The classic farming of monocultures, one crop per field, is already known to not be sustainable except through heavy fertilization.
Polyculture techniques are used in many places around the world already with yeilds between 3 and 10 times per acre compared to our traditional farming systems in North America.
While new technology and new methods have definitely helped increase productivity on the farm, scientists insist that a redesign is needed. By introducing more organic farming and grass-fed productions into agriculture, and by changing policy incentives, the nation’s agricultural system would be better equipped to deal with several environmental impacts such as climate change, biodiversity loss and resource issues.
A group of scientists, including a team at the University of California, Davis and Washington State University, call for a reform in the United States agricultural system in a policy paper published in the journal, Science.
The scientists say the Farm Bill, which will be renewed in 2012, has some problems. Instead of promoting healthy, sustainable food, it makes our system depend on a few crops that is used for animal feed and in processed food.
“We have the technology and the science right now to grow food in sustainable ways, but we lack the policies and markets to make it happen,” WSU John Reganold said in a statement.
The piece in Science discusses the need for a redesign. However, the initial report was published as a 2010 report by the National Research Council Committee.
According to the report:
U.S. agriculture has had an impressive history of productivity that has resulted in relatively affordable food, feed, and fiber for domestic purposes and increases in agricultural exports. Fewer farmers are producing more food and fiber on about the same acreage, while input and energy use per unit output has decreased over the last 50 years. Despite these tremendous advances, U.S. farmers are facing the daunting challenges of meeting the food, feed, and fiber needs of the nation and of a growing global population and of contributing to U.S. biofuel production, under the constraints of rising production costs, increasingly scarce natural resources, and climate change. Agriculture is at a pivotal stage in terms of meeting societal demands for products while improving sustainability.
The scientists ask; why we are supporting “big agriculture” instead of supporting more sustainable practices? However, as customers shop at stores like Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s and farmer’s markets, we see there is a demand for this type of sustainable agriculture.
We just have to make the policy decisions and change the market structure to promote more eco-friendly ways of growing food, instead of perpetuating the modern agricultural practices that take a toll on the environment and the quality of our food.
You can read the full report online here.
Photo: Maureen “Mo” Reilly / flickr
