Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
that operate as networks. Topsoil is a good example of a well-organized network of
remarkable scale and complexity (Haygarth and Ritz 2009).
Farming and farmers, over the past 50 years, have become increasingly depen-
dent on machines and technology to ensure speed, efficiency, and productivity. The
principal disadvantages of this approach are that the emphasis on productivity leads
to expansion, which ignores the overall wellbeing of the countryside and its inhabi-
tants, and that it is wasteful (Berry 2009). The consequences to the environment of
the expansion and intensification of agriculture are well known. These effects along
with the adverse effects of the Green Revolution were attributed by Lal (2009a) to
the use of “technology without wisdom.” He stressed that the management of soil
and natural resources depends on how we choose to use the technology. Similarly,
Lichtfouse (2009) described the use of individual solutions for individual problems
in food production as “painkiller solutions” and recommended that “whole-system”
solutions are required.
Agricultural scientists are realizing more and more that the exchange of knowl-
edge with land users and advisors is crucial to successful research and to its uptake
(Uekotter 2006; Le Gal et al. 2011). Similarly, there is a recognized need for a change
in the behavior of people to achieve goals of moving to a low-carbon economy and
reduced consumption of resources (McIntosh 2008a).
The approaches of scientists, farmers, and land users to agricultural management
in the West are governed by a worldview that is dominated by Christianity. White
(1967) believed that this led to our deeply held views that we are masters of nature
and are relatively free to exploit it and that we expect perpetual progress. He consid-
ered that we live, as we have for about 1700 years, mainly in the context of Christian
axioms. Likewise, Hillel (1992) believes that we have followed too closely the com-
mand in Genesis 1, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and conquer it,” and
that we tend to forget the charge in Genesis 2, “God took the man and put him in
the Garden of Eden to protect it.” Such protection is clearly a call to sustainability.
Berry (2009) defined sustainable agriculture as “a way of farming that can be carried
on i ndei n itely.”
Such farming needs to be compatible with the development of food security in the
face of difficult problems. Proposed solutions to food security have been produced
with, for example, emphasis on crop genetics (Gregory and George 2011), soil deg-
radation (Lal 2009b), and soil management (Powlson et al. 2011). These all stress
that time for action is short. Powlson et al. (2011) also recognize that a key challenge
is to develop effective ways of facilitation of cross-disciplinary communication, at
different scales from global to local in a range of fora, and also discussion with local
communities.
Lal (2009b) recognized that despite our best efforts with science, such as devel-
oping biotechnology or genetically modified crops, hunger will continue as “civil
strife and political instability plague the world.” Carter and Dale (1974) stated that
“human traits and frailties” constitute the basic problem to developing “soil-saving
progra ms.”
White (1967) believes that since the roots of our trouble are largely religious then,
the solution is also largely religious. Science, agriculture, and humanity need to
become more and more connected to approach sustainability, and this can be made
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