The conventional approach to agricultural or what also might be
termed the green revolution model, i.e., monocultures of genetically
improved crops supplied with ample agrochemical inputs, has, as an
ideal, the image of endless fields of ripening grains. In many eyes, this
signifies a forthcoming plenitude and a dominion over nature.
Not as utopian as the image projects, ecological shortcomings abound.
These include the loss of natural habitats and in-residing native flora
and fauna.
Additionally, nature has proven less subservient than suggested.
Unabated winds can flatten unprotected grain fields, crop-eating insects
and plant destroying diseases can thrive in large-scale monocrops, highvolume
harvests exhaust soils, and the post-harvest situation, fields,
often lacking a protective cover, expose the land to the forces of erosion.
When magnified through large-scale farming, such shortcomings can
have a broad and undesired impact.
Techniques and new directions have been proposed to overcome the
environmental shortfalls. Born of a desire for differentiated alternatives,
non-mainstream labeling can carry political and policy baggage.
A case in point, the term organic farming is more an expression of
principle than clearly demarcated field practices. Other labels are also
weak in applied meaning.
If agroecology is to serve as an umbrella discipline, it should come
without predilections or preconceived notions. A few have crept in. It
should be noted that agroecology is not exclusively the control of herbivore
insects without synthetic chemicals, not uniquely the application
of natural compost in a backyard garden, nor is it solely within
the realm of the organic producer.
Behind and linking the field-ready expressions of ecological and
environmental concern, there lurks a larger field of study. At the minimum,
there is the imperative that agriculture and farms, while being
productive, also present a nature-friendly face. Less noted, but of concern,
agroecology should have social and cultural meaning, i.e., how