9 September 2015

Ecological farming at the center of the food system called for by Greenpeace

For Greenpeace, ecological farming is at the centerpiece of a “food system that has people at its heart”. In a paper published in May 2015 with the title “Ecological farming - The seven principles of a food system that has people at its heart” and “dedicated to the millions of farmers in the world that grow our food with dignity and love, often getting too little in return”, the international NGO proposes what needs to be done to fix our “broken food system”. For this, the world needs to be a world where:

1. 1.“producers and consumers, not corporations, control the food chain [food sovereignty]
   

2. 2.ecological farming contributes to rural development and fighting poverty and hunger, by enabling livelihoods in rural communities that are safe, healthy, and economically viable
   

3. 3.to increase food availability globally, and to improve livelihoods in poorer regions, we … reduce the unsustainable use of what we grow at the moment and … reduce food waste, decrease meat consumption, and minimise the use of land for bioenergy
   

4. 4.ecological farming is about nature’s diversity – from the seed to the plate, and across the entire agricultural landscape
   

5. 5.it is possible to increase soil fertility without the use of chemicals… [protecting] soils from erosion, pollution, and acidification…  increasing soil organic matter where necessary…
   

6. 6.farmers [are enabled] to control pests and weeds – without the use of expensive chemical pesticides that can harm our soil, water and ecosystems, and the health of farmers and consumers
   

7. 7.ecological farming creates resilience: it strengthens our agriculture, and effectively adapts our food system to changing climatic conditions and economic realities.”
   

Ecological farming therefore, is not a return to the past, as some of its simplistic critiques say, but rather, as stated by the Greenpeace paper, it “combines modern science and innovation with respect for nature and biodiversity.”

The paper proceeds by providing some supporting arguments for the seven principles presented that are based on facts and science.

The roots of food sovereignty rest in the social movement spearheaded by La Via Campesina. It condemns the bottlenecks present in the structure of our food system because of the extreme concentration of power at the levels of agricultural inputs, agricultural commodities trade and food retail. But food sovereignty has also been referred to in the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) as early as 2008. Practical implications of food sovereignty listed by the Greenpeace paper include: “land reforms, reshaping and strengthening local and regional markets, and recognising the central role of women in farming”.

The paper also provides evidence that goes against what critiques of ecological farming usually put forward to reject it as a realistic option (i.e. decrease of productivity and production).

For example it quotes several reports that show that adopting ecological farming or organic agricultural techniques leads to an increase of yields and to an improvement of farmers’ livelihood in intertropical as well as in temperate and mediterranean areas, provided appropriate practices are adopted.

Reducing unsustainable means of using food (e.g. food waste, feeding animals from which we draw animal products), the report says, could also provide food for up to 2.4 billion additional people, without having to increase yields through unsustainable technologies that threaten land and water resources and biodiversity.

The paper pursues by listing several additional advantages of ecological farming for biodiversity, particularly with regard to seed use and management, crop associations and diversity, and their implications for our diet, the health of the soil and the sustainable management of its fertility, the quality of our water, climate change and the integrated management of pests.

At hungerexplained.org, we welcome this paper and the evidence/arguments it presents in a very clear and well illustrated manner. A must read for all those of us who feel that we need to fix our food system.

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To know more:

1. -Baker, M. et al, Ecological farming - The seven principles of a food system that has people at its heart, Greenpeace, 2015
   

2. -International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), Agriculture at a Crossroads, Global report, 2009
   

Earlier articles on hungerexplained.org related to the topic:

1. -For a more sustainable agriculture : three myths to debunk, 2015
   

2. -A solution to combat climate change: an agriculture that stores carbon in the soil, 2015
   

3. -Researchers show that organic agriculture generates more economic value than conventional agriculture, 2015
   

4. -France: another agriculture is possible, 2015
   

Last update:    September 2015

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