Self-Reliance and Land-Grant Universities: An Exploration of the Impacts of USAID Policy on Agroecological Possibilities

For land-grant universities (LGUs) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), achieving food security is a longstanding and shared priority. International agricultural development is entangled in competing imaginaries and ideological underpinnings. The coordinated social movements of food sovereignty and agroecology seek to transform local and global food systems away from the dominant neoliberal paradigm. Using localized and participatory practices, agroecology seeks to develop self-reliant communities towards more just and equitable food systems. Similarly, the current policy framework of USAID advances "The Journey to Self-Reliance" (J2SR). Yet the discourse of self-reliance reflects varied discursive meanings. The first is an alternative imaginary to develop increased community autonomy, build social support structures, and protect ecologies. The second reflects neoliberal ideology articulating notions of individual responsibility and private sector leadership. Using Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) and focus groups, this research investigated how USAID's J2SR discourse is represented, how it affects agroecological opportunities, and subsequently the impact on land-grant university food security praxis. Analytically, CDA foregrounds discursive power by investigating how texts, interpretation, and action operate as a system to maintain or contest unequal power relations. I employed focus groups with land-grant international development scholar-practitioners as a form of critical praxis. My research illustrates how USAID's self-reliance definition reproduces neoliberalism as a dominant political-economic orientation through anti-welfare rhetoric and private sector leadership. Alongside this, the J2SR discourse also actively promotes local participation and leadership. Subsequently, I contend, the discourse presents opportunities for scientific agroecology but also limits agroecology's transformative potential. A critical finding is that among sampled land grant actors, agroecology reflects epistemic complexity and competing imaginaries. Moreover, I illustrate how participants' responses to the policy corpus largely accept the embedded neoliberal ideology, while also demonstrating how some actors can use creativity to directly fund local research institutions. I contend that the creative modification observed among these actors represents the potential for land grant actors to serve as change agents and to support the agroecology movement. This research contributes to understanding how USAID frames self-reliance within their policy and where opportunities lie to challenge power structures and advance justice within international agricultural development.