This is the accepted version of the journal article: Benyei, Petra; Calvet Mir, Laura; Reyes-García, Victoria; [et al.]. «Resistance to traditional agroecological knowledge erosion in industrialized contexts : A study in La Plana de Vic (Catalonia)». Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, Vol. 44, Issue 10 (January 2020), p. 1309-1337. DOI 10.1080/21683565.2020.1712571 This version is available at https://ddd.uab.cat/record/269775 under the terms of the license 1 The Version of Record of this manuscript has been published in Agroecology and sustainable 2 food systems, 08 Jan 2020, and is available in 3 http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/21683565.2020.1712571 4 Title 5 Resistance to Traditional Agroecological Knowledge erosion in industrialized contexts: A study 6 in La Plana de Vic (Catalonia). 7 Authors 8 Petra Benyei1, Laura Calvet-Mir 1,2, Victoria Reyes-García1, 3, Marta Rivera-Ferre4 1 9 Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, 08193 10 Bellatera, Barcelona, Spain 2 11 Internet Interdisciplinary Institute (IN3), Universitat Oberta de Catalunya, 08860 Castelldefels, 12 Barcelona, Spain 3 13 Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats (ICREA), Passeig de Lluís Companys 23, 14 08010 Barcelona, Spain 4 15 Agroecology and Food Systems Chair, University of Vic-Central University of Catalonia. 16 Carrer la Laura 13, 08500, Vic, Spain 17 Corresponding email: petra.benyei@gmail.com 18 19 Abstract 20 This work explores the actors and reasons behind Traditional Agroecological Knowledge (TAeK) 21 conservation initiatives in industrialized contexts. Results come from interviews to key 22 informants and social network analyses of TAeK conservation projects conducted in central 23 Catalonia. Actors used contrasting discourses to refer to TAeK conservation, but with a strong 24 potential to generate alliances between different types of projects. The existing parallelisms 25 between resistances to TAeK erosion and resistances to industrialized agri-food systems could 26 become the seed for common collective action to counterweight the loss of TAeK. 27 Key words 28 Agroecology, lexicometry, discourse, social network analysis, traditional knowledge 29 conservation 30 1 31 Introduction 32 Traditional Agroecological Knowledge (TAeK or TAK)1 is a term used to define the cumulative 33 body of knowledge, practices, and beliefs about an agroecosystem that has evolved and adapted 34 to the local environmental and cultural contexts after generations of farmer-nature interactions. 35 (Reyes-García et al. 2013; Toledo and Barrera-Bassols 2008; Rocha 2005; Reyes-García, Benyei, 36 and Calvet-Mir 2018). Examples of TAeK include farmers’ knowledge of landraces (i.e., plants 37 of a certain botanical taxon selected by farmers and resulting in local environmentally and 38 culturally adapted crops), practices related to the preparation/transformation of cultivated plants, 39 or beliefs and institutions related to agricultural resource management such as local rules around 40 water management (Calvet-Mir et al. 2018). 41 TAeK is essential not only for agrobiodiversity conservation and management, but also for 42 providing resilient and locally adapted food systems that contribute to food sovereignty (Altieri 43 and Merrick 1987; Altieri and Toledo 2011; Armitage 2003). Research has shown that traditional 44 agricultural practices contribute to biodiversity maintenance (Altieri and Nicholls 2000), 45 including the maintenance of wild diversity (Blanckaert et al. 2007). For example, traditionally 46 managed agroecosystems, such as dehesa grasslands (an agrosilvopastoral system found in 47 southern and central Spain and Portugal), support a wide diversity of plant and animal species 48 (Peco, Oñate, and Requena 2000; Plieninger and Wilbrand 2001). Similarly, traditional animal 49 husbandry practices, such as shepherding, provide dispersal opportunities for multiple plant 50 species and are thus considered useful approaches to plant diversity restoration in fragmented 51 grasslands (Babai and Molnár 2014; Rico, Boehmer, and Wagner 2014). In the same line, 52 traditional home gardens contribute to the in-situ conservation of crop genetic diversity (Calvet- 53 Mir et al. 2011; Perrault-Archambault and Coomes, 2008) and to the provision of other ecosystem 1 Many terms have been used to describe this concept. In this article, the term “Traditional Agroecological Knowledge” is used mirroring the term “Traditional Ecological Knowledge”, a term widely used in the research and policy arena. The use of the word ‘traditional’ (rather than ‘local’ or ‘folk’) emphasizes the long-term historical continuity of these bodies of knowledge and the importance of social processes in their transmission and maintenance. The word ‘traditional’ does not imply knowledge being archaic or pre-modern, as traditional knowledge systems are highly dynamic and adaptive and co-exist and interact with other forms of agricultural knowledge (Reyes-Garcia et al. 2014). 2 54 services, especially cultural services such as the maintenance of cultural identity and social 55 networks (Calvet-Mir, Gómez-Baggethun, and Reyes-García 2012). Furthermore, TAeK is 56 considered critical for agroecological transitions since it offers the potential to contribute to the 57 reduction of farm inputs and to the intensification of farm biodiversity, providing answers to some 58 of the environmental, political and economic challenges that agroecological transitions face 59 (Koohafkan and Altieri 2011; Altieri, Funes-Monzote, and Petersen 2012; Guzmán et al. 2013; 60 Gliessman and Rosemeyer 2010; Calvet-Mir et al. 2018). 61 Although TAeK has some level of resilience that might allow its co-existence with industrial 62 farming knowledge and practices (Reyes-García et al. 2014), there is a great concern regarding 63 TAeK’s rapid erosion (e.g., loss of traditional farm management practices or landrace names) and 64 enclosure (i.e., the establishment of restrictive property rights over agrobiodiversity and 65 associated knowledge). For instance, several authors have noticed the rapid loss of traditional 66 agroecological practices in Europe, a phenomena that has been often linked to two main factors. 67 First, the industrialization of the agricultural systems (understood as the process by which the 68 logics of industrial production are applied to agricultural production, including processes of 69 intensification and mechanization, Rotz and Fraser 2015). Second, the strict regulations in 70 protected areas (Gómez-Baggethun et al. 2010; Hernández-Morcillo et al. 2014). Other authors 71 have highlighted the problems related to the private and public management of TAeK (especially 72 landrace knowledge), calling for its protection under a “commons” framework (Brush 2007; 73 Srinivas 2012; Reyes-García et al. 2018; Reyes-García, Benyei, and Calvet-Mir 2018). 