Agroecology: A Global Paradigm to Challenge Mainstream Industrial Agriculture

Abstract

Considerable controversy continues to exist in scientific and policy circles about how to tackle issues of global hunger, malnutrition, and rural economic decline, as well as environmental issues, such as biodiversity loss and climate change adaptation. On the one hand, powerful vested interests, with close ties to government, media, and academic institutions, propose high-input technology-based solutions, speculative and neoliberal "market-based" solutions, and export-oriented agricultural models. On the other hand, an international scientific and grassroots Food Movement has emerged, calling for a redesign of the Global Food System in support of small-scale agroecological farming systems. A call to re-evaluate our current Food Systems was made in 2008 by the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD). Here, using the IAASTD study as a backdrop, we review the recent literature to outline key contentious points in the controversy between the need for high-input and "techno-based" versus agroecological farming models. A critical assessment is made of proposed strategies to protect soil resources, improve nutrient and energy cycles, protect agrobiodiversity, and promote social well-being in rural communities. With an increase in the number of affluent consumers (i.e., the middle class) in the developing world, and with the continued problem of extreme and chronic poverty with other larger sectors of society, Organic Farming and Agroecology models are put forward as a sound social, scientific, and rural development strategy.

Sustainable intensification in agriculture: the richer shade of green. A review

“…The problem also has an important temporal dimension: because the current situation is not sustainable, it also creates transgenerational injustice (Loos et al 2014). Whatever happens, current agriculture must be transformed (Valenzuela 2016): it must be made "green" again.…”

“…Yet, industrial agriculture is likely to remain a main source of food supply, driven and maintained by the combination of high labor costs and relatively low costs of external inputs (IPES-Food 2016), unless the cost-benefit analysis of agricultural production is made in a different (and better) way, based on full accounting of all costs and proper pricing of scarce goods. Within the current economic paradigm and given that the world's population is increasing, dietary demands per capita are increasing, while at the same time the natural resource base (arable land of good quality, fresh water, nutrients, energy) (IPES-Food 2016;Valenzuela 2016) as well as the human resources (experienced, resourceful, and innovative farmers and agronomists) (Struik et al 2014) are eroding, it is likely that planetary boundaries will even be further exceeded. Governing bodies, policy makers, non-governmental organizations, citizens but also producers and other actors making use of natural resources worry about this process of decline, and therefore, "sustainability" is a frequently used noun and "sustainable" a frequently used attributive adjective, especially in relation to agriculture.…”

Are Small Farms Sustainable by Nature?—Review of an Ongoing Misunderstanding in Agroecology

“…Agroecology is a scientific discipline, an agricultural practice, as well as a political and social movement [6]. Especially in its function as a movement, it calls for the redesign of the global food system; and following acknowledged agroecologists, this redesign should be based on the support of and for small-scale farming [7,8]. The tight relationship of agroecology with small farms and farmers is no coincidence since most of the practices the discipline recommends are primarily based on small farmers' traditional knowledge and management practices, which existed long before the concept of agroecology was developed [9].…”

Do smallholder farmer-led seed systems have the capacity to supply good-quality, fungal-free sorghum seed?

“…There is a wide recognition that the global balance for food production and environmental sustainability is tipping [1], with future food and nutritional security threatened by the unsustainable intensification and expansion of industrial agriculture [2][3][4]. Increased attention is being given to alternative ways of crop production, based on traditional smallholder farming systems such as agro-ecology 1 that promote biodiversity, reduce reliance on external chemical inputs and sustain year-round yields [3].…”

“…Increased attention is being given to alternative ways of crop production, based on traditional smallholder farming systems such as agro-ecology 1 that promote biodiversity, reduce reliance on external chemical inputs and sustain year-round yields [3]. The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) for example has called for redesigning of the Global Food System in support of small-scale agro-ecological systems [4], whilst World Bank and the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES) has noted smallholder farming to be the main pathway to enhancing productivity, profitability, environmental sustainability and poverty reduction in Africa [5,6].…”