Agriculture shares with education the dubious honor of being a field of knowledge where everyone feels empowered to give their opinion, regardless of whether the closest agronomic experience was going to buy at the ecological cooperative on the corner. For this reason, a few months ago I decided to try to explain why agroecology (the science, movement and practice of applying ecological processes in agricultural, livestock and forestry production systems) is not a solution to the problems of the food system in this video:
There are deep-rooted ideas about agriculture with regard to improving food systems. The first impression is the one that counts, and from there we fall into the confirmation bias, paying attention only to the information that reaffirms our previous ideas.
We need a system capable of feeding 9.5 billion people in 2050. We cannot promote false solutions based on aesthetic and romantic ideas.
My prevention on agroecology comes from a long time ago. In Nicaragua, in 2005, I visited a peasant leader with 20 hectares of rice fields. I asked if he used compost. He told me no, that he couldn’t get the necessary amount for such an extension and that he didn’t have enough mechanization to distribute it. He used chemical fertilizer, but the projects of his organization promoted organic fertilizer for the poorest.
[Editor’s note: This article was originally published in Spanish and has been translated and edited for clarity.]