74 In the light of these threats, several initiatives aiming to promote TAeK conservation have 75 emerged around the world, including initiatives engaged in the static documentation or storing of 76 TAeK (an ex-situ or de-contextualized approach) and also efforts to gather, reproduce, transmit 77 and revitalize TAeK’s use among knowledge holders and their communities (an in-situ or 78 contextualized approach; Benyei et al. 2019). For instance, after the signature of the Convention 79 on Biological Diversity (1992) that had articles referring to the inclusion of traditional knowledge 80 in biological conservation efforts (Alexander et al. 2004), there has been an emergence of policy 3 81 and legislative initiatives to protect traditional knowledge (including TAeK) through databases 82 and inventories (Lakshmi Poorna et al. 2014; Pardo-de-Santayana et al. 2014). In parallel, a 83 diversity of community-based programs have been initiated to encourage in-situ traditional 84 knowledge maintenance (McCarter et al. 2014; Tang and Gavin 2016). These initiatives include 85 projects aiming at putting TAeK into practice through workshops, the cultivation and exchange 86 of landraces, the use of traditional tools, or the recovery of traditional gastronomy, among others. 87 Some initiatives have also started to focus on traditional knowledge gathering and sharing among 88 an extended online community, as a way both to protect and to revitalize these knowledge systems 89 (Calver-Mir et al. 2018). Moreover, civil society organizations have also been promoting TAeK 90 conservation and protection. For instance, in Spain, the different local seed networks (coordinated 91 under the non-governmental organization “Red de Semillas. Resembrando e Intercambiando”) 92 have played a crucial role in inventorying and sharing traditional landraces knowledge (Reyes- 93 García et al. 2018). 94 Recent research shows that initiatives targeting TAeK conservation seem to be more inclusive 95 than initiatives targeting other domains of traditional knowledge (Benyei et al. 2019). This could 96 be due to the specificities of some TAeK conservation actions that rely on community networks, 97 public participation, and collective action (e.g., community seed banks, lifeway museums, or 98 inter-generational TAeK exchange activities). Moreover, being TAeK loss the result of certain 99 sociopolitical and economic conditions (namely the industrialization of food systems), some 100 TAeK conservation initiatives could be understood as resistance actions since they represent 101 individual or collective efforts that oppose, confront, and try to prevent or reverse those conditions 102 (Hollander and Einwohner 2004; Lee 2017). Indeed, some of the main issues affecting TAeK loss 103 (e.g., agricultural industrialization, privatization of agricultural knowledge) are structural factors 104 that the agroecology movement also contests (Gómez-Baggethun et al. 2013). In that sense, the 105 interests of TAeK conservation initiatives could potentially overlap with the interest of 106 movements resisting industrialized food systems in general and with the agroecology movement 4 107 in particular (Koohafkan and Altieri 2011; Gliessman 2013; Bonanno and Wolf 2017; Calvet-Mir 108 et al. 2018; Mier y Terán Giménez Cacho et al. 2018). 109 While the resistance movements against industrialized agri-food systems have received some 110 scholarly attention (McMichael 2005), it is still not clear how the different approaches to TAeK 111 conservation align with these movements in industrialized contexts, where the connection 112 between agricultural production and TAeK has been weakened. Moreover, although TAeK 113 conservation has been studied before, previous work has mainly explored conservation efforts 114 related to one physical element in the TAeK systems (e.g., landrace knowledge conservation 115 through seed networks, see for instance Calvet-Mir et al. 2012; Calvet-Mir and Salpeteur 2016). 116 Thus, we lack a more holistic understandings of how TAeK conservation efforts are conceptually 117 and relationally articulated (i.e., which are the motivations behind TAeK conservation and how 118 do the different TAeK conservation efforts relate to one another; Benyei et al. 2019). 119 In this work, we shed light on these research gaps by exploring 1) local actors’ perceived 120 opportunities and threats to TAeK conservation; 2) local actors’ discourses around TAeK 121 conservation; and 3) the local network of TAeK conservation projects in a study area in central 122 Catalonia where an industrialized agri-food system is rapidly replacing traditional agri-food 123 systems. By inductively exploring these issues, we produce general categories that help 124 understand the complexity of TAeK conservation realities, including the motivations behind and 125 the relationships among TAeK conservation initiatives. Finally, we conclude by exploring the 126 potential relations between TAeK conservation initiatives and agroeocology as a resistance 127 movement. 128 Study area 129 This study took place in the region of Osona, central Catalonia (north-east Iberian Peninsula). 130 More specifically, we focused on the area called La Plana de Vic (Figure 1), the main flatland of 131 the region where industrialized agriculture has taken over drastically, especially since the mid- 132 20th century (Torrents i Buxó 2009; del Val i Torra 2016). 5 133 Insert Figure 1 here 134 La Plana de Vic is an erosion basin, about 30 km long and 10 km wide that includes 31 135 municipalities, with a population of 142.465 people and a surface of 620km2 (IDESCAT 2017; 136 Vilamala 2018). Despite the relatively high average population density of the area (230 inh/km2) 137 8 out of 31 municipalities are considered rural and predominantly agricultural, according to 138 municipal indicators of population density and economic activity (Domínguez i Amorós, Monllor 139 i Rico, and Simó i Solsona 2010). Despite being categorized as rural according to their population 140 density, most municipalities (20/31) are predominantly oriented towards services and industry 141 (including the food processing industry). Three municipalities (i.e., Manlleu, Torelló and Vic) are 142 categorized as urban. Moreover, despite the relative importance of the services sector compared 143 to the agricultural sector (74.6% of Osona’s GDP and 60% of employment versus 1.8% and 3.3% 144 respectively), the food sector (including the food processing industry) still has a relatively 145 important weight in the economy of the area (IDESCAT 2017). Considering the whole food chain, 146 from production of raw materials (e.g., seed, fertilizers etc.) to elaboration of food products and 147 food retailing, the food sector in Osona employs 22% of the active population and produces 58% 148 of the region’s income (CREACCIÓ 2014; del Val i Torra 2016). 