Agriculture Today

Agriculture Today
Key concepts
 Farms can be defined by use, stewardship, or economics.

 Those involved in farming come from a variety of backgrounds and economic status.
 Farming is critical to our national security and to our economy.
 The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) is the government agency that represents
agricultural interests.
 The federal farm policy is legislation designed to support agriculture and reduce the risks.
 Agriculture provides many benefits to our society and our environment.
 It produces the food we eat and fiber for our clothing. Agriculture is now providing energy to power
vehicles and heat our homes.
 Agriculture is a significant part of our national economy and provides many jobs directly for farmers and
for others in the food and service industries.
 The food and fiber production system begins at the farm and proceeds through processors to the
consumers.
 Within the federal government, the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) represents
agricultural interests.
 The USDA provides leadership on food, agriculture, and natural resource issues.
 Its budget includes funding for food assistance, agricultural research, international trade, commodity
support, and environmental conservation.
Why Ecological Agriculture?
 The practice of ecological agriculture involves building the strengths of natural ecosystems into agro
ecosystems, purposely disturbed to produce food and fiber.
 The overall strategies include using practices that (a) grow healthy plants with good defense
capabilities, (b) stressing pests, and (c) enhancing populations of beneficial organisms.
 These are accomplished by enhanced habitat management both above ground and in the soil.
 Many of the practices that contribute to the overall strategies are well known-such as intensive use of
cover crops or reduced tillage.
 Of longer duration, going back well over a century has been the wide separation between where people
live and where their food is produced.
 This causes both wasted energy for transportation of food as well as excess nutrient accumulation in
and around urban areas.
 Another critical issue is the extreme dependence on fossil fuels in conventional agriculture and the
entire food system.
 Fuel is not used to produce and power the large-scale equipment now used in agriculture-the tractors
and combines and trucks for transportation.
 It is also used for other purposes such as drying grain and for production of agrichemical. Although
pesticide production is costly in energy terms, one of the most energy costly agrichemicals is the
production, distribution, and application of nitrogen fertilizers.
 Conventional farmers have been forced to become larger and highly mechanized-and, therefore, there
are fewer of them-because of consolidation in the input and output (purchasing, processing and
distribution) industries and low prices for their products.
 Encourage by agribusiness, agricultural science has contributed to the conventional system, with all its
negative environment and social effects.
 It has done so by taking a reductionist approach, where each that develops is viewed as an individual
problem that needs to be addressed in isolation from all others.
 If soil fertility is low, just add fertilizers. If there is a pest outbreak (weed, insect, disease). Then apply a
pesticide. If the soil is compact just use a subsoiler to relieve compaction.
 All issues are dealt with using a therapeutic approach. There is a “problem” that needs some
intervention, or therapy, to solve it.
 But what if these “problems” are better viewed as symptoms to a deeper underlying and mostly hidden
problem?
 What if these are caused by a poorly managed agricultural ecosystem?
Principles of Ecological Agriculture
 The term ecological agriculture used in this essay is similar to agroecology in that it applies ecological
principles and approaches to agricultural ecosystems.
 While not excluding organic agriculture, it is a broader concept that may be closer to sustainable
agriculture.
 Ecology is the “missing science” in traditional agricultural education and research.
 Undergraduate and graduate agriculture students have until very recently studied basic sciences such
as biology, chemistry and physics, but not ecology.
 In going about the work of agriculture, we purposefully disturb natural ecosystems (or formerly natural
ecosystems) for the purpose of producing food and fiber crops and animal products of various kinds.
 These agro ecosystems can be approached as any other ecosystem.
 An ecological approach to agriculture involves designing the strengths of natural ecosystem into agro
ecosystems.
Strengths of Natural Ecosystems
1. Efficiency
 Efficient energy flows are characteristic of natural systems. The sun’s energy captured by green
plants is then used by many organisms, as fungi and bacteria decompose organic residues and
are then fed upon by other organisms, which are themselves fed upon by higher up the food
web.
 Natural ecosystems also tend to be efficient in capturing and using rainfall and in mobilizing
and cycling nutrients. This helps to keep the ecosystem from “running down” through the
excessive loss of nutrients and at the same time helps maintain the quality of the groundwater
and surface water.
2. Diversity
 A great biological diversity, both above ground and in the soil, characterizes many natural
ecosystems in temperate and tropical regions. This provides checks and balances, nutrient
availability to plants, checks on disease outbreaks, etc. For example, competition for resources
and specific antagonisms (such as antibiotic production) from the multitude of soil organisms
usually keep soilborne plant diseases from severely damaging a natural grassland or forest.
3. Self-sufficiency.
 A consequence of efficiency and diversity is that natural terrestrial ecosystems are self-sufficient
— requiring only inputs of sunlight and rainfall.
4. Self-regulation.
 Because of the great diversity of organisms, outbreaks (or huge population increases) of
diseases or insects that severely damage plants or animals are uncommon. In addition, plants
have a number of defense mechanisms that help protect them from attack.
5. Resiliency.
 Disturbances occur in all ecosystems— natural or not. The stronger ones are more resistant to
disturbances and are able to bounce back quicker.
Mainstreaming Ecological Agriculture
 Based on locally available resources, appropriate technologies and specific needs of farmers
 Systematic redirection in investment, funding, research, training and policy focus on ecological
agriculture needed
 Overall support needed from governments and international agencies
 Ensure participation of farmers and producers in agricultural decision- and policy-making
https://slideplayer.com/slide/6005828/
ecological agriculture and climate change adaptation
https://slideplayer.com/slide/6005828/

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Agriculture Today

 Farms can be defined by use, stewardship, or economics.

Why Ecological Agriculture?

Principles of Ecological Agriculture

Strengths of Natural Ecosystems

ecological agriculture and climate change adaptation

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