Innovations Happen on the (Arid) Margins: Farmers as Innovators in Fostering Agro-Ecological Resilience and Crop Selection in the Face of Climate Change

The challenges of climate change, water scarcity and land conversion and the social unrest they are generating are literally restructuring the face of agriculture in many regions of the world. While fatalism, denial, or anxiety are still common reactions among the public at large in response to climate change, we wish to celebrate the many innovations emerging both from farmers themselves and from agroecologists working with them in arid and semi-arid landscapes. These innovations may soon have relevance for fostering resilience in agricultural systems well beyond deserts themselves. Many of these resource-conserving innovations build on the concepts such as biomimicry which metaphorically explore functional adaptations to desert heat and drought that have emerged among desert plants, habitats and cultures over the millennia. Importantly, they integrate “citizen science” with both appropriate technologies and fruitful means of supporting farmer-scientist collaborations. Crop plant selection by farmers and collaborating breeders is now being done in the context of both traditional and novel agroecosystems that draw upon rainwater harvesting, greywater and brackish water reuse for greater resilience and less dependence on external inputs. Examples will be offered from the Sonoran Desert in Arizona, with its 4100 year history of drought-adapted agriculture, and from other semi-arid and arid landscapes in Africa and the Middle East, The social processes of recognizing, fostering and honoring innovations made by farmers and their collaborators may be as important to the success of these innovations as are the agro-technologies themselves. Given the severity and pervasiveness of climate change impacts on agriculture already upon us, isn’t it time to unleash more of the creative and adaptive capacities of farmers themselves through democratic and collaborative processes?