149 Indeed, these data reflect an important industrialization of the agricultural sector, a process that 150 started in the mid-19th century, with the emergence of the textile and cold meat (sausage) 151 processing industries in the area (Castell i Castells 2001). Although until the mid-20th century, 152 industrial activities coexisted with traditional family farming, this socio-ecological configuration 153 changed drastically from the 1960’s onwards, when there was an increasing industrialization of 154 agriculture, oriented towards intensive pig and cattle production (Torrents i Buxó 2009). Overall, 155 agriculture industrialization lead to the abandonment of traditional farming systems, as it 156 happened in other areas of Spain, (Naredo 1971). According to the latest agrarian census, fodder 157 plants are the predominant crop in La Plana de Vic (13% of UAA), which also produces 2% of 158 all the Spanish pork (being Spain the 2nd pork producer in Europe according to EUROSTATS 159 2016 and INE 2009). 6 160 Agricultural industrialization had and still has important socio-ecological consequences in the 161 area. For instance, the area has experienced an important rise in land prices driven both by 162 growing urbanization but also by increasing land concentration and the high land demand of the 163 pork industry (which requires land to deposit pig manure). The rise in land prices makes it very 164 hard for small producers to acquire land (Torrents i Buxó 2009). Also, nitrification of soils and 165 aquifers due to integrated pork farming and intensive manure fertilization is one of the biggest 166 ecological concerns in the area (Menció, Boy, and Mas-Pla 2011; Torrents i Buxó 2009; Vitòria 167 et al. 2008). 168 Despite this general situation, several sustainable agriculture experiences have emerged in the 169 area, including both organic and agroecological productive projects. Moreover, some of these 170 projects are starting to organize collectively around the APA-Osona (Osona’s Agroecological 171 Farmer’s Assembly, for its Catalan acronym). According to the latest agrarian census (INE 2009), 172 5.5% of the agricultural area in La Plana de Vic is under organic production, being Taradell and 173 Torelló the municipalities leading this tendency. Furthermore, a strong rural cultural identity still 174 exists in the area, and multiple local and regional historical societies have emerged since the 175 1980’s. These societies include cultural associations recording elders’ life histories with an 176 emphasis in documenting TAeK related information. Some lifeway museums have also been 177 created, including an Ecomuseum (open-air participatory museums, Riva 2017) in which several 178 municipal councils, the region’s university, and several associations and historical site owners 179 have organized exhibition centers that hold inter-generational activities with a TAeK conservation 180 vision and mission (Hernández Fernández 2016). 181 Methods 182 Our work followed an inductive methodological approach, by which we explored the universe 183 of TAeK conservation actors and projects in La Plana de Vic and grouped them according to 184 their main goals. We used this information to explore the motivations behind and relationships 185 among TAeK conservation actors and projects. 7 186 Data collection 187 We collected data in several municipalities of La Plana de Vic during 2016 and 2017 using in- 188 depth interviews and a survey. 189 In-depth interviews 190 To explore the perceived opportunities and threats that TAeK conservation projects face and the 191 discourses around TAeK conservation, in December 2016 we performed 11 semi-structured in- 192 depth interviews with key informants tightly connected to TAeK conservation in the area. 193 To select informants, we used snowball sampling (Bernard, Wutich, and Ryan 2017). We started 194 by interviewing individuals contacted in an activity organized by the Ecomuseum in which 195 traditional cereal harvesting tools and practices were exhibited and taught by local elders. These 196 individuals gave us the contact details of other people participating in TAeK initiatives in the 197 area, who were also contacted and interviewed and who, in turn, gave us further contacts. This 198 process was repeated until no new actors were cited. People interviewed were mainly adult men 199 (only 2 of the11 persons interviewed were women) directly engaged in one or several of the 200 studied TAeK conservation projects (only two did not participate in any of the projects). One of 201 the interviews was a group interview to 4 members of the local seed bank (see Table 1). 202 Insert Table 1 here 203 Before starting the interview, we presented our definition of TAeK to the informants, also 204 providing some examples. This allowed us to have a common basis for discussion. The interview 205 followed a guideline that included questions addressing 1) TAeK loss in the area, 2) threats to 206 TAeK conservation, 3) opportunities for TAeK conservation, and 4) TAeK conservation projects 207 in the area. These interviews were recorded with the interviewees’ consent and later transcribed. 208 Survey 8 209 In order to explore the network of TAeK conservation projects in La Plana de Vic, in May 2017 210 we conducted a survey designed to capture the existence of relations among ongoing TAeK 211 conservation projects in the area. 212 The sample for the survey was selected through name generation techniques following a 213 respondent-driven sampling design (Bernard, Wutich, and Ryan 2017). Specifically, we first 214 obtained a list of TAeK conservation projects in the area from our in-depth interviews. The list 215 was then reviewed and completed by participants in a workshop on “The value of TAeK” 216 organized by the research team in the region’s university. We also included in the survey those 217 projects that were mentioned during the first surveying round. Our final sample was 28 TAeK 218 conservation projects, which, to the best of our knowledge, are all the ones that exist in La Plana 219 de Vic. From the 28 projects approached, 25 responded to the survey (a response rate of 89%). 220 The projects missing were an organic farming project, an educational foundation, and a wood 221 products workshop. 222 The survey was based on a closed-ended questionnaire in which we asked the respondent to grade 223 the relation between his/her project and each of the other projects in the list in a scale from 0 (non- 224 existing collaboration) to 3 (tight collaboration). We emphasized that the respondent did not have 225 to provide a personal answer, but an answer that reflected the projects’ relations. 226 Data Analysis 227 We started by classifying both actors and projects according to their main approach to TAeK 228 conservation. These approaches were defined through and inductive process as accumulative, 229 exhibitive, productive, processing, or educative based on what type of activities they conducted 230 and what was their mission and vision regarding TAeK conservation. The accumulative approach 231 focused on collecting TAeK and storing it in archives; the exhibitive approach focused on 232 exhibiting TAeK-related artifacts, documents or practices; the productive approach focused on 233 using TAeK to produce agricultural products; the processing approach focused on using TAeK to 234 transform or process agricultural products; and the educative approach focused on including 9 235 TAeK in curricula. We then analyzed the data differentiating between the data from the in-depth 236 interviews and the data from the survey. 