Editing Landless Workers' Movement (section)

==Sustainable agriculture==
The increased importance of the technicians and experts within the MST has led some sections of the movement to strive to develop and diffuse technology suitable for a model of [[sustainable agriculture]] on the land the families farm.<ref>Ana Delgado Alemán, "Towards Inclusive Environmental Governance: a Study of the Expert-Lay Interplay in a Brazilian Social Movement". Doctoral Thesis, the University of Bergen, 2009, available at [https://bora.uib.no/handle/1956/3838] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120425230612/https://bora.uib.no/handle/1956/3838|date=2012-04-25}}. Accessed November the 16th. 2011</ref> Such self-developed technology is seen as a way to turn small producers from consumers into producers of technologies,<ref>Michel P. Pimbert, ed ''L'Avenir de la alimentation et des petits producteurs'', Reclaiming Diversity and Citizenship electronic conference, 2005, {{ISBN|978-1-84369-589-9}}, page 33</ref> - and therefore as a hedge against small producers' dependence on chemical inputs and single-crop price fluctuations<ref>Ivette Perfecto, John H. Vandermeer, Angus Lindsay Wright: ''Nature's matrix: linking agriculture, conservation and food sovereignty''. London: Earthscan, 2009, {{ISBN|978-1-84407-782-3}}, page 115</ref> and a way to preserving natural resources.<ref>Márcio Rosa D'Avila, ''Zur Einsatzmögilichkeit nichtkonventioneller Bauweisen in genosseschaftiliche organisierten sozialen Wohnungsbau für Rio Grande do Sul, Brasilien''. Kassel University Press, 2006, {{ISBN|978-3-89958-245-1}}, page 19</ref> These efforts are gaining in importance as more movement families gain access to the land. For example, the Chico Mendes Center for Agroecology, founded May 15, 2004 in [[Ponta Grossa]], [[Paraná (state)|Paraná]], Brazil on land formerly used by the [[Monsanto Company]] to grow [[genetically modified organisms|genetically modified]] crops, intends to produce [[organic farming|organic]], native [[seed]] to distribute through MST. Various other experiments in [[reforestation]], taming of native species{{clarify|date=July 2017}} and medicinal uses of plans have been carried out in MST settlements.<ref>Ricardo Ribeiro Rodrigues, Sebastião Venâncio Martins, ''High diversity forest restoration in degraded areas: methods and projects in Brazil''. New York: Nova Science Publishers, 2007, {{ISBN|978-1-60021-421-9}}, page 218</ref> The MST is the largest producer of organic rice in Latin America.<ref>[https://mronline.org/2023/11/15/1-million-members-100-million-trees-how-brazils-socialist-farmers-are-fighting-big-ag/ 1 Million Members, 100 Million Trees: How Brazil’s Socialist Farmers Are Fighting Big Ag], ''Monthly Review'', 15 November 2023</ref>

In 2005, the MST partnered with the federal government of [[Venezuela]], and the state government of Paraná, the [[Federal University of Paraná]] (UFPR), and the [[Via Campesina|International Via Campesina]], an organization that brings together movements involved in the struggle for land from all over the world, to establish the Latin American School of Agroecology. The school, located in an MST agrarian reform project known as the Contestado settlement, signed a protocol of intentions in January{{when|date=July 2017}} during the fifth [[World Social Forum]].<ref>Ian Scoones, "Mobilizing Against GM Crops in India, South Africa and Brazil". ''Journal of Agrarian Change'', Vol 8. issue 2-3, April 2008.</ref>