Ecological community: Heterarchical organization in a contemporary agri-food system in Northern Andes

Andean-based archeological evidence suggests the existence of heterarchical pre-Columbian societies organized as egalitarian and resource-specialized communities with the capacity to create and maintain intensive productive systems. Using Stark's analytical framework, we explore the current heterarchical organization of the indigenous Ecuadorian community of Caliata in the context of local cosmovision, identity, and customary institutions. Caliata's heterarchy is expressed by distributed intelligence through diverse and specialized organizational units that are in constant negotiation in order to reach consensus and to procure optimal responses to uncertainty. The organizational factors at play in mobilizing agri-food systems are key to understanding ancient technologies currently used to support sustainable food security.