237 In depth interviews 238 To explore local actor’s perceived opportunities and threats to TAeK conservation, we 239 transformed the in-depth interviews transcriptions into plain text with UTF-8 encoding using 240 LibreOffice. This text was analyzed using RQDA (an R package for qualitative data analysis, 241 Huang 2018) and following a grounded theory approach by which segments of text were coded 242 and extracted (Corbin and Strauss 1990). The codes were generated following an inductive 243 process by which we looked for patterns in the text and established codes for opportunities and 244 threats to TAeK conservation that were not previously defined (Newing 2011). 245 To analyze the local actors’ discourses around TAeK conservation, we used IRaMuTeQ (Ratinaud 246 and Déjean 2009), an R based interface that uses the ALCESTE algorithm to produce word count 247 based statistics that allow lexicometric analyses (Gavard-Perret et al. 2012; Reinert 1983, 1986). 248 The plain texts from each interview were compiled in a single file that included coded headings 249 expressing each interviewee’s attributes. The attributes used were the ID of the interviewee and 250 the TAeK conservation approach to which the interviewee was most strongly associated (i.e., 251 accumulative, exhibitive, productive, processing or educative, see Table 1). Then, the software 252 divided the text into Text Segments (TS) and calculated the frequency of word co-occurrences. 253 Furthermore, the software identified clusters with a Descending Hierarchical classification 254 Analysis (DHA). These TS clusters gathered pieces of text containing similar vocabulary. Thus, 255 each cluster can be considered as a relatively stable cognitive-perceptual framework (Reinert 256 1983). Finally, using Chi2 tests, the software calculated if certain words, actors, or TAeK 257 conservation approaches were significantly associated to a certain cluster. These analyses allowed 258 establishing the link between actors’ profile and the words they used, which we interpreted in 259 terms of types of discourses. 260 Survey 10 261 To analyze the network of TAeK conservation projects in the study area, we transformed the 262 survey answers (i.e., degree of relationship among projects) into an adjacency matrix (a square 263 data matrix showing the relation/distance between every two projects/nodes). We then coded the 264 nodes according to the municipality where the project took place (color code) and the type of 265 project (shape code). To code the type of project, we followed the classification of TAeK 266 conservation approaches (i.e., accumulative projects - e.g., the historical societies; exhibitive 267 projects - e.g., the museums; productive projects - e.g., farms; processing projects - e.g., basketry 268 enterprise; and educative projects - e.g., technical school, see Table 5 in the results section). 269 The adjacency matrix was imported to Social Network Visualizer (SocNetV) 2.3 (Kalamaras 270 2017), an open software used to perform network visualization and social network statistical 271 analyses (SNA). We calculated two network-level measures: (1) size, or number of nodes 272 (projects) in the network, and (2) density, or the ratio of existing edges (connections) to all 273 possible edges (n*(n-1)) between nodes. We also calculated two node-level centrality measures: 274 (1) degree centrality (DC), or the number of weighted edges (connections) a node has to other 275 nodes in the network, and (2) betweenness centrality (BC), or the ratio of edges between pairs of 276 nodes which run through another node. Degree centrality is a measure of node activity (i.e., how 277 active is the project in the network) that takes into account the number of projects a given project 278 relates to and the weight of that connection. Betweenness centrality is a measure of brokering 279 capacity that quantifies how much a specific project acts as an intermediary between other 280 projects. To better interpret these measures, we calculated standardized indexes (DC’ and BC’) 281 ranging from 0 to 1, being 1 the maximum possible DC and BC (i.e., DC’=1 when the node has 282 the maximum possible connections and BC'=1 when the node falls on all edges). These centrality 283 measures are widely acknowledged by the literature as reliable indicators assessing the structural 284 relations of a social network (Knoke and Burt 1983; Wasserman and Faust 1994). 285 Results 286 Opportunities and threats to TAeK conservation 11 287 Actors engaged in TAeK conservation in La Plana de Vic reported economic, institutional, and 288 sociocultural opportunities to TAeK conservation (Table 2). The most frequently mentioned 289 opportunities for TAeK conservation were sociocultural opportunities (mentioned 34 times and 290 in ten of the 11 interviews). These opportunities included both strong networks and TAeK cultural 291 and social revalorization (each mentioned in six interviews). For example, A6 reported that “there 292 are many associations, since the late 70’s, and this facilitates the initiation and maintenance of 293 TAeK conservation projects”, thus emphasizing the opportunity that networks offer to the 294 maintenance of TAeK. Regarding the revalorization of TAeK, A2 reported that “now people are 295 eating products and landraces that were not previously valued because they were considered 296 animal feed” and A1 added that “we are starting to re-value the knowledge of these men2, which 297 use to be considered old and ignorant”. Some other sociocultural opportunities for TAeK 298 conservation mentioned by the actors include knowledge transmission activities (mentioned in 299 five interviews) and individual or collective will to maintain TAeK (mentioned in three 300 interviews). For example, A3 mentioned that “to revert this process (TAeK erosion), there is a 301 need for social activities that, from the youngest to the eldest, favor knowledge transmission”. 302 Economic factors were also often mentioned as opportunities for TAeK conservation (mentioned 303 17 times and in six of the 11 interviews). The most commonly mentioned economic opportunity 304 was the appraisal of new markets for landraces and products derived from the use of TAeK 305 (mentioned in six interviews). For example, A4 mentioned that “now we (consumers) are looking 306 for artisanal bread. We want to recover what existed before” and A8 reported that “we are now 307 living a small boom of artisanal cheese making”. Some other interesting economic opportunities 308 mentioned were failures in the industrial agricultural system and the potential that alternative 309 responses to these failures have, such as organic agriculture and neo-rural settlers (each mentioned 310 in two interviews). For instance, A1 said “There are still some small farmers, some of these neo- 2 Note that the actor referred to men when talking about the TAeK holders while several studies have proven that large amounts of TAeK are held by women (Díaz-Reviriego et al. 2016). 