Sustainable Agriculture: Agroecological practices

Having looked at all the problems that appear with today's industrial food sector, let me now move on to give some suggestions how we could produce food more efficiently and with less environmental damages. Modern agriculture has increasingly amended countless ecosystems, depleted habitats and continues to harm the environment. Sustainable agriculture on the other hand tries to bring back natural properties of ecosystems without significant losses to productivity. Many of you might think that looking at today's industrial food production, we are past the point of no return. But with evidence of climate-friendly farms popping up around the world, recovery can happen fast and be hugely successful. Of course, it takes time to undo the wrongs of the food industry's past but all is not lost yet.

Jules Pretty (2013) has identified the key principles of sustainable farming as follows:

• integration of biological and ecological processes such as nutrient cycling, nitrogen fixation, soil regeneration, competition and others.
• minimisation of the use of non-renewable inputs that harm the environment, farmers or consumers.
• productive use of the knowledge and skills of farmers and people's collective capacities to work together towards sustainable agriculture.

Pretty also emphasises that sustainable farming does not rule out any technologies but incorporates technologies that do not harm the environment and enhance efficiency. It is often though that sustainable farming means cutting down inputs that go into the practice, but here the focus is on changing the inputs: from fossil fuels to renewable energy, from chemical fertilisers to nitrogen-fixing vegetables, from ploughing to zero-tillage (Pretty, 2006).

(Source: http://zoisenergy.com)

Sustainable farming should fit the land and for that, soil matter should be restored through minimised nutrient leaks. A healthy soil should be rich with microorganisms and bacteria, able to absorb water and oxygen. Conventional farming degrades soil (thanks to fertilisers, pesticides and other agro-chemicals), the opposite of what we should be doing! We need to close the loop of nutrient flows: from microorganisms to soil to plants to animals and back (Fedoroff et al, 2010). Regenerating soil will also bring back the lost biodiversity as degraded soils become a hostile habitat for biodiversity. Agroecological practices that promote sustainability should include integrated pest and nutrient management. Due to the harm that is caused by chemical fertilisers and pesticides (a little reminder here). Alongside its environmental damage through greenhouse gas emissions, these chemicals undermine soil's natural ability to produce and maintain crops.

But you ask me, isn't moving away from fertilisers and pesticides going to sacrifice productivity in our hungry world where nearly 870 million people suffer chronic undernourishment? Pretty et al (2006) has showed that there is reason to be optimistic. The challenge is to seek sustainable intensification without relying on fossil fuels or chemicals. This study showed how sustainable agriculture projects (integrated pest and nutrient management etc.) introduced increased crop yields. The authors had a look at resource conserving farms in 57 poor countries covering 37 million hectares and found that with sustainable farming methods, crop yields increased on average by 79%. Although their data shows large disparities between results, in nearly all cases there was an increase with the project. In addition, projects where pesticide data was monitored, 77% of cases showed decline in pesticide use by 71%, while yields grew by 42%.  Pretty et al (2006) paper shows how sustainable farming techniques can help increase yields (without conventional food production techniques) in developing countries where hunger is most prevalent, while preserving natural ecosystems and staying environmentally sound. There remains room for criticism as these technologies are not certain to cover all future food demand but there is reason to be optimistic. The critical focus should be to give universal access to productive technologies on local, national and international scale.

(Source: http://www.maitlandmountainfarm.com)

 What we need is to move away from conventional mono-cultures (CAFOs, corn industry) towards a more multifunctional farming idea where the farm is divided between crops and livestock while ensuring healthy ecosystem services. Agriculture should be fundamentally multifunctional but let us further look at how moving away from monocultures (growing only one crop or animal rather than a diversified set of crops) can help food production become more environmentally friendly. Integrated crop-livestock systems (ICLS) are agricultural systems that take advantage of the relationship between animals and crops (Bonaudo et al, 2013). Animals are used to make use of the crops that are not suitable for human consumption (nonfood biomass) and due to animal mobility, non-farming areas can be used for 'promoting fertility transfer across diverse and heterogeneous landscapes' (Bonaudo et al, 2013). Authors look at two ICLS in France and Brazil to find out what are the benefits of designing integrated and more sustainable ICLS, coming to a conclusion that reconstructing links between soils, crops and animals is an essential mechanism that should be a focus of future agriculture. Here is a figure showing the benefits of an ICLS instead of a previous conventional farming method in one of the case studies in France, where self-sufficiency and avoidance of external inputs is common mantra:

Upper diagram showing the situation of the farm before the introduction of agroecological practices and the lower diagram showing the state after becoming an ICLS

(Source: Bonaudo et al, 2013)

One must realise that such farming methods do not eliminate all environmental damage (especially as we are talking about livestock production), but in order to start moving towards sustainable methods, gradual improvements must be made and ICLS are a good start. In addition other benefits, some argue that the main gain of combining animals and crops is the fact that animal manure becomes a resource rather than being nuisance (Dumont et al, 2013). It is rich in nutrients and microorganisms, providing soil with an essential source of energy. In many regions of southeast Asia, farmers are adding an aquaculture to an already integrated crop-livestock farm. This systems works as a cycle where animal manure fertilises the fish pond and crop land while pond sediments fertilise crops and give feed for livestock, increasing stability and sustainability. All links must work together in order to result in a healthy farm cycle. For example is there is uneaten feed in the pond that contaminates water, fish population can decline, sediment can decrease and there is little fertiliser left for the cropland. Below is a  simplified figure showing the basic workings of such integrated farms:

Interactions within farms that operate an integrated agriculture-aquaculture system.

(Source: Dumont et al, 2013)

Not only is grain-fed livestock produced in integrated farming systems more environmentally sustainable but it is also better for human health (Daley et al, 2010). Grass-fed beef is lower in overall fat content and contains a significantly improved fatty acid composition. In order to cut down on environmental impacts our food industry creates, food production needs to become more integrated, less chemical-dependent, ecosystem focused and we need to abandon the one-size-fits-all model that is popularised today (CAFOs). In the heart of sustainable farming should be the reconstruction of soil matter, integration of species, promoting biodiversity, integrated pest and nutrient management and use of renewable energy sources. There is still a long way to go but the possibilities in hand give us an opportunity to change the way our food produced in the future. In this aspect, the responsibility relies with policy makers and stakeholders around the table of food production. If consumers have the power to dictate what, where and how much they buy, the change in farming towards sustainability must come from inside the production chain. And to my great pleasure, it is evident that climate-friendly farming is on a rise and it is happening all over the world. I leave you with a video by Michael Pollan's talk about Joel Salatin's Polyface Farm, probably one of the most famous sustainable farms in the US (you might remember it from Food Inc.). Pollan paints a picture of how farmers should understand the ecosystem life-cycles they operate in, respect the natural environment of their crops and animals and other revelations he had after visiting the farm in Virginia. Hope you enjoy it!

I am now slowly coming to the end of my blog (for my university course at least) and this will bring me to conclude and recap what I have talked about so far. In my final posts I will be giving you easy pointers towards a climate-friendly diet and discussing, where this blog has led me. Thank you for reading!

Till next time,

Laura