Journal of Ecosystem & Ecography
Open Access

Research Article

Agroecology: Principles for the Conversion and Redesign of Farming Systems

Nicholls CI¹, Altieri MA^2* and Vazquez L³

¹Department of International and Area Studies, University of California, Berkeley, USA, Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (SOCLA)-Colombia

²Department of Environmental Science, Policy and Management, University of California, Berkeley, USA, Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (SOCLA)-Chile

³Latin American Scientific Society of Agroecology (SOCLA)-Cuba

*Corresponding Author:

Altieri MA
Department of Environmental Science
Policy and Management
University of California
Berkeley, USA
Latin American Scientific
Society of Agroecology (SOCLA)-Chile
Tel: 510-642-9802
E-mail: agroeco3@berkeley.edu

Received date: February 22, 2016; Accepted date: March 30, 2016; Published date: April 05, 2016

Citation: Nicholls CI, Altieri MA, Vazquez L (2016) Agroecology: Principles for the Conversion and Redesign of Farming Systems. J Ecosys Ecograph S5:010. doi:10.4172/2157-7625.S5-010

Copyright: © 2016 Nicholls CI, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Modern agroecosystems require systemic change, but new redesigned farming systems will not emerge from simply implementing a set of practices (rotations, composting, cover cropping, etc.) but rather from the application of already well defined agroecological principles. These principles can be applied using various practices and strategies, each having different effects on productivity, stability and resiliency of the target farming system. By breaking the monoculture nature of farming systems, agroecological diversification aims at mimicking ecological processes leading to optimal nutrient cycling and organic matter turnover, soil biological activation, closed energy flows, water and soil conservation and balanced pest-natural enemy populations. All these processes are key maintaining the agroecosystem’s health, productivity and its self-sustaining capacity. By enhancing functional biodiversity, a major goal of the conversion process is achieved: strengthening the weak ecological functions in the agroecosystem, allowing farmers to gradually eliminate inputs altogether by relying instead on ecological processes and interactions.

Keywords