12 311 rural people, new generations of organic farmers that are trying to change things… I think that 312 they are the last stronghold, the traditional knowledge “guerilla””. 313 Finally, institutional factors were also mentioned as opportunities for TAeK conservation 314 (mentioned 15 times in eight of the 11 interviews). The most mentioned institutional opportunities 315 for TAeK conservation were the potential inclusion of TAeK in schools and the institutional 316 support of TAeK conservation activities (each mentioned in five interviews). For example, 317 regarding the inclusion of TAeK in schools, A4 mentioned as an opportunity that “there is a youth 318 summer camp and we get funding so that the students come to help inventorying the traditional 319 farm tools and learn about traditional agricultural practices”. As for the institutional support of 320 TAeK conservation, A11 mentioned the fact that “several municipality councils are supporting 321 these initiatives” as an institutional opportunity. 322 Insert Table 2 here 323 In relation to the perceived threats to TAeK conservation in La Plana de Vic, the actors reported 324 economic, institutional, sociocultural, and resource access threats (Table 3). The most frequently 325 identified threats for TAeK conservation were economic (mentioned 46 times and in all 326 interviews). Economic threats to TAeK conservation included global issues such as 327 industrialization (mentioned in seven interviews), globalization, modernization, and agricultural 328 standardization processes (mentioned in four interviews each); but also, local issues such as the 329 high investments needed by TAeK conservation initiatives and the lack of funding (mentioned in 330 five interviews). For example, in relation to industrialization, A8 mentioned that “the region’s 331 economy is oriented to global models. Industry has invaded the agricultural fields and that is 332 surely facilitating TAeK erosion”. Regarding globalization, A2 said “my children communicate 333 more easily with someone from Ireland or China than with their grandmother”. Finally, regarding 334 local economic issues, A9 reported that “my first priority is economic viability, and if on top of 335 that I can recover some landrace, then that’s something I gain”. 13 336 Sociocultural threats were also frequently mentioned in relation to TAeK conservation 337 (mentioned a total of 42 times and in all the interviews). These included aspects such as changes 338 in lifestyle (mentioned in seven interviews), loss of perceived sociocultural TAeK value (six 339 interviews), and inter-generational gaps (four interviews). For example, regarding changes in 340 lifestyle, A10 reported that “farmers nowadays have no idea (about TAeK practices) because they 341 are far away from the plant and the soil, from their vital processes”. Regarding loss of TAeK’s 342 perceived value, A7 said that “the students only see tractors, big machines, big production and 343 money; they don’t see the value of TAeK”. Finally, regarding inter-generational gaps, A1 344 explained that “there was a time when the grandfather drove a wagon and the son drove a tractor 345 and didn’t want anything to do with the wagon”. Another interesting sociocultural threat was 346 personal conflicts between local actors engaged in TAeK conservation (mentioned in three 347 interviews). For instance, A5 and A10 mentioned that personal and ideological conflicts were 348 blocking the functioning of Osona’s Agroecological Farmer’s Assembly and preventing TAeK 349 productive projects from further collaborating. 350 The actors also perceived institutional threats to TAeK conservation (mentioned 23 times and in 351 eight of the 11 interviews). These threats included strict food production regulations to small scale 352 farmers (mentioned in five interviews), lack of TAeK integration in school curricula or lack of 353 farmer’s training (four interviews), lack of institutional support to initiate TAeK conservation 354 initiatives (three interviews), and institutional conflicts that prevent the materialization of TAeK 355 conservation initiatives (two interviews). For example, regarding the strict regulations that are 356 imposed on small or traditional farmers, A8 said that “our parents still remember watching the 357 cheesemaker come down from the mountains or buying milk directly from the farm, but nowadays 358 these practices are hindered by European regulations”, and A10 added that “they (regulators) are 359 controlling the amount of manure you can put in the soil, but if you fertilize with chemical 360 fertilizers, then there is no problem”. Regarding the lack of integration of TAeK in school 361 curricula, A2 mentioned that “students know about machinery and how to maintain it, but don’t 362 know anything about the ancient cereals and how to grow them”. In relation to the lack of 14 363 institutional support, A8 and A9 perceived as a threat the fact that there was little institutional 364 financial support, especially when compared to other countries such as France or even other areas 365 in Spain such as Andalusia. Lastly, in relation to the institutional conflicts, A1, A4 and A6 366 mentioned some frictions between TAeK conservation projects and local institutions or other 367 administrative units that hindered their activity. 368 Finally, the actors also mentioned threats to TAeK conservation related to access to resources 369 (mentioned 21 times and in eight of the 11 interviews). The threats related to access most 370 frequently mentioned were access to land (mentioned in five interviews) and access to landrace 371 seeds and seedlings (three interviews). For example, A5 mentioned that “land ownership is a 372 threat; a lot of people who want to do these projects (agroecological production, including 373 landrace cultivation) do not own the land, and land owners prefer leasing to someone with 374 intensive pork production that will pay more money”. Regarding access to seeds, A10 said that 375 “what we generally see is that although farmers keep one or two landraces, they mostly go and 376 buy seedlings, which are normally hybrid varieties”. 377 Insert Table 3 here 378 Discourses around TAeK conservation 379 From our lexicometric analysis, we found 383 text segments (TS) and five clusters (ordered by 380 clustering moment, from those that first emerged as differentiated to those that were split later by 381 the software) with significantly associated words and attributes that retained 74.41% of the 382 information (see Table 4). We interpret these clusters in terms of different discourses. 