately 25 kilometers north of the capital Maputo.

In October 2016, CAN co-founders and board members Steve Gliessman and Robbie Jaffe traveled to Mozambique to take part in the 17th Annual Agroecology Shortcourse. This training

In December, CAN Executive Director Roseann Cohen, Associate Director Heather Putnam and Project Manager Maria Eugenia Flores traveled with executive team members of the coffee company Keurig Green Mountain (KGM) to visit CAN’s Food Security in Las Segovias Project in Northern Nicaragua. The group traveled two and a half hours from the hot and humid

Seedbanks and farmer-led experimentation enhance local food sovereignty and climate change resiliency in rural Nicaragua.

Seedbanks are important reservoirs of genetic diversity that help subsistance farming communities secure their supply of quality, locally-adapted seed. This in turn means that they do not depend on imported seed–often genetically modified–and they can assure their own food supply in

In October, Heather Putnam, CAN’s Associate Director, visited CAN’s partner organization the UCA San Ramón.

The first thing I noticed upon arriving to the northern department of Matagalpa was how hot and dry it was – typically, October is the height of the rainy season and can be quite cool up in the mountains. I

Environmental Science & Policy just published a new study by Marcia DeLonge, Liz Carlisle, and Albie Miles. The authors took on the challenge of finding the answer to an unanswered question: how much federal money is invested for agroecology research?

Technical details can

In October, I visited the two first level cooperatives that produce CAN’s AgroEco® Nicaragua Coffee, and meet with the cooperatives and women’s groups participating in AgroEco®. I came away from my visit to the cooperative in La Pita with a sense of hope and also a mandate for more action.

The cooperative, like all coffee farmers

Adriana with home stay mom, Dona Emelda, in La Reyna, San Ramon, Nicaragua

Adriana Murguia completed a senior internship documenting forms of seed saving as her senior exit for the Environmental Studies Major and Agroecology Concentration. To support her work, Adriana applied to a

Rome, Italy.  The group of world-wide experts on sustainable food systems (IPES-Food) held their 4^th meeting in Rome, Italy October 16-17 in conjunction with the FAO Committee on Food Security meeting and World Food Day. More than 24 members of IPES-Food gathered including CAN’s Board Chair, Steve Gliessman and two new

In 2014, the Coffee Quality Institute (CQI) founded the Partnership for Gender Equity. The objective of this strategic initiative is to illuminate how gender inequality at origin impacts coffee outcomes and the well-being of producers and to figure out how to respond. The CQI has just released an executive summary that includes key research findings,

Check out Lucas Oliver Oswald’s article (August 12, 2015) in Grist: “Can we level the playing field for coffee growers?”  Oswald does an analysis about the changing coffee industry and the rise of direct trade. CAN affiliated researcher Dr. Christopher Bacon (Santa Clara University) was interviewed for the article and raised caution about direct trade. Read

Celebrate Agroecology at UC Santa Cruz and Around the World

Friday July 17, 2015
4-6 pm
Cowell Ranch Hay Barn
UC Santa Cruz Campus (near main entrance)
Santa Cruz, California

Agroecology World Fair Day takes place during the 16th Annual International Agroecology Shortcourse. Participate http://nosubhealth.com/ in an exchange

In early June, CAN Executive Director Rose Cohen and Associate Director Heather Putnam traveled to the Central Highlands of Veracruz, Mexico to meet with CAN network partners there and visit rural coffee-growing communities where CAN is working to promote food security and sovereignty in addition to women’s and youth economic empowerment. Heather filed this report:

Community Agroecology Network’s (CAN) Food Security & Sovereignty in Las Segovias, Nicaragua project was selected as a finalist for the 2015 Specialty Coffee Association of America (SCAA) Sustainability Award. Roseann Cohen, executive director of CAN, Maria Eugenia Flores, project manager, Christopher Bacon, CAN affiliated researcher and assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Studies and Sciences

WhyHunger has released its first agroecology publication, “Agroecology: Putting Food Sovereignty into Action.” The publication shares the knowledge and perspectives of 10 social movement leaders who are working to “scale up” agroecology around the world. It also highlights the social, political, cultural, nutritional and spiritual meanings of agroecology from within

“Sustainable Farming through Agroecology” with Stephen Gliessman and Mark Bittman 

CAN Board President and co-founder Stephen Gliessman is giving a lecture on March 30 for the online course, Edible Education 101. This course was “created in conjunction with the 40th anniversary celebration of Chez Panisse Restaurant and Café in Berkeley, California.

