Holistic Agroecology Learning Landscape in Farming and Food Systems.

Learning to embrace complexity and change in future agroecosystems requires holistic focus on production, economic, environmental, and social dimensions that are both complex and unpredictable. We have organized field and classroom learning activities that recognize importance of spatial, temporal, and conceptual hierarchies of thinking that translate into practices and systems that can be resilient and sustainable in tomorrow’s agricultural environment. In addition to biogeochemical factors that impact system design, we incorporate critical socioeconomic and political aspects into students’ exploration of current systems and conceptualizing future farming and food systems that must consider scarcities in land and non-renewable resources, population pressures, and changing consumer demands. Departing from discipline-based courses and ‘monoculture thinking’, we mentor students in a summer course Agroecosystems Analysis in the process of interviewing farmers about current systems and exploring plans for the future. Important in the process is learning about resource constraints, land potentials, human resources, and individual farmer ingenuity in projecting their farming operation into the next generation. Both short-term goals and long-term realities are often interpreted through the farmer’s world view of ecology and production, and how incommensurate objectives require trade-offs that are negotiated with all players associated with each farm’s unique location and financial situation. In the process, we applaud the knowledge of farmers as a crucial source of information and inspiration, while linking science and practice in the evaluation of current systems and design of those that are likely to be successful in the future. The framework for analysis includes examination of integrative agroecological practices at the field level, evaluation of sustainability at the farm level, observation of farms as components of rural landscapes, and speculation of long-term viability of rural communities in the face of consolidation of farms and globalization of markets. These concepts inform our design of educational activities using agroecology as an organizing principle.