Agriculture, Ecology, and a New Path Forward*

The science of agroecology is rooted in our collective consideration and
comprehension of agriculture and natural history. Agroecology can be defined as
the study of complex interactions between the components, reactions, and
processes of the global (natural) environment, and human (anthropogenic)
activities associated with agriculture and food systems. It offers a useful context
in which to characterize the complex relations and adaptations among natural
resources and agriculture, and provides the ecological basis for development of
more efficient and sustainable farming systems.

Agriculture productivity gains since the 1950s have resulted from the
development of farming systems that rely heavily on external inputs of energy
and chemicals to replace management and on-farm resources. The intensity and
extent to which the natural environment has been modified to attain this
productive capacity has directly resulted in degradation of natural resources,
notably land and water, that sustain these systems.

Agroecology provides the ecological basis for more sustainable farming, as well
as the opportunity to characterize or refine the cumulative effects of agriculture
activities at watershed, ecoregion, national, and global scales. Regional and
national scale efforts are needed for determining sustainable options based on
such factors as projected population trends, consumption patterns, resource
availability and integrity, and long-term productive capacity, among others.

Agriculture’s role in complex issues including environmental quality and
ecosystems degradation, food insecurity/safety, rural economic well-being,
biodiversity, climate change/resilience, habitat loss and disruption, among
others, must be critically assessed in developing more sustainable communities
and countries. Transition to a more sustainable, global ecology and economy
ultimately requires a gradual shift away from research and technologies that
promote large-scale, highly-specialized operations; and toward on-farm
resources and information and technology requirements of more diverse,
management-intensive systems.
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* Adapted from abstract presented for the joint annual meetings of the
Association for the Study of Food and Society (ASFS) and the Agriculture, Food,
and Human Values Society (AFHVS), San Francisco, CA. June 4-7, 1998; under
the original title Agriculture, Ecology and a New Millennium.