The ability of agroecology to help meet the challenges of increasing food production while protecting biodiversity and reducing carbon emissions is the subject of an article in The Ecologist.

Professor Henrietta Moore, Director of the Institute for Global Prosperity at University College London, writes that “industrial agriculture has become a prime driver of many of the world's most serious problems” and is entrapping small farmers in poverty.

Monoculture agriculture has reduced biodiversity and plant genetic diversity. Humans now rely on only a fraction of the total number of edible plants and animals available to us. Current agricultural practices may be able to increase yields in the short term but they are impacting on soil health and contributing significantly to carbon dioxide emissions.

Agroecology, says Moore, is “gaining more and more acceptance internationally.” It integrates the ecology of the entire food system, encompassing ecological, economic and social dimensions.

Agroecological farming approaches include agroforestry, biological control, water harvesting, intercropping and many other practices which are often rooted in traditional farming techniques.

In 2011 the UN Special rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter, released a report showing that agroecology is an effective way of boosting global food security.

One success story comes from Tanzania, where 350,00 hectares of land have been rehabilitated over 2 decades through agroforestry, resulting in household incomes increasing by as much as $500 a year.

Agroecology is an idea “whose time has come,” concludes Moore

Read the full story: Can agroecology save us from 'scorched-earth' agriculture?