Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
more agroecological farming. The risk implications of agroecology in
industrialized countries have not received the scholarly attention they
deserve. Some agroecological partnerships do include discussions of risk,
but very few treat it comprehensively. In the developing world, agroeco-
logical strategies help reduce the risk to farmers by mimicking natural
ecosystems, by diversifying in-field cropping patterns or, incorporating
animals into farming systems, to help farmers hedge their bets against
uncertainties such as weather and pest pressures.
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In industrial agricul-
ture, the extra labor and reductions of efficiencies of scale would put
such an approach at a competitive disadvantage.
Industrial monocultures integrate efficiently into economic markets,
but expose growers to more agronomic risk because of their ecological
instability. This production system generally increases the per acre pro-
duction of one crop, but the resulting farming system is inherently brittle
and unstable, depending on agrochemical inputs to remain productive.
Specialty-crop farming and its distribution systems concentrate risks on
growers because they must maintain a certain flow of marketable crops
each year. The logic of monoculture thwarts serious consideration
of farming systems that more fully mimic natural ecosystems.
Consequently, growers here pursue input optimization for pollution pre-
vention and cost savings.
Risk has economic and agroecological dimensions, but it also has indi-
vidual and social implications. Many agroecological partnerships make
reference to the threat of regulations to persuade growers that it is
to their advantage to try new practices now, before the state cancels pes-
ticide regulations or requires growers to monitor the impact of their
practices on streams. Some partnerships encourage growers to perceive a
more comprehensive set of risks associated with agrochemical use.
Figure 5.5 represents the conventional wisdom that the greatest risk a
grower faces is crop loss, and that expert knowledge, embodied in PCAs
and Farm Advisors, is essential to managing it. Partnerships communi-
cate an expanded array of risks to growers (figure 5.6). Crop loss and
expert knowledge are still a part of the grower's consideration, but so are
other risks posed by agrochemical use. Partnerships bundle these risks
together and present them to growers so that they can perceive the full
degree of risk posed by agrochemical use, and further enroll them in the
goals of the partnerships.
