Agroecology Information

. . . . Agroecology: Ecological Processes in Sustainable Agriculture by Steve Gliessman very clearly and thoroughly educates the reader in the principles of ecology, while making the case that to approach sustainability, agriculture must be ecologically based. Gliessman (with contributing writer Robin Krieger) has written an excellent upper division undergraduate and beginning graduate student text for students of agricultural ecology. But the text is equally valuable to agriculture students whose course of study follows more conventional dogma; graduate students in rural sociology and agricultural economics; and those planning careers dealing with food security, community development, and agricultural policy issues. The book is well organized and, although the roles of animals in natural and agroecosystems are discussed, concentrates on plant agricultural ecology. The liberal use of special topics and case studies provides real-world application of principles being discussed. There is a very good annotated reading list at the end of each chapter and a useful glossary at the end of the book. . . . Traditional Meso-American agricultural systems, as well as those from developing and developed countries, are used as examples of sustainable, low-input agroecosystems. Knowledge of these systems and the lessons we can learn from them are invaluable. It would have been helpful to include additional case studies on sustainable approaches to commodity crop ecosystems like corn, soybean, or cotton, albeit presently monocultures, to demonstrate that the application of ecological principles is relevant to large-scale conventional agriculture. The author does, however, mention a long-term approach to addressing the annual monoculture of grains. He includes a special topic on efforts by The Land Institute in Salina, Kansas, to develop a perennial grain crop that would eliminate many environmental problems caused by continuous mono-cropping of annual grains. Even with development of a perennial grain crop, there will still be demand for annual grains like corn and wheat, and thus sustainable approaches to their production must still be developed. Agricultural food and fiber production systems can continue along conventional precepts, or develop with the understanding that they are complex ecosystems with attributes that we can work against or work with. Agroecology: Ecological Processes in Sustainable Agriculture clearly points out the reasons why the former is not sustainable - and takes a great deal of control out of the hands of farmers - and why the latter is the only way to approach sustainability for agricultural ecosystems and the larger ecosystems in which they reside.