Klimova, Alexandra (author), Rondeau, Eric (author), Andersson, Karl (author), Porras, Jari (author), Rybin, Andrei (author), and Zaslavsky, Arkady (author)
Format:
Journal article
Publication Date:
2016-11
Published:
USA: Elsevier Science Publishers
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 157 Document Number: D07540
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D08826
Notes:
Pages 1025-1044 in Rob Roggema (ed.), Agriculture in an urbanizing society volume two: proceedings of the sixth AESOP conference on sustainable food planning. United Kingdom: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. Pages 601-1274.
Hanjra, Munir A. (author), Noble, Andrew (author), Langan, Simon (author), and Lautze, Jonathan (author)
Format:
Book chapter
Publication Date:
2017
Location:
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Document Number: D08785
Notes:
Pages 15-40 in Gordon, Iain J. Prins, Herbert H.T. Squire, Geoff R. (eds.), Food production and nature conservation: conflicts and solutions. United Kingdom: Routledge, London. 348 pages.
8 pages, In the face of rapidly advancing climate change, biodiversity loss, and water scarcity, it is clear that global agriculture must swiftly and decisively shift toward sustainability. Fortunately, farmers and researchers have developed a thoroughly studied pathway to this transition: agroecological farming systems that mimic natural ecosystems, creating tightly coupled cycles of energy, water, and nutrients. A critical and underappreciated feature of agroecological systems is that they replace fossil fuel- and chemical -intensive management with knowledge-intensive management. Hence, the greatest sustainability challenge for agriculture may well be that of replacing non-renewable resources with ecologically-skilled people, and doing so in ways that create and support desirable rural livelihoods. Yet over the past century, US agriculture has been trending in the opposite direction, rapidly replacing knowledgeable people with non-renewable resources and eroding rural economies in the process. Below, we suggest how US policy could pivot to enable and support the ecologically skilled workforce needed to achieve food security in the face of climate change.
