Schola Campesina is an agroecology school that facilitates the sharing of information on agroecology and global governance processes among food producers' organizations, advocating for a food sovereignty agenda. Schola Campesina aims to involve food producers' organizations in these processes.
As an intern, I focused on the topic of the digitalization of agriculture from a food sovereignty perspective. I first worked on Schola Campesina's contribution to the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples' Mechanism's Working Group on Data's response to the proposed draft scope of the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition's e-consultation on the topic of "Data collection and analysis tools" for food security and nutrition. From this process, Schola Campesina recompiled and expanded their contribution to the Working Group as a working paper to be disseminated among food producers' organizations. For the working paper, I received a co-author credit.
Both projects allowed me to develop my research and writing skills. Multiple drafts of the different projects encouraged the appropriate use of synthesis and summary in my writing. The subject matter allowed me to deepen my knowledge of digitalization in agriculture and familiarize myself with the different organizations and perspectives involved in global governance processes surrounding this topic. In addition to the practical skills I gained, the content I absorbed connected to learning objectives and themes across the spectrum of courses offered in the Food Studies program, especially as it relates to the environmental impact of the digitalization of agriculture; the systemic nature of corporate influence across the food system; and the challenges and opportunities that exist for alternative food networks in the context of digitalization.
--- Peter Hill