Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Although she did not use the word “ecology,” she advocated an
approach consistent with its principles.
Silent Spring
inspired many
students of the 1960s and the 1970s—such as Pat Weddle—to put eco-
logical concepts into action. Some of those students became scholars
who developed applied sub-disciplines of ecology, such as agroecology
and conservation biology, to redress environmental problems. Both of
these sub-disciplines make implicit ethical claims on the organization of
society according to ecological principles.
Agroecology prescribes agricultural and ecosystem management strate-
gies based on the discipline of ecology, and, as Stephen Gliessman argues,
it marks a convergence between the agricultural and ecological
sciences.
32
Like conservation biology, agroecology is a value-laden
science that proposes ecologically informed concepts for solving
socio-environmental problems, meaning they both assume the merit of
environmental resource conservation.
33
Agroecology asserts that a farm
should be managed as a functional system, and that wise farming deci-
sions must be guided by an understanding of the structure and function
of natural ecosystems. It carries with it an explicit criticism of reduction-
ism, or scientific perspectives that pay attention only to individual
Table 1.1
Elements of agroecology.
Agroecosystem processes
Practices promoted by California's
(from Altieri 2002)
agroecological partnerships
Organic matter accumulation and
Cover crops, application of compost,
nutrient cycling
manures, chipping tree prunings, crop
residue management
Soil biological activity
Cover crops, application of compost,
manures, crop residue management
Natural control mechanisms
Removing ecologically disruptive
(disease suppression, biocontrol
agrochemicals from the farming system,
of insects, weed interference)
bio-diversification to attract and
retain beneficial insects, cover crops
Resource conservation and
Protection of streams with buffer strips,
regeneration (soil, water,
efficient use of irrigation water
germplasm, etc.)
(no attention paid to genetic resources)
General enhancement of
Managing components of farming
agrobiodiversity and synergisms
systems to capture synergistic benefits
between components
