Abstract
There is increasing recognition in academic circles of the importance of adaptive governance for the sustainability of social-ecological systems, but little examination of specific implications for the 34% of land-use where human activities are pervasive but potentially commensurate with functioning ecosystems: agricultural production systems. In this paper, we argue for the need to view food systems and agro-ecosystems as multi-scalar complex adaptive systems and identify five key challenging characteristics of such systems: multi-causality; cumulative impacts; regime shifts; teleconnections and mismatch of scales. These characteristics are necessary features of multi-scalar adaptive systems, and apply equally to social and natural subsystems. We discuss the implications of these characteristics for agricultural production systems and consider how governance can rise to these challenges. We present five case studies that highlight these issues: pollinator declines; payments for ecosystem services; pest control and pesticide resistance; downstream aquatic systems in Tasman Bay, New Zealand; and riparian buffers in Puget Sound, USA. From these case studies we derive recommendations for managing agricultural systems, both specific and general. Ultimately, adaptive governance of agro-ecosystems will likely hinge upon three paradigm shifts: viewing farmers and ranchers not only as food producers but also as land and water managers; seeking not yield maximization but rather resilient management of food ecosystems; and critically, as it transcends the production-system literature, engaging broad audiences not only as consumers but also citizens.
Highlights
Agriculture represents the single largest driver of environmental impacts globally [1,2,3], and further growth in food production is on a collision course with sustainability goals, including Aichi Targets for biodiversity (e.g., Strategic Goal C: Safeguarding ecosystems) and some Sustainable Development Goals (e.g., Goal 15: Protecting life on land)
Nutrient cycling to maintain soil fertility has been largely replaced by chemical fertilizers, pest control has largely been supplanted by synthetic pesticides, and diverse native pollinators have been occluded by domesticated honeybees
Agricultural production systems operate in the face of drastic ecological and social changes, which make it all the more essential to approach them using a lens of complex adaptive systems (CAS) that seeks robustness over efficiency
Summary
Agriculture represents the single largest driver of environmental impacts globally [1,2,3], and further growth in food production is on a collision course with sustainability goals, including Aichi Targets for biodiversity (e.g., Strategic Goal C: Safeguarding ecosystems) and some Sustainable Development Goals (e.g., Goal 15: Protecting life on land). Agricultural production systems operate in the face of drastic ecological and social changes (e.g., climate change, demographic changes), which make it all the more essential to approach them using a lens of complex adaptive systems (CAS) that seeks robustness over efficiency. To consider more broadly the lessons of CAS for agriculture, we have distilled from these other literatures five characteristics that are helpful to understand change in social-ecological systems. We discuss the ways in which agricultural systems operate as CAS, considering each of the five factors in turn with a case study for each If we are to effectively manage agricultural production systems, we will need a clear understanding of how these systems operate and how they might be governed more effectively
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