Redesigning Agroecosystems

An important premise of agroecology is that, in order to transition toward sustainability, it is necessary to redesign agroecosystems so that they can function on the basis of a different set of ecological principles. These principles are grounded in interaction, complementarity, and relationships in systems that give the ability to resist the problems that industrial agriculture controls with an impressive array of inputs and practices. Even organic systems depending primarily on the substitution of these inputs and practices with those accepted by organic certification organizations encounter the same set of problems, especially when the cropping system is reduced in diversity. Increase the size and scale of the operation, as has become the case for some commercial organic monocultures, and input intensity goes up even more as problems become more difficult to manage. Working collaboratively, teams of farmers and agroecologists have begun to test these different designs and, in the process, are gathering scientific data and practical experience that provide examples of how the redesign process can work. The research experiences presented in this issue of JSA are some of these examples. By adding covercrops, associated and intercropped species, or alternative rotations, there is a chance for some of the complexity needed for ecosystem processes to be successful. Be it for pest management, disease control, or fertility maintenance, these processes internalize input management and reduce the dependence of the agroecosystem on external sources. JSA hopes that more farmer and researcher teams will continue to test more complexity and interactions, and that the journal can be a place to report their results.