The conservation of biological diversity and U.S. agriculture: Goals, institutions, and policies

Abstract

This article attempts to provide a preliminary assessment of how agricultural and related policy research has generally neglected biological conservation, the significance of the policy changes now underway, and the need for further policy changes. Policy changes are identified which could promote increased cooperation between agricultural and conservation biology researchers and practitioners. The policy and policy research implications of seriously pursuing a new and challenging goal for agriculture are explored. A review and examination of past U.S. agricultural goals, institutions, and policies suggests that the legacy of agriculture's gradual transformation over the past two centuries, and particularly the past several decades, has led to an increasing genetic impoverishment of farm habitats and rural landscapes. New national goals concerning genetic diversity of farm habitats and rural landscapes are defined as ecological goals and point to developing and adaptive and resilient food and agricultural system as part of the larger need to develop a more adaptive and resilient society. Agricultural goals, and the institutionalization that has led to the attainment of goals for great crop productivity and high labor efficiency of industrial agriculture, have been achieved through very high energy inputs. Such agriculture is based on the availability of fossil fuel and is vulnerable to climate changes. Examples of ways to modify policy to enhance diversity include making changes in current set-aside policies, credit programs, and rangeland management. In developing policies, current paradigms should be reexamined and issues of water and energy should receive highest priority. The aesthetic value and diversity of rural landscapes should also be considered. Strategies need to be developed for setting changes in agricultural policies that will lead to more diversified, lower-input agricultural systems.