Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Agroecology helps us recognize that unintended environmental
consequences of these technologies are, from a systems perspective,
entirely predictable. The monocultures which dominate American agri-
culture are economically rational but ecologically irrational. The
economic efficiencies of labor saving technologies such as tractors and
agrochemicals thwart the polycropping and bio-diversification strategies
of agroecology more common in the developing world. Any effort to
deploy agroecology as an environmental problem-solving strategy in the
United States must confront the economic rationality of monoculture.
Genuine progress can be made, however, using the five strategies
described in chapter 5, even within the framework of economic mono-
culture. The agroecological initiatives this topic describes have occurred
despite the counter-incentives of the dominant institutions in American
agriculture.
Agroecology cannot be transferred as a technological package. It can
only be facilitated by social learning. It is inherently more knowledge
intensive than conventional approaches to agricultural production. As
chapter 5 demonstrated, monitoring data must feed integrated farm
management decisions so that growers can realized the benefits from
managing systems interactions. The agroecological partnerships
described in this topic manifest a critique of conventional “Transfer of
Technology” extension practice and the simplistic and hegemonic
assumptions it contains. Agroecology in the United States relies upon the
expertise of scientists, but agroecological partnerships have had to work
very hard to secure their participation in networks. The dominant incen-
tives in agricultural science do not reward extensionists or research
scientists for contributing to applied projects such as partnerships.
The Significance of the Agroecological Partnership Model
The narratives and case study in this topic demonstrate that voluntary
change in agriculture is possible—indeed, that it may be the only viable
strategy for improving environmental stewardship in US agriculture.
Environmental NGOs and environmental protection agencies have con-
cluded that conventional regulatory strategies alone are unlikely to make
authentic progress. Restricting the use of toxic or hazardous pesticides is
one necessary tactic of a coordinated strategy, but this by itself will not