383 Insert Table 4 here 384 The first cluster, capturing 26.32% of the information, was associated to the technical agrarian 385 school teacher (A7) and, to lower extent, to the members of the local seed bank (A11). The cluster 386 was also associated to the educative approach to TAeK conservation, and to the words “big”, 387 “hybrid”, “family” and “organic”. This cluster represents a discourse that highlights the 15 388 substitution of family farms by big farms and the replacement of landraces by hybrid varieties as 389 threats to TAeK and organic farming. 390 The second cluster (which captured 20.70% of the information) was strongly associated to the 391 librarian from the local historical society in Taradell (A6) and to the president of the cart recovery 392 association and co-founder of the Ecomuseum (A4). This cluster was also strongly associated to 393 the accumulative approach and to a lower extent to the exhibitive approach. The words 394 significantly associated to this cluster were “to document”, “school”, “fair (i.e., exhibition)”, 395 “network,” and “mill”. Thus, this cluster represents a discourse that highlights the importance of 396 documentation, fairs, school activities, and networks for TAeK conservation. 397 The third cluster, capturing 13.33% of the information, was strongly associated to the initiator of 398 the regional historical society (A3) and to a lower extent to the president of the cart recovery 399 association (A4). It was also associated (although not very strongly) to both the accumulative and 400 exhibitive approaches. A very diverse group of words including “work”, “serve” (i.e., to be 401 useful), “bread”, “song”, “horse”, “legend”, “economic”, “mills”, “potato”, “remedy”, “historic” 402 and “lose” were associated to this cluster. This cluster represents a discourse that highlights the 403 idea that TAeK can be better preserved by its use. It also highlights the diversity of elements 404 within TAeK, as it includes varied elements such as horse carts, legends, bread making, songs, 405 medicinal remedies or cultivated plants. 406 The fourth cluster (which captured 15.44% of the information) was strongly associated to the 407 agroecological shepherd and cheese maker (A8), but also to the veterinarian (linked to the APA- 408 Osona, A5), the members of the local seed bank (A11), and the local chef that is revitalizing 409 landrace-based cuisine (A2). It was also associated, although not very strongly, to the processing 410 approach. The words “producer”, “France”, “tradition”, “to worry”, “industrialize”, “region”, 411 “Catalonia”, and “market” were associated to this cluster. This cluster represents a discourse that 412 highlights the differences between countries and regions regarding industrialization and market 413 regulations for traditional producers, which are threatening the revitalization of TAeK. 16 414 Finally, the fifth cluster (which captured 24.21% of the information) was strongly associated to 415 the historical agroecological farmer (A10) and the productive approach. The words associated to 416 this cluster included “manure”, “humidity”, “sheep”, “throw”, and “organic matter”. This cluster 417 represents a discourse highlighting TAeK’s productive dimension, focusing on issues of manure 418 regulations (very relevant in the area due to the pork industry manure legislation) and how they 419 can threaten traditional soil maintenance practices. 420 The TAeK conservation network 421 Results from the social network analysis suggest that in La Plana de Vic there is a network of 422 TAeK conservation projects composed by 28 nodes (projects) and 152 edges (connections). 423 The TAeK conservation projects identified were evenly distributed throughout the study area (see 424 Table 5 and Figure 2). Some projects had overlapping objectives and approaches (e.g., most 425 museums that had primarily an exhibitive approach to TAeK conservation had also some 426 educative goals). However, when examining their main approach, we found that many projects 427 (10/28) were primarily exhibitive, as they collected TAeK-related artifacts, documents or 428 practices to exhibit them. These projects were mainly museums (including several exhibition 429 centers associated by means of the Ecomuseum consortium). One fourth of the projects (7/28) 430 were productive projects, as they cultivated landraces and/or used some type of TAeK in their 431 farm. These projects were mainly agroecological farms connected through the APA-Osona. Some 432 projects (5/28) were accumulative, as they collected TAeK-related documents (including oral, 433 photographic and written documents) and stored them in archives. These projects were mainly 434 local historical societies or associations led or co-led by local volunteers. Few projects (3/28) 435 were processing projects which used TAeK in the transformation of food (e.g., cheese) or other 436 agricultural products (e.g., basketry). Finally, we also found few educative projects (3/28), or 437 projects that included some aspects of TAeK in their courses and curricula. 438 Insert Table 5 and Figure 2 here 17 439 The network of TAeK conservation projects in La Plana de Vic has a relatively high density 440 (Density = 0.40212), which means that there are many connections between the different projects. 441 The visual analysis suggests that exhibitive and educative projects are at the center of the network, 442 accumulating more and stronger connections, while productive, processing and accumulative 443 projects are at the periphery, having less and weaker connections in the network (see Figure 3). 444 Insert Figure 3 here 445 The degree centrality measure does not vary much among projects and is relatively low 446 (maximum DC’ of any node is 0.075, in a 0-1 scale, see Table 6), meaning that no single project 447 has substantially more or stronger connections than the other projects. The projects with higher 448 degree centrality, or higher and stronger direct contact with other projects, were the basketry 449 museum (DC’= 0.075), the archaeological museum in Tona (DC’= 0.065), and the region’s 450 university (DC’= 0.062). Differently, the betweeness centrality measure varies greatly between 451 projects (from 0.000 to 0.846 in a 0-1 scale), meaning that there are projects with substantially 452 higher brokering capacity than others. The project with highest betweenness centrality was the 453 basketry museum (BC’=0.846). Other projects with relatively high betweenness centrality were 454 the natural history museum (BC’=0.284) and the cart/wagon museum (BC’=0.274). 455 Exhibitive and accumulative projects were among those with higher degree and higher 456 betweeness centrality. For example, the regional historical society in Folgueroles had relatively 457 high degree centrality (DC’=0.058, BC’=0.173) and the local historical society in Taradell had 458 relatively high betweenness centrality (DC’=0.032, BC’=0.253). Differently, the productive and 459 processing projects had generally very low degree and betweenness centrality, except for the 460 agroecological farm in Taradell (DC’= 0.048, BC’=0.129). 