Sustainable Food Today: Agroecology

Agroecology is the logical extension of sustainable food production. The term itself is an amalgam of the word Agriculture and Ecology. It focuses on natural rhythms of the environment to produce ecosystems on the farm, obviously employing the organic options, but even further than "organic" labeling.

Agroecology.org lists a number of principles that all agroecologists should employ, mainly using renewable resources of energy and fertilizer; minimize toxics like pesticides, herbicides or anything that "the use of materials that have the potential to harm the environment or the health of farmers, farm workers, or consumers"; conserve resources, soil, water, energy, capital and genetics by saving seed, promoting heirloom, perennial, low -to -no till crops, and mulching.

All of the above could easily apply to an organic farm, but what makes agroecology stand apart from the organic farms is its dedication to managing ecological relationships within the landscape. Agroecologists prefer to "manage their pests instead of trying to control them," and this is a very serious point as many farms, organic or "traditional" are always fighting the battle between pest and crop. "Traditional" farms use pesticides and herbicides; Organic farms might use organic pesticides and herbicides or they may use predatory bugs, but the agroecolgist will use pest control by other pests as the primary and (hopefully) sole practice.

Further, the agroecologist will look to find plants and crops that are native to the soil, rather than finding soil to fit the plants. This ensures that the relationship between the soil and the plants is less susceptible to blight, pests or fungal diseases, lessening the need for battle in the first place and satisfies the principle of conserving and restoring soil to its best potential.

Though agroecology is not a recent idea in the sense that this is how truly traditional farmers have cared for their crops, it is little-known in the industrial food system; as the consumer base is starting to demand more sustainable, accountable and ethical methods of farming, the academic industry is following suit.

Today there are over a dozen universities in the United States that are offering programs in agroecology, many of which are located in California where a considerable amount of our nation's food system is currently grown. Additionally, universities in other countries like Mexico, Spain and Denmark are offering programs in agroecology.

As the graduates from these programs start to employ the practices of the sustainable food system, more and more farms will move to a sustainable model, since one of the key principles to agroecology is reducing or eliminating all bank debt.

One pioneer in the field is Jerry Glover, an agroecologist who works for The Land Institute in Kansas. He was recently featured in National Geographic for his dedication to sustainable practice in farming grains. Glover focuses on perennial plants in the fields as a way to preserve and enhance the soils which have been already overused:

"Perennial plants generally have longer growing seasons and deeper rooting depths, and intercept, retain and utilize more of the natural precipitation," Glover writes. This is becoming even more important as farmers are forced to grow crops on marginal land more prone to soil erosion in order to feed an ever-growing population.