Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Agricultural Research
by those who control the processing, distribution, and
marketing channels. Changes in the food system, as
discussed in Chapter 23, begin with the development of
food networks that link farmers and consumers, connect
food production and environmental services, and create
landscapes that promote healthy environments and healthy
communities.
Agricultural research institutions and other sites involved
in expanding agricultural knowledge can thwart change
or support it. In order to move agriculture towards
sustainability, research needs to be more anticipatory,
allowing us to analyze both the immediate and the future
ecological and social impacts of agriculture so that we can
identify the key points in the systems on which to focus
the search for alternatives or solutions to problems. In
addition, research must promote long-term, systems-level
research at multiple scales; it must better integrate the
natural and social sciences; and it must use sustainability
analysis as its guiding principle (Robertson et al., 2004).
By following these principles — and understanding the
ecological processes in sustainable agriculture — we can
enter a new era in agricultural research.
Consumer Behavior
The decisions that consumers make about what to eat and
where to buy it are a crucial factor influencing the nature
of the food system. The more aware that consumers
become of what's at stake, the more likely they are to
support the kinds of alternative food systems outlined in
Chapter 23. As consumers become knowledgeable about
who grows their food, how, and where, they will make
different choices.
Agricultural Education
Food Policy
Introducing agroecology into agricultural curricula can be
a challenge for many conventional, discipline-oriented,
reductionist educators, who will have to learn how to deal
with whole systems, rather than the component parts, and
ask questions that go beyond normal experimental design
for answers (Francis et al., 2003). Agroecological curric-
ula are interdisciplinary, integrate the numerous and
complex elements of food systems, focus on understand-
ing the structures and functions of systems, and include
the goals of food security and food equity. Agricultural
education must shift its emphasis from teaching how to
maximize single crop production in an environment of
unlimited fossil fuels to fostering an understanding of food
systems in all their complexity. Experiential learning in
farming communities is another essential component of
agroecological education. Students educated with such
curricula will become agents of change.
Incentive-based policies that encourage desirable prac-
tices are much more positive than penalties or taxes for
nonsustainable farming practices, although a combination
of both may be needed in order to hasten the change
process. Policy should be guided by a vivid picture of
what sustainable food systems will look like in the future,
rather than trying to hold on to what has not worked in
the past.
Overall, we must remember that agricultural sys-
tems are a result of the coevolution that occurs between
culture and environment, and that humans have the abil-
ity to direct that coevolution. A sustainable agriculture
values the human as well as the ecological components
of food production, and recognizes their linkages and
interdependencies.
Farmer Practice
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
Change must also occur on the ground. Farmers making
the transition to more sustainable practices, and farmers
in traditional farming communities in developing coun-
tries fighting to preserve their ways of life, are leading the
way in forging changes in agriculture. The more examples
we have of sustainable, economically viable farming, the
more likely the remaining parts of food production sys-
tems will follow their lead.
1.
What are some examples of incentive-based
policies that would encourage farmers to tran-
sition to sustainable farming practices?
2.
How do the ecological and social components
of agroecosystems change as we expand the
scale of analysis from the farm, to the local
community, to the region, to the nation, and
ultimately, to the entire earth?
3.
How are many economic support programs and
pricing policies — originally designed to help
agriculture — now hindering the development
of sustainable agriculture?
The Food System
Each farm in the food system can be a focal point for
changing how we do agriculture, but change must also
occur in the global system within which agriculture is now
practiced. As we have seen, it is all too easy for individual,
piecemeal changes in practice to be captured and co-opted
4.
What is your vision of an agroecosystem that
can best integrate all of the components of
sustainability we have been discussing?
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