Agroecology is the science of applying ecological concepts and principles to the design, development, and management of sustainable agricultural systems. // What is science? There are various understandings of the word science. According to empiricism, scientific theories are objective, empirically testable, and predictive — they predict empirical results that can be checked and possibly contradicted. ... (Ecology is sometimes used incorrectly as a synonym for the natural environment. ... Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals: environmental stewardship, farm profitability, and prosperous farming communities. ...

Agroecology is the science of [[<a style='text-decoration: none; border-bottom: 3px double;' href="http://www.qklinkserver.com/lm/rtl3.asp?si=92&k=sustainable%20agriculture&st=1" onmouseover="window.status='Search for: sustainable agriculture'; self.ql_skeyphrase='sustainable%20agriculture'; if(window.event) self.ql_sevent=window.event.srcElement; self.ql_timeout = setTimeout('ql_doMouseOver(1)', 1000); self.ql_isOverLink=true; return true;" onclick="if(self.ql_timeout) clearTimeout(self.ql_timeout); self.ql_isOverTip = false; ql_closeiframe(); self.ql_skeyphrase='sustainable%20agriculture'; window.status='Search for: sustainable agriculture';return true;" onmouseout="window.status=; if(self.ql_timeout) clearTimeout(self.ql_timeout); self.ql_isOverTip = false; setTimeout('ql_closeiframe()', 1500); ">sustainable agriculture</a>]]; the methods of agroecology have as their goal achieving sustainability of agricultural systems balanced in all spheres. This includes the socio-economic and the ecological or environmental.

An agroecosystem is a key idea in agroecology. The agroecologist views any farming system primarily with an ecologist's eye; that is, it is not firstly economic (created for a commodity and profit), nor industrial (modeled after a factory). In fact, agroecosystems are both understood and designed following ecological principles. For example, integrated pest management aims to control problematic pests through introduction of other species, not application of pesticides or herbicides to kill that pest. An common example of this would be intercropping to attract beneficial insects within rows of a given plagued crop. The insects would balance the disturbed ecology represented by the pest, thus eliminating unsustainable practices such as increasingly intensified pesticide use.

The term itself appeared in the late 1970's. It arose from the recognition that Green Revolution-era agroecosystems were highly dependent upon inputs such as pesticides, capital-intensive machinery, and specific seed varieties engineered or bred in the global North. The impacts of such agricultural systems have tended to exacerbate the intertwined social, political, and economic problems of the developing countries, or the global South. The North-South divide is the socio-economic and political division which exists between the wealthy developed countries, known collectively as the The North, and the poorer developing countries, or The South. Although most nations comprising the North are in fact located in the Northern Hemisphere, the divide is not... For the Jamaican reggae band, see Third World (band). ...

K.H.W. Klages is credited as one of the first to discuss ecology and agriculture.

Practitioners take a critical view of modern industrial agricultural techniques, and see the industrial model as fundamentally or radically (at its roots) unsustainable.

Some current issues that tie into agroecology - and its coupling of agronomy with the social sciences - include food sovereignty and rural development.

An important movement related to agroecology is agrarianism. Another current trend that has informed much work in agroecology is traditional agriculture or indigenous agriculture. Also, the movements of family farmers Agrarianism is a social and political philosophy. ...

Latin America and Agroecology

Because of the ideological differences between industrial or mechanized agriculture and agroecology, its application has thus far been relatively limited in the U.S. (the country where industrial agriculture has been advanced the furthest). Latin America's experiences with North American Green Revolution agricultural techniques have opened space for agroecologists. Some countries where agroecological research and practice have flourished include Cuba and Brazil.

Traditional or indigenous knowledge represents a wealth of possibility for agroecologists. The relationship between agronomists and traditional (often subsistence farmers) practitioners has been termed an "exchange of wisdoms." This recognizes that Western science has some solutions and innovations to offer, while local knowledge systems developed over thousands of years have just as much, if not more, to offer. This becomes more evident still when the importance and uniqueness of local ecologies are understood as underpinning agricultural systems.

See also

controlled burn | dynamic equilibrium | shifting cultivation | safe site | vermicomposting | multiple cropping | landscape ecology | allelopathy | buffer zone | Land Utilization Type | relay cropping | commensalism | compensating factor | forest gardening | Masanobu Fukuoka | genetic erosion | protocooperation | natural selection | green manure | trophic level | heterosis | living mulch | niche diversity | permaculture | open pollination | pollinator decline | primary succession | secondary succession | polyculture | monoculture | renewable resources | seed bank | soil life | synthetic variety | xerophyte Igniting a controlled burn. ... A dynamic equilibrium will form if, at a given temperature, two reversible processes occur at the same rate. ... It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with Slash and burn. ... Vermicompost (or worm compost) is produced by feeding kitchen scraps and shredded newspaper to worms. ... In agriculture, multiple cropping is the practice of growing two or more crops simultaneously or successively during a single growing season. ... Landscape ecology is a subdiscipline of ecology and geography that is the study of spatial variation in interested in the of elements in the landscape (such as fields, hedgerows, woodlots, rivers or towns) and how their distribution affects the distribution and flow of energy and individuals in the environment (which... The suppression of growth of one plant species by another due to the release of toxic substances (Webster 1983). ... A buffer zone is any area that serves the purpose of keeping two or more other areas distant from one another, for whatever reason. ... In ecology, commensalism is an interaction between two living organisms, where one creature benefits and the other is neither harmed nor helped. ... Forest gardening (also known as 3-Dimensional Gardening) is a food production and land management system based on replicating woodland edge ecosystems, substituting trees (such as fruit or nut trees), bushes, shrubs, herbs and vegetables which have yields directly useful to humankind. ... Masanobu Fukuoka (福岡 正信 Fukuoka Masanobu), born February 2, 1914, author of The One-Straw Revolution The Road Back to Nature, and The Natural Way Of Farming, is one of the pioneers of no-till grain cultivation. ... Protocooperation is where two species interact with each other beneficially; they have no need to interact with each other they interact purely for the gain that they receive from doing this. ... Natural selection is the process by which variants displaying favorable or deleterious traits end up producing more or fewer progeny relative to other individuals of the same population. ... Green manures may also be referred to as green fertilizers and cover crops. ... In ecology, the trophic level is the position that an organism occupies in a food chain - what it eats, and what eats it. ... Heterosis is increased strength of different characteristics in hybrids; the possibility to obtain a better individual by combining the virtues of its parents. ... In agriculture, a living mulch is a cover crop interplanted or undersown with a main crop, and intended to serve the functions of a mulch, such as weed suppression and regulation of soil temperature. ... Permaculture Mandala illustration by Graham Burnett, summarising the ethics and principles of permaculture design. ... Open pollination is pollination by insects, birds, wind, or other natural mechanisms. ... Pollinator decline is based on observations made at the end of the twentieth century of the reduction in abundance of pollinators in many ecosystems worldwide. ... Primary succession is the first stage of the succession of plant life from barren land to fully functioning plant ecosystems e. ... Permaculture Mandala illustration by Graham Burnett, summarising the ethics and principles of permaculture design. ... Monoculture describes systems that have very low diversity. ... A renewable resource is a natural resource that is not depleted when used by human beings. ... The preservation of plant germplasm in seedbanks, (or genebanks), is one of the techniques of ex-situ conservation of plant species. ... Soil life is a collective term for all the organisms living within the soil. ... A xerophyte describes a plant that has structural (xeromorphic) and physiological adaptations which enable them to survive, or even thrive, in areas with very little free moisture. ...

External links

• Agroecology in action