From Sustainable Agroecosystems to Sustainable Food Systems - Agroecology: The Ecology of Sustainable Food Systems - page 344

FIGURE 24.3 Consumer choices at the marketplace. Food prices and labels tend to hide rather than to reveal the actual
consequences of food consumption decisions. (Photo by Eric Engles. )

Revolution scientists “solved” the problem of producing
food for a rapidly growing world population. In the pro-
cess, however, they created and exacerbated a host of other
problems, including dependence on energy-intensive fer-
tilizers and polluting pesticides, and more-rapid degrada-
tion of the soil resource around the world. Furthermore,
the underlying problems — rapid population growth and
its social causes, unequal distribution of food and agricul-
tural resources — were hidden and not addressed.
This example demonstrates that technology may be
an aid in solving a problem, but it can never be the entire
solution. Social problems such as the unsustainability of
our food systems always have deeper causes than can be
addressed by technological innovation alone.
Today, biotechnology — especially the practice of DNA
transfer from one unrelated organism to another — is being
held out as the technological savior for problems in agricul-
ture. We cannot let the promises of transgenic manipulation
distract us from efforts to transform agriculture in ways that
address the underlying causes of unsustainability or blind us
to the problem of developing technologies that are out of
reach of most of the small and resource-limited farmers of
the world. Nor can we ignore the environmental and health
risks of biotechnology discussed in Chapter 14. With so many
unknowns, it would seem that the precautionary rule should
apply, and that all transgenic applications be subject to a
multifaceted sustainability analysis before use.

B EYOND E COLOGICAL S USTAINABILITY

Although we must define sustainability primarily in eco-
logical terms, it is also true that ecological sustainability
cannot come about in a social and economic context that
does not support it. Even though agroecosystems function
ecologically, they are manipulated to a high degree by
humans. Because of this human impact, the ecological
characteristics of an agroecosystem are intimately con-
nected to human social and economic systems. Some of
these connections, such as the influence of economic
forces on agriculture, have just been discussed.
Recognizing the influence of social, economic, cultural,
and political factors on agriculture, we must eventually shift
our focus from the sustainability of agroecosystems to the
sustainability of our food systems . Food systems have a
global breadth and comprise all aspects of food produc-
tion, distribution, and consumption. They include the eco-
nomic relationships among landowners and farmworkers,
farmers and food consumers, citizens of developed coun-
tries and citizens of developing countries; the political
systems that control these relationships; the social struc-
tures that influence how people relate to food production
and consumption; and the cultural systems that influence
what people believe and value. For food systems to be
sustainable, all of their human aspects must support the
sustainability of their ecological aspects.