Agroecology and ecological intensification for a sustainable food future

The Monitoring Agricultural Resources (MARS) Unit of the Institute for Environment and Sustainability organised a two-day workshop on agroecology and ecological intensification for a sustainable food future. Eighty participants of eighteen nationalities, coming from fourteen different countries participated. Experts in the field, from academia, governmental and non-governmental organisations, formed most of the audience. FAO representatives met alongside the European Commission, with several high-profile academics, as well as farmers and practitioners.

In the face of challenges such as climate change, biodiversity loss, soil erosion, deteriorating water quality, etc. there is a growing need for sustainable agricultural practices. The Common Agricultural Policy of the EU has increasingly addressed these issues with subsequent reforms introducing agri-environmental schemes, mandatory cross compliance, and “greening” measures as well as by allocating a substantial part of its budget to environmental practices and to climate action. Farmers who wish to practice agroecology or ecological intensification can benefit from CAP's support to investments, access to advice, as well as from various area payments. In addition, the European Innovation Partnership (EIP-AGRI) and Horizon 2020 provide opportunities for creating and sharing knowledge.

Highlights of the event included a keynote address by Professor Miguel Altieri of the University of California at Berkley, one of the most acclaimed experts of agroecology globally, and the author of more than two hundred publications and numerous books on agroecology.

Agroecology is the science of how agricultural ecosystems function, and a further step towards an integrated sustainability of the entire farm system. It can address many environmental and production challenges of agriculture. According to most experts in this field, agroecology can simultaneously deliver both public and private goods. It can provide an integrated solution to issues of agricultural yields, mitigation of environmental impacts (biodiversity, soil, water, climate change, etc.), and farming revenues. It can be a key paradigm shift that could maintain or even increase yields while respecting natural cycles of water and nutrients, preserving the soil, protecting biodiversity, water quality, and the provision of ecosystem services.

Ecological intensification (i.e., according to https://www.fp7liberation.eu/, “the optimisation of all provisioning, regulating and supporting ecosystem services in the agricultural production process”) can also contribute to these objectives, adopting a more incremental approach, in the context of a transition to a more sustainable agriculture and food system.

The workshop provided an excellent platform for debate on the extent to which such approaches can be beneficial to Europe, in particular to areas already under intensive use, as well as aspects of economic viability. It discussed principles, opportunities, and barriers.