461 Insert Table 6 here 462 Discussion 18 463 The diversity of discourses local actors’ had around TAeK conservation and the connectedness 464 of TAeK conservation projects in the study area can contribute to understand 1) who engages in 465 TAeK conservation and what motivates/hinders this engagement and 2) how the different 466 approaches to TAeK conservation align with resistance movements against industrialized agri- 467 food systems. 468 What is in it for you? Who and why participates in TAeK conservation 469 From our lexicometric and social network analyses, we found that there are differentiated 470 discourses around TAeK conservation, which reflect diverse motivations to participate in these 471 efforts. However, we also found that these differences do not prevent the existence of a relatively 472 tight network of TAeK conservation projects in La Plana de Vic. 473 Actors and projects following exhibitive and accumulative approaches to TAeK conservation 474 were linked to a discourse that emphasized the importance of documenting and exhibiting TAeK 475 through school activities and fairs. These type of projects were also central in the network and 476 had high brokering capacity (with information mainly flowing through them). Differently, actors 477 and projects following productive and processing approaches to TAeK conservation, were less 478 central in the network and linked to a discourse centered on the economic and institutional threats 479 to TAeK. These actors and projects emphasized the importance of increasing market opportunities 480 for TAeK-based products, re-thinking food and environmental regulations, and increasing 481 institutional support. 482 Our results highlight the existence of two main overarching categories or approaches to TAeK 483 conservation. On the one hand, there are projects and actors that have a more passive approach to 484 TAeK conservation since they consider TAeK an object of study or collection, an element of the 485 past productive systems rather than an active element for transformation. Ex-situ TAeK 486 conservation projects (i.e., exhibitive and accumulative projects) seem to align more with this 487 approach. On the other hand, there are projects and actors with a more active approach to TAeK 488 conservation that view TAeK as a key element to the future transformation of farming systems. 19 489 In-situ TAeK conservation projects (i.e., productive and processing projects) seem to align more 490 with this approach. 491 Despite these different approaches and discourses, most projects seem to have collaborated one 492 with another, although with a varying degree of frequency. Also, there seems to be a consensus 493 among local actors about the importance of local networks as an opportunity for TAeK 494 conservation. The level of connection between projects suggests that, overall, the TAeK 495 conservation network of the area is strong. Moreover, the many connections between the projects 496 guarantee access to information and the establishment of trust relations between projects, with 497 potential positive implications for TAeK conservation (Calvet-Mir et al. 2015). Our results 498 contrast with results from studies focusing on networks of individuals exchanging seed and 499 TAeK, that have shown a more fragmented and less dense network (Calvet-Mir et al. 2012; Reyes- 500 García et al. 2013), arguably because the establishment of trust relations and the collaboration 501 between projects is easier than the collaboration between individual actors and because having a 502 common final goal (protect, maintain and revitalize TAeK), enhances inter-project relationships 503 (Calvet-Mir et al. 2015). 504 Our results also highlight three main issues in relation to TAeK conservation. First, they bring 505 into attention that TAeK conservation is approached in many different ways, with initiatives that 506 can range from documenting and exhibiting TAeK (often out of its original context), to those that 507 aim at the reproduction of TAeK based practices in the field. The range of actions for TAeK 508 conservation found in our study site are in line with the diversity of actions described by other 509 authors in the field of indigenous and local knowledge conservation (McCarter et al. 2014; Tang 510 and Gavin 2016). For example, these authors have reported many examples of community-based 511 programs that focus on reproducing traditional medicinal knowledge by building community 512 medicinal plant gardens. These programs resemble efforts by the seed bank in La Plana de Vic, 513 which aim to reproduce TAeK by building community gardens and selecting some gardeners as 514 “seed guardians”. In the same line, other authors such as Lakshmi Poorna, Mymoon, and 515 Hariharan (2014) have reported documentation initiatives comparable to the ones initiated by the 20 516 museums and historical societies in La Plana de Vic. Indeed, we argue that the diversity of 517 projects probably responds to the diversity of factors challenging traditional knowledge 518 maintenance, which require diversified responses suitable for each context and moment (Benyei 519 et al. 2019). 520 Second, given that ex-situ or passive projects (and especially the basketry museum in Tona) have 521 a higher brokering capacity in the studied network than other types of projects, and considering 522 that previous research has demonstrated that these types of initiatives tend to be less inclusive 523 than in-situ initiatives (Benyei et al. 2019), the results presented here raise concerns regarding the 524 possible exclusion of the active or transformative views of the in-situ approaches when planning 525 TAeK conservation actions in the area. Thus, even though the density of the TAeK conservation 526 network is high, the differences in betweenness centrality among projects highlight the need for 527 actions that encourage the inclusion of all actors’ views as a previous and necessary step for the 528 development of collective actions. One possible line of work would be to try to address the 529 personal and institutional conflicts that were mentioned by the actors as threats to TAeK 530 conservation. This is especially relevant considering that the productive projects are normally 531 unipersonal projects with little or no institutional support, and thus depend on the capacity of an 532 individual to stay connected with the rest of projects. Another line of work would be to promote 533 online communities of TAeK conservation agents, in which actors can interact and support each 534 other while contributing to preserving TAeK as a digital commons (for instance projects similar 535 to the CONECT-e project, Calvet-Mir et al. 2018). 