CAN Executive Director Roseann Cohen and Associate Director Heather Putnam traveled to Vermont to participate in a workshop that held from January 8-10, 2015. The workshop brought together three groups who have a vested interest and experience in working with small holder coffee producers in Latin America: direct and fair trade coffee roasters; non-profit organizations;

Nyéléni, Mali

La Via Campesina has published the Declaration of the International Forum for Agroecology on its website. The Declaration was produced by delegates from diverse organizations and international movements of small-scale food producers. The delegates gathered at the Nyéléni Center in Sélingué, Mali from February 24-27, 2015,

Global Justice Now, a social justice organization based in London, England, has just published a report that says “…small-scale farmers are the key to addressing food issues across African countries.” The report From the Roots Up : how agroecology can feed Africa discusses agroecology projects in Tanzania, Cameroon,

3 February 2015: The coffee leaf rust (la roya) has reached the Central Highlands of Veracruz, Mexico and small-scale coffee farming families are working to quickly respond to the blight before it further impacts their livelihoods. As the Mexican government promotes a host of new agrochemicals, CAN’s partner VIDA A.C. is steadfast in its promotion

Agroecology, A Global Movement:
Tracing Our Roots and Looking Forward

July 12-25, 2015

Sustainable Living Center
University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC)
Santa Cruz, California

Learn more

CAN Board president Steve Gliessman (Professor Emeritus of Agroecology, UCSC) and CAN Executive Director Roseann Cohen head to Washington, D.C. to attend “Design for Resilience in Smallholder Farming Systems: Symposium and Consultation on Agroecological Principles, Design and Practice.” As keynote speaker, Steve

CAN Associate Director Heather Putnam made a visit to our partner organization the Union of Cooperatives in San Ramón (UCA San Ramón), Nicaragua the first week of December. Our ongoing partnership with the UCA San Ramon is supporting 8 cooperatives to build community food sovereignty and sustainable local food systems. A principal challenge to this

Ben Valdez has been an active FoCAN student leader for the past two years and is currently completing a field study with CAN’s partner organization VIDA AC in the Central Highlands of Veracruz, Mexico. Here is his latest update from the field:

Greetings from Ixhuatlan de Café, Veracruz Mexico! My name is Benjamin Valdez,

Update from the Field
Suraya Arslan, CAN field intern

27 October 2014: The digital revolution has come late to Nicaragua. The country ranks last regionally and 114th globally in Information and Communication Technology (ICT) development according to a 2013 report by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). Despite this late start, Nicaraguans have quickly embraced mobile devices

Most of the world’s food insecure people live in marginal rural environments. A recent study with coffee producers in northern Nicaragua’s highlands helps explain this “hungry farmer paradox.” These small-scale farmers experienced an average of three months of seasonal hunger over the year studied. Although cash income helped alleviate food scarcity, households

The Garcia-Díaz Family, La Pita, Nicaragua. Photo: Mara Nielsen

STUDENT PROJECT: January 2014

In January 2014, Mara Nielsen took part in CAN’s International Field Study program and spent two weeks living with the Garcia-Díaz family in La Pita, Nicaragua. During

ANNUAL REPORT: Year 4 — November 1, 2012 – October 30, 2013

Through the Food Security and Sovereignty in Las Segovias Project the Community Agroecology Network (CAN), in collaboration with our partner organization PRODECOOP, RL, aims to improve food security and reduce seasonal hunger among 1500 smallholder

CAN’s co-founder and chair of the Board of Directors, Dr. Stephen Gliessman, (Professor Emeritus of Agroecology, University of California, Santa Cruz) has been appointed to an international panel of experts on sustainable food systems. The panel is co-chaired by Dr. Olivia Yambi, nutritionist and former

Community Agroecology Network (CAN) has joined coffee importer Ético: The Ethical Trading Company (ÉTICO), the British NGO Social Business Network, local coffee roaster Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Company, the Union of Cooperatives in San Ramón, Nicaragua (UCA SR), and the Denis Gutierrez coffee cooperative to recognize and include the unpaid work of

Food and Agribusiness Institute hosts a food-security conversation with youth organizers visiting from Latin America. The youth are participants in CAN’s 3rd International Youth Exchange for Food Security & Sovereignty (April 8–16). Coffee Brewbar tasting with the youth organizers outside Sunstream Cafe from 2–3 pm. Agro®Eco Coffee provided by CAN.

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