Agroecology is a science, practice and movement that seeks social, political, economic and environmental sustainability in the global food system.
A new study led by Dartmouth College says the field is now gaining momentum in the US, but that it requires closer collaboration between scientists, farmers and activists.
Ecological and social sustainability of food systems
Lead study author Teresa Ong, an assistant professor of environmental studies at Dartmouth College, noted that Americans tend to be familiar with organic farming, food production without synthetic inputs, and regenerative agriculture, which aims to restore soil health.
But Ong says agroecology differs from these practices in that it aims to achieve both ecological and social sustainability in food systems without sacrificing one at the expense of the other.
“We cannot protect biodiversity and ecosystem health unless we sustain farmers’ livelihoods and ensure that the food systems we create provide culturally appropriate foods for local communities rather than simply meeting calorie quotas,” Ong said.
Challenges facing the global food system
Currently, the U.S. food system is dominated by industrial agriculture, which relies on chemicals like pesticides and fertilizers, and technologies that are heavily dependent on fossil fuels.
Moreover, some of the challenges facing the global food system, including food insecurity, public health issues, biodiversity loss, and global warming, are perpetuated by the U.S. food system and its key political actors.
For decades, scientists and activists in the United States and elsewhere have called for major changes to the current industrial food system, and the United Nations has promoted agroecology as a more sustainable practice, but the field has long remained largely unknown outside certain academic circles.
Fortunately, a major US agroecology summit in 2023 brought together around 100 food industry stakeholders who called for a re-evaluation of current practices.
Experts stressed the need for fair representation and support for farmers and scientists, greater access to funding, and the development of ethical approaches to agroecological research.
“‘Food sovereignty’ – the right to define, produce and access healthy food that is culturally appropriate and sustains peasant lifestyles – is a key goal in agroecology and was first defined in 1996 by the international peasant movement La Via Campesina,” Ong said.
Fair representation and coordination
The summit builds on momentum that has been building over the past 15 years, which saw the founding of the nonprofit U.S. Food Sovereignty Alliance in 2010 and the enactment of food sovereignty legislation in eight states: Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, Georgia, North Carolina, Utah, Wyoming and Montana.
But more needs to be done to ensure that all voices in the sector – large farmers, small farmers, family farmers, migrant farmers, Black farmers, Indigenous farmers and farm workers – are adequately represented and have decision-making power.
“Agroecology is about building coalitions to ensure fair representation and coordination among farmers, activists and academics,” Ong concluded.
The study is published in the journal Nature Food.
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