Diversified farming systems for changing climate and consumerism

Abstract

When we think about environmental degradation and climate change, the first things that come to our mind are cars and factories, but not how we grow, consume and dispose of. If we collectively put these things together, we account for nearly one-third of the human-induced climate change. That certainly put agriculture at the crossroads of system-level transformation towards healthy food, people, and the planet. Such food-system transformation requires a paradigm shift towards nature-friendly nutrition-rich diverse fruits and vegetables, and it should constitute at least 30-50% of our food plate from the current average of less than 10%. The only way left for us is to return to an ecological intensification with feedback loops that inter-links vital elements of complex agroecological transition within the planetary boundary limits. Farming in harmony with nature, carbon-neutral, enrich micro-hydrology and restore biodiversity to co-benefits the people and the planet. The context-specific regenerative agriculture practices that are ecologically sustainable and economically viable found to be best fit models for smallholder farmers and home gardeners. It is based on the sound ecological philosophy of production follows structure, composition and functions, and where ecosystem services and well being become default returns on their own. The recent advances in digital augmentation with ICTs enabled citizen science to provide powerful tools to aid the integration of frontier technology with indigenous knowledge. This leads to an ideal agro-ecosystem integrated with diverse crops, multi-purpose tree species, animals, and peoples in collective action to restore broken food systems and combat climate change