Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
One does not have use the term “ecology” to recognize ecological rela-
tionships and the benefits of manipulating them. Growers and their
consultants appear comfortable using products and practices described
by the stem “bio.” Partnership leaders have assiduously avoided using
any terms with the stem “eco,” even though they regularly take advan-
tage of ecological relationships between organisms. This example is but
one of the discursive framing strategies used by leaders of these agroeco-
logical initiatives.
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For the purposes of this study, I consider the terms “holistic resource
management,” “alternative agriculture,” “biointensive IPM,” and
“integrated farming systems” to fall under the broader umbrella of
agroecology. These will all be discussed in subsequent chapters. Organic
agriculture has also grown in recent years, although the federal organic
certification program has also led to contradictory outcomes.
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In
its ideal form, organic agriculture is organized along agroecological
principles, although in practice this is rarely the case.
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“Regenerative
agriculture” and “natural systems agriculture” are other terms similar to
“agroecology.”
By framing the initiatives described by this topic with the science of
agroecology, I hope to show how participants are using applied ecology
to undertake socio-environmental problem solving in agricultural pro-
duction. Agroecology is concerned about the broader social and
economic context of farming, but attends primarily to questions of
agricultural production. Whereas authentic sustainable agriculture
encompasses all questions of food consumption, I have limited my inves-
tigation to agricultural production. Questions of social equity, economic
viability, and public policy lurk in the background of this topic, and will
reappear in the final chapter to inform its conclusions.
Latour's Tool for Interpreting Scientific Controversy
To understand agroecology's critical stance toward the broader field of
the biological sciences, I will draw on Science and Technology Studies,
which now informs many studies of controversies within scientific
institutions. STS emerged to critique the overly idealized depictions of
scientists and their activities. Bruno Latour's 1987 book
Science in
Action: How to Follow Scientists and Engineers through Society
broke
