Why sustainable agriculture and agroecology?

Organic agroecological farm in Honduras

This post may be a bit dense but it gives an explanation as to WHY this topic is important! I try to give a concise description of the problems that exist and the solutions that sustainable agriculture and agroecology offer.

To boil it down, we live in a culture driven by values and principles of continual economic growth, no matter the cost. We exist in a capitalist market economy that puts pressure on our land and resources to continue this ongoing growth. While agriculture is meant to feed people, much of monoculture is used as biofules (like ethenol) and animal feeds. Half or less of the world's crops are consumed directly by humans. And excess crops flood foreign markets affecting the economies of small farmers around the world.

The practices of agroecology are important as a foundation to create change but only in so much as we change our values and culture. Without changing our values, no tools or methods can fix the environmental and social harms we see. Therefore, agroecology and sustainable agriculture isn't just a practice or tool but a political movement of deeper change in our guiding values as a society.

Sustainable agriculture and agroecology address the root causes of many pressing development challenges such as:

Food insecurity

• Problem: Nearly a billion people globally face severe food insecurity (lack of access to sufficient food to meet one's basic needs), many being rural populations.

• Solution: Agroecology offers a solution because it focuses on plant and crop diversity, which means that farmers and producers grow a variety of foods that they can consume locally rather than producing just one cash crop for sale or export.

Social, Economic, and Environmental Vulnerabilities of Farmers

• Problem: Farmers who practice monoculture rely on one crop and this makes them more vulnerable to pests and disease. It also makes them more vulnerable to fluctuations in the market price of commodity goods.

• Solution: Agroecology's focus on a diversity of plants and crops helps farmers be more self-sufficient and less vulnerable to pests, diseases, and volatile market prices. Having a diversity of crops ensures they will have something to eat or sell. Even if a pest or disease affects one crop or if the market price for a crop goes down, they will have other varieties or crops to consume or sell. Agroecology also allows farmers to cut costs by using organic inputs at their disposal and, therefore, spending less on expensive chemical inputs and seeds. As a result, agroecological practices make farms and farming communities more resilient.

Health

• Problem: Chemical pesticides lead to poisoning in farmers and farm workers which leads to cases of cancer and birth defects. Approximately 44% of farmers face acute pesticide poisoning every year. Additionally, the environmental and health costs of industrial global agriculture are huge (estimated to be approximately $4 billion per year).

• Solution: Agroecology is an alternative way to produce food that is healthy and accessible without costly externalities on human and environmental health. Agroecology does not use chemical inputs and prevents pesticide poisoning in farmers, workers, and their families.

Climate Change

• Problem: The global food system contributes to nearly 1/3 of greenhouse gases emissions. Therefore, it is increasingly urgent to reduce the dependency of agriculture on external inputs that are linked to fossil energies. Additionally, monocropping systems (systems which plant just one crop rather than a diversity of crops and plants) are more susceptible and less resilient to climate impacts.

• Solution: Agroecological farms have shown greater resiliency to climate impacts and are a solution to reducing greenhouse gas emissions as they do not rely on fossil fuel based inputs and are often consumed locally.

Biodiversity Loss

• Problem: Monoculture, chemical pesticides, synthetic fertilizers, and slash and burn practices kill beneficial insects, pollenizers, and microorganisms in the soil, leading to long-term damage of natural ecosystems and biodiversity.

• Solution: Agroecology works with biodiversity to manage pests and fertilize crops. It uses plants (like neem) as natural pesticides, practices techniques like companion planting to prevent disease and nurture the soil, and recognizes that positive insects can keep negative insects in check.

Can sustainable agriculture and agroecology feed the world?

Nearly a billion people worldwide still face food insecurity, demonstrating that the large-scale practices of industrial agriculture have not succeeded in feeding the world. It is estimated that small-scale farmers (with under 2 hectares of land) feed 33-50% of the world’s food, and at the same time, many of them experience seasonal hunger. Therefore, a big challenge is to support small-scale agriculture.

What is needed to promote sustainable farming and agroecology?

Agroecology is very knowledge intensive, and to have success, there must be policies in place that promote farmers' organizations that facilitate the sharing of knowledge. This can take the form of farmer-to-farmer exchange systems, field schools, and other horizontal forms of knowledge dissemination. Knowledge sharing and practical implementation must be bottom up, developed by farmers themselves, and shared among farmers. To scale up, the key is participatory and collaborative. Another key part, and a very challenging part, is advocating for national and international policies that support these sustainable practices.

If agroecology is so great, then why aren't all farmers practicing it already?

Many international policies such as the Green Revolution, free trade agreements, and food aid have introduced chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and "modernized" agricultural systems across developing countries. These policies have impacted local farming practices, and in many cases, indigenous traditions of farming have been lost.

There is a counter movement in which people are seeking to recover these indigenous traditions, but there are still many global factors that make this process a challenge. Powerful economic and legislative forces influenced by those holding corporate power continue to influence the way our global food system is organized. For example, the global pesticide industry is a huge money making business that influences the global food system and would like to maintain the status quo.

Additionally, small-scale farmers depend on a good harvest for their income and changing their practices adds additional risks in the beginning. Rural populations often live day-to-day and losing a harvest is a risk for their family and household. Without policies that support them, implementing these new practices can pose more risks and vulnerabilities.

In this lecture, Miguel Altieri, an expert in agroecology, explains the crises we face and discusses scaling up sustainable farming. He states that there are 1.5 billion hectors of agriculture in the world and 80% of this agricultural landscape is covered by homogenous monoculture that are very dependent on external inputs.