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Our entrenchedย industrial agriculture systemย has spawned a host of problems. Practices like monoculture (planting the same crops in the same fields year after year) and frequent tillage degrade soil health. Excess fertilizer runoff producesย toxic algal blooms and aquatic dead zones. Herbicide overuse has led toย an epidemic of “superweeds,”ย and intensive pesticide use has raised concerns about environmental and human health impacts.
In short, our food production system is unsustainable.
Studies have confirmed thatย agroecological farms can succeed. But more research is needed and farmers who want to adopt agroecological approaches need education and technical assistance to make the transition. Recognizing this need, a growing number of scientists haveย added their voices to a statementย calling for increased public investment in agroecological research.
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Providing research, education, and technical support for advances in agriculture has long been a key part of the USDAโs mission.ย Itโs particularly important for the USDA to support innovations that serve the interests of farmers and the public, but are unlikely to attract private-sector funding. Because one of the key components of agroecology is reducing farmersโ dependence on goods and services sold by private industry (such as fertilizers and pesticides), agroecology falls squarely into this category.
But aย 2015 analysis by UCS and partnersย shows that the USDAย is missing the boat when it comes to investing in agroecological research and education. The study found thatย only 15 percentย of external USDA grants go to projects that include agroecology, and only 4 percent to projects that could be considered transformative.
Read full, original post:ย Counting on Agroecology: Why We Should Invest More in the Transition to Sustainable Agriculture (2015)
