Agroecosystems

Agroecosystem Management

Agroecosystem management, in terms of its ecological components, rests upon the principles of sustainable yields, natural pest regulation through diverse rotations, and building biologically rich soils. The goal is to design farming systems that more closely mimic natural systems. Agroecologists seek to optimize the recycling of nutrients and organic matter, creating an energy loop that requires minimal (if any) synthetic inputs.

Special features of agroecosystems include crop rotations, which provide not only crop nutrients but also help to break up the life cycles of weeds, pests, and disease, reducing the need for herbicides, pesticides, and fungicides. Polyculture, where multiple crops inhabit a single field to enhance yields and biomass, is another important feature of agroecosystem management.

Agroforestry systems, in which trees and/or livestock cohabitate and compliment each other, are also gaining in popularity among agroecologists. Animal integration, in which livestock are integrated into a farming system, is yet another feature of ecosystem management. Livestock help to not only increase biomass output, but they also play an important role in recycling nutrients (such as the nitrogenrich manure that can be applied on fields to fertilize crops). The ultimate goal is to integrate components in a manner that increases overall biodiversity, improves biological efficiency, and maintains the selfregulating capacity of the agroecosystem.

Social Components

Agroecosystems also have a social component. Recent conceptions of agroecology draw as much from the social sciences as the biological sciences. Wellmanaged agroecosystems are designed to ensure that their development processes are locally controlled [Page 19]by indigenous knowledge, with the idea that in the end, no one knows the local natural systems better than the area farmers. Beyond this, agroecology seeks to strengthen communities by encouraging local partnerships between people and development groups by teaching principles of agroecology to community members.

The popularity of agroecology has increased in recent years with the rise of sustainable and organic farming. These alternative models of food production rest upon many of the principles of agroecology. As an indication of their growing relationship, a number of U.S. universities are offering degrees in the areas of agroecology and sustainable agriculture, such as the University of Illinois, Pennsylvania State University, and the University of California at Santa Cruz. Principles of agroecology are also being used around the globe under the guise of sustainable development, so as to increase the self-sufficiency of rural inhabitants in less developed countries as they work to build sustainable local food systems.