Environmental Sustainability in Practice

New Trends: Diversified Agroecological Farming

As we have already seen, industrial agricultural systems have serious impacts on the environment. In addition to the examples already discussed, a recent study by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) (Maxwell et al., 2016) demonstrates how agriculture is one of the most prevalent threats to biodiversity. In fact, 75% of plant and animal species that have gone extinct over the past 500 years were impacted through agriculture or over-exploitation. Land use change and agricultural intensification are directly endangering more than 60% of threatened species on today’s IUCN Red List.

Given these impacts, “tweaking [agricultural] practices can improve some of the specific outcomes of industrial agriculture, but will not provide long-term solutions to the multiple problems it generates… What is required is a fundamentally different model of agriculture based on diversifying farms and farming landscapes, replacing chemical inputs, optimizing biodiversity and stimulating interactions between different species, as part of holistic strategies to build long-term fertility, healthy agro-ecosystems and secure livelihoods, i.e. ‘diversified agroecological systems’” (International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food systems (IPES), 2016, p. 3, emphasis added).

Diversification is defined as the practices that enhance biodiversity on the farm through pesticide-use reduction, the deployment of field-boundary structures (e.g. hedgerows, wildflower strips), and increasing diversity of crops through intercropping and polyculture. These techniques are based on what we call agroecology, a science that uses the concepts and principles of ecology to promote a more sustainable food production system. Key characteristics of such agroecological systems are:
  • "Temporal diversification (e.g. crop rotation) and spatial diversification (e.g. intercropping; mixed farming); diversification employed at various levels, including plot, farm, and landscape.
  • Use of wide range of species and less uniform, locally-adapted varieties/breeds, based on multiple uses (including traditional uses), cultural preferences, taste, productivity, and other criteria.
  • Natural synergies emphasized and production types integrated (e.g. mixed crop-livestock-tree farming systems and landscapes).
  • More labour-intensive systems.
  • Maximization of multiple outputs.
  • Low external inputs; recycling of waste within full nutrient cycling and circular economy approaches.
  • Production of a wide range of less homogeneous products often destined for short value chains; multiple sources of production, income and livelihood" (IPES 2016, p. 11).
 
IPES (2016) believes that it is possible to transition to a new, more sustainable system by transitioning from both industrial and subsistence farming to diversified agroecological farming through the steps shown in the diagram below.

The reduction of agrochemical inputs can also target soil health. Reducing the use of chemical fertilizers and using more organic or environmentally-friendly compounds, usually called soil amendments, can increase soil health. Soil amendments can include organic matter or manure that is composted. They may also include the relatively new possibility of using a naturally occurring mineral (agromineral - see Case Study) to enhance soil health and plant growth. The agromineral acts as a mild fertilizer and as a booster of microorganisms in the soil.

Genetically modified organisms are also being looked at as a possible solution to problems associated with industrial farming. Remember the video on breeding techniques? While there are major concerns with genetically modified organisms and these concerns have to be discussed, there is a need in some systems to work at the genetic level to find solutions where there are no other alternatives.


 

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