The Need for Sustainable Food Production Systems - Agroecology: The Ecology of Sustainable Food Systems - page 20

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Sustainable Table
www.sustainabletable.org
Sustainable Table is a consumer campaign
developed by the Global Resource Action
Center for the Environment.

1. How does the holistic approach of agroecology

allow for the integration of the three most
important components of sustainability: eco-
logical soundness, economic viability, and
social equity?

Worldwatch Institute
www.worldwatch.org
A nonprofit public policy research organization
dedicated to informing policy makers and
the public about emerging global problems
and trends, and the complex links between
the world economy and its environmental
support systems. Food and farming are key
support systems they monitor.

2. Why has it been so difficult for humans to see

that much of the environmental degradation
caused by conventional agriculture is a conse-
quence of the lack of an ecological approach to
agriculture?

3. What common ground is there between agron-

omy and ecology with respect to sustainable
agriculture?

4. What are the issues of greatest importance that

threaten the sustainability of agriculture in the
town or region in which you live?

RECOMMENDED READING

Altieri, M.A. 1995. Agroecology: The Science of Sustainable
Agriculture . 3rd ed. Boulder, CO: Westview Press. An
important pioneering work on the need for sustainability
and a review of the kinds of agroecosystems that will
help lead us toward it.
Brown, L. 2001. Feeding everyone well. Eco-Economy: Building
an Economy for the Earth. New York and London:
W.W. Norton & Co, 145-168. An in-depth analysis of
the crises facing food production systems and the kinds
of strategies needed to eradicate hunger and achieve
food security.
Clements, D., and A. Shrestha (eds.) 2004. New Dimensions in
Agroecology. New York: Food Products Press. An
important collection of contributions from prominent
agroecologists that covers the state of the art in agro-
ecological research, showing the progress that has been
made over the last decade in scientific thinking and
research in agroecology.
Douglass, G.K., (ed.) 1984. Agricultural Sustainability in a
Changing World Order . Boulder, Colorado: Westview
Press. Proceedings of a landmark symposium that
helped define the trajectory for future work on the inter-
disciplinary nature of agricultural sustainability.
Freyfogle, Eric T., (ed.) 2001. The New Agrarianism: Land,
Culture, and the Community of Life. Washington, D.C.:
Island Press. An exciting collection of essays and writ-
ing that paint a hopeful vision for reestablishing a new
relationship between humans, their food, and the com-
munities in which they live.
Gliessman, S.R., (ed.) 1990. Agroecology: Researching the Eco-
logical Basis for Sustainable Agriculture . Ecological
Studies Series #78. New York: Springer-Verlag. An
excellent overview of what research is needed to identify
the ecological basis for sustainable agroecosystems.
Halweil, B. 2004. Eat Here: Reclaiming Homegrown Pleasures
in a Global Supermarket. Washington, D.C.: World-
watch Institute. An engaging analysis of the current
crisis in farm and food systems, accompanied by a
convincing argument for reconnecting what we eat with
how and where food is grown.

INTERNET RESOURCES

Agroecology
www.agroecology.org
A primary site for information, concepts, and
case studies in the field of agroecology.

Earth Policy Institute
www.earth-policy.org
Led by the well-known eco-economist Lester
Brown, this organization is dedicated to
providing a vision of an eco-economy and a
roadmap on how to get there. The website
provides information on major milestones
and setbacks in building a sustainable society.

Food and Agriculture Organization of the United
Nations
www.fao.org

Food First: Institute for Food and Development
Policy
www.foodfirst.org
Food First is a nonprofit think-tank and “educa-
tion-for-action center” focused on revealing
and changing the root causes of hunger and
poverty around the world.

Pesticide Action Network International
www.pan-international.org
Pesticide Action Network (PAN) is a network
of over 600 participating nongovernmental
organizations, institutions and individuals in
over 90 countries working to replace the use
of hazardous pesticides with ecologically
sound alternatives.