ABSTRACT

The Laboratorios para la Vida action research team in Chiapas, Mexico trains educators to use school gardens and local food systems as venues for experiential learning. In many ways, foodways can be a more straightforward starting-off point from which to approach many garden programme topics. The Food and Agriculture Organisation of United Nations as well as many governments and civil society organizations now recognize agroecology as a necessary strategy for feeding the world’s population while caring for the Earth. Interest in garden-based education is growing, and diverse initiatives are emerging throughout Latin America and the Caribbean. They vary widely in their objectives, but the majority incorporate elements of agroecology and healthy eating. Teachers face a host of hurdles to successful garden programmes. These include: high teacher turnover, especially at rural schools; lack of space and schoolyards that are increasingly under pavement; the difficulty of matching garden growth with the curriculum calendar established at the national level.