{"id":20320,"date":"2016-04-27T20:23:02","date_gmt":"2016-04-28T01:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=20320"},"modified":"2016-04-27T20:23:02","modified_gmt":"2016-04-28T01:23:02","slug":"farming-for-a-small-planet-agroecology-now","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/?p=20320","title":{"rendered":"Farming for a Small Planet: Agroecology Now"},"content":{"rendered":"

Farming for a Small Planet: Agroecology Now\u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/a><\/h3>\n

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The primary obstacle to sustainable food security is an economic model and thought system, embodied in industrial agriculture, that views life in disassociated parts, obscuring the destructive impact this approach has on humans, natural resources, and the environment. Industrial agriculture is characterized by waste, pollution, and inefficiency, and is a significant contributor to climate change. Within so-called free market economics, enterprise is driven by the central goal of bringing the highest return to existing wealth. This logic leads inexorably to the concentration of wealth and power, making hunger and ecosystem disruption inevitable. The industrial system does not and cannot meet our food needs. An alternative, relational approach\u2014agroecology\u2014is emerging and has already shown promising success on the ground. By dispersing power and building on farmers\u2019 own knowledge, it offers a viable path to healthy, accessible food; environmental protection; and enhanced human dignity.<\/p>\n

Hidden, Vast Inefficiencies<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0A System Logic of Disassociated Parts<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Climate Change Culprit<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Perversely Aligned with Nature<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0A Better Alternative<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Democratizing Farming<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Lessons from Tigray, Ethiopia<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0A Viable Vision?<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0The Right Path<\/a>\u00a0|\u00a0Endnotes<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

People yearn for alternatives to industrial agriculture, but they are worried. They see large-scale operations relying on corporate-supplied chemical inputs as the only high-productivity farming model. Another approach might be kinder to the environment and less risky for consumers, but, they assume, it would not be up to the task of providing all the food needed by our still-growing global population.<\/p>\n

Contrary to such assumptions, there is ample evidence that an alternative approach\u2014organic agriculture, or more broadly \u201cagroecology\u201d\u2014is actually the\u00a0only<\/em>\u00a0way to ensure that all people have access to sufficient, healthful food. Inefficiency and ecological destruction are built into the industrial model. But, beyond that, our ability to meet the world\u2019s needs is only partially determined by what quantities are produced in fields, pastures, and waterways.<\/p>\n

…click on the above link to read the rest of the article…<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Farming for a Small Planet: Agroecology Now\u00a0 The primary obstacle to sustainable food security is an economic model and thought system, embodied in industrial agriculture, that views life in disassociated parts, obscuring the destructive impact this approach has on humans, natural resources, and the environment. Industrial agriculture is characterized by waste, pollution, and inefficiency, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[6511,299,13666,5720,10124],"class_list":["post-20320","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-survival-2","tag-agroecology","tag-farming","tag-frances-moore-lappe","tag-industrial-agriculture","tag-organic-agriculture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20320","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20320"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20320\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20321,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20320\/revisions\/20321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20320"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20320"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/olduvai.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20320"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}