536 Finally, our results highlight that some actors and projects have a vision of TAeK as an element 537 with strong political and economic dimensions and with an impact in their livelihoods, whereas 538 other actors confine it to the anecdotic or folkloric-cultural domains. In this line, we also found 539 that, while most actors mentioned economic threats to TAeK conservation (such as agricultural 540 industrialization), not so many actors mentioned economic opportunities. Indeed, most actors 541 focused on how sociocultural changes could enhance TAeK conservation rather than on how 542 transforming the mainstream economic and political model could enhance TAeK conservation. 21 543 Thus, even if agroecological transition movements consider TAeK as a key transformative 544 element that can be mobilized in response to mainstream farming models (Méndez et al. 2013; 545 Bonanno and Wolf 2017), our findings suggest that some TAeK conservation projects and actors 546 might not consider agroecological transitions as key to the conservation and revitalization of 547 TAeK. In other words, TAeK conservation actors and projects are not necessarily politicized 548 around TAeK conservation since engaging in TAeK conservation is not necessarily motivated by 549 the idea of resistance (i.e., to prevent or reverse social, cultural, or economic structural conditions 550 through collective action). 551 Resistances to TAeK erosion for an agroecological transition 552 Results from the grounded theory analysis suggest that many actors in La Plana de Vic referred 553 to the agricultural industrialization and globalization processes as key threats to TAeK 554 conservation. Most actors holding this position were related to processing or productive 555 agroecological projects (aligned with the active/transformative vision of TAeK conservation), but 556 some of them were also linked to accumulative, educative, or exhibitive projects. This result 557 suggests that many of the actors engaging with TAeK conservation in our study area have become 558 aware of the threats that the agro-industrial system in general and the pork farming industry in 559 particular represent, not only to traditional farming systems but also to the overall maintenance 560 of environmentally and socioeconomically sustainable territories. Thus, even TAeK conservation 561 initiatives that do not politicize around TAeK conservation, that are not working in the direction 562 of an agroecological transition, and that are not linked to the agroecology movement can 563 potentially become aligned with the resistance movement confronting industrialized food 564 systems. Although our results should be taken with caution in regards to the extent to which TAeK 565 conservation projects can actually join in such resistances, as being aware of the threats of agro- 566 industrial farming does not necessarily imply taking action against it, they are in line with trends 567 observed in the context of urban farming in Barcelona (Calvet-Mir and March 2017) and seem to 568 be a result of the actors’ increasing awareness regarding the multidimensional threats the 569 industrialized food system poses to their activity (Bonanno and Wolf 2017). In that sense, since 22 570 revitalizing TAeK can secure a knowledge base that gives answers to the environmental, 571 economic, and sociocultural challenges that the agroecological transition faces (Mier y Terán 572 Giménez Cacho et al. 2018), and since the threats that TAeK conservation faces are tightly 573 connected to those challenging an agroecological food system (Altieri, Funes-Monzote, and 574 Petersen 2012; Altieri and Toledo 2011; Gliessman 2013; Guzmán et al. 2013; Koohafkan and 575 Altieri 2011; Wezel et al. 2009), the agroecology movement could possibly find an ally in the 576 resistance movement to TAeK erosion in La Plana de Vic, which could potentially lead to the 577 generation of synergies and to common collective action. However, these potential alliances are 578 hindered by the previously mentioned marginality of the TAeK conservation projects more 579 closely linked to the resistance movement against industrialized food systems in the study area. 580 Conclusion 581 In this work we have explored the social network and discourses around TAeK conservation in 582 an area in which TAeK has suffered a process of rapid erosion, partially due to the increasing 583 predominance of an industrialized food system. We withdraw two main conclusions from our 584 results. Fist, despite the diversity of TAeK conservation projects, representing two contrasting 585 approaches to TAeK conservation (one more active that sees TAeK as an element for 586 transformation, and one more passive that sees TAeK as a folkloric element of the past), TAeK 587 conservation projects are tightly connected and different actors’ discourses are intertwined. This 588 highlights their complementarity, which altogether suggests a potential to generate alliances 589 between TAeK conservation efforts. Second, independently of their approach, most actors 590 engaging in TAeK conservation are aware of the multiple threats that industrialized farming poses 591 on both the conservation of TAeK and the sustainability of their territory. This suggests potential 592 parallelisms between resistances to TAeK erosion and resistances to industrial agri-food systems, 593 which leads us to conclude that there might be a ground for common resistance and collective 594 action that could be mobilized to counterweight the loss of TAeK, a key element in agroecological 595 transitions that resist and oppose the predominant industrial food system. 23 596 Acknowledgements 597 We would like to thank all the people in La Plana de Vic that dedicates so much care, time and 598 energy to halt TAeK erosion in their territory. 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Bellon, T. Doré, C. Francis, D. Vallod, and C. David. 2009. Agroecology as a 802 science , a movement and a practice . A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development 803 29. EDP Sciences: 503–515. doi:10.1051/agro/2009004. 804 Figure captions 805 Figure 1. Geographical location of the study area. 806 Figure 2. Detailed map of the study area. The colored dots are the TAeK conservation projects 807 and interviewed stakeholders according to their approach (blue for accumulative, purple for 808 exhibitive, green for productive, orange for processing, and red for educative). 809 Figure 3. Network of TAeK conservation projects in the study area. Node size represents degree 810 centrality. 811 Table headings 812 Table 1. Local actors interviewed in the study area 813 Table 2. Opportunities to TAeK conservation that emerged from the analysis of the in-depth 814 interviews (n=11) 815 Table 3. Threats to TAeK conservation that emerged from the analysis of the in-depth interviews 816 (n=11) 32 817 Table 4. Results from the lexicometric cluster analysis of our interviews. For each cluster, the 818 total word count (n) and the Chi² value 819 Table 5. TAeK conservation projects in the study area 820 Table 6. Results from the social network analysis. Degree and betweenness centrality of the 821 projects in the study areas’ TAeK conservation network 822 33