International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food)
Newsletter 02.06.2016 

How to leave industrial agriculture behind - food systems experts urge global shift towards agroecology

Input-intensive crop monocultures and industrial-scale feedlots must be consigned to the past in order to put global food systems onto sustainable footing, according to the world's foremost experts on food security, agro-ecosystems and nutrition.

The solution is to diversify agriculture and reorient it around ecological practices, whether the starting point is highly-industrialized agriculture or subsistence farming in the world's poorest countries.

These were the key messages from IPES-Food's first major report, released today (2nd June): 'From Uniformity to Diversity: A paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems'.

Olivier De Schutter, co-chair of IPES-Food, stated: "Many of the problems in food systems are linked specifically to the uniformity at the heart of industrial agriculture, and its reliance on chemical fertilizers and pesticides."

He added: "It is not a lack of evidence holding back the agroecological alternative. It is the mismatch between its huge potential to improve outcomes across food systems, and its much smaller potential to generate profits for agribusiness firms."

The report was presented today at the 8th Trondheim Biodiversity Conference (Norway) by lead author Emile Frison, former Director General of Bioversity International.

The report asks three key questions:

1.         What are the outcomes of industrial agriculture / diversified agroecological systems?

2.         What is keeping industrial agriculture in place?

3.         How can the balance be shifted?

Frison explained that some of the key obstacles to change are about who has the power to set the agenda. "The way we define food security and the way we measure success in food systems tend to reflect what industrial agriculture is designed to deliver - not what really matters in terms of building sustainable food systems," Frison stated.

Read the full report

Read the executive summary

Read the key messages (see below), also available in French and Spanish

The International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) is an independent panel working to inform the debate on how to reform food systems. Launched in 2015, the Panel comprises environmental scientists, development economists, nutritionists, agronomists and sociologists, as well as experienced practitioners from civil society and social movements.

Website: www.ipes-food.org

Contact:nick.jacobs@ipes-food.org

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IPES-Food report (02.06.2016): From Uniformity to Diversity:
A Paradigm Shift from Industrial Agriculture to Diversified Agroecological Systems

KEY MESSAGES:

• Today’s food and farming systems have succeeded in supplying large volumes of foods to global markets, but are generating negative outcomes on multiple fronts:  widespread degradation of land, water and ecosystems; high GHG emissions; biodiversity losses; persistent hunger and micro-nutrient deficiencies alongside the rapid rise of obesity and diet-related diseases; and livelihood stresses for farmers around the world.

• Many of these problems are linked specifically to ‘industrial agriculture’: the input-intensive crop monocultures and industrial-scale feedlots that now dominate farming landscapes. The uniformity at the heart of these systems, and their reliance on chemical fertilizers, pesticides and preventive use of antibiotics, leads systematically to negative outcomes and vulnerabilities.

• Industrial agriculture and the ‘industrial food systems’ that have developed around it are locked in place by a series of vicious cycles. For example, the way food systems are currently structured allows value to accrue to a limited number of actors, reinforcing their economic and political power, and thus their ability to influence the governance of food systems.

• Tweaking practices can improve some of the specific outcomes of industrial agriculture, but will not provide long-term solutions to the multiple problems it generates.

• What is required is a fundamentally different model of agriculture based on diversifying farms and farming landscapes, replacing chemical inputs, optimizing biodiversity and stimulating interactions between different species, as part of holistic strategies to build long-term fertility, healthy agro-ecosystems and secure livelihoods, i.e. ‘diversified agroecological systems’.

• There is growing evidence that these systems keep carbon in the ground, support biodiversity, rebuild soil fertility and sustain yields over time, providing a basis for secure farm livelihoods.

• Data shows that these systems can compete with industrial agriculture in terms of total outputs, performing particularly strongly under environmental stress, and delivering production increases in the places where additional food is desperately needed. Diversified agroecological systems can also pave the way for diverse diets and improved health.

• Change is already happening. Industrial food systems are being challenged on multiple fronts, from new forms of cooperation and knowledge-creation to the development of new market relationships that bypass conventional retail circuits.

• Political incentives must be shifted in order for these alternatives to emerge beyond the margins. A series of modest steps can collectively shift the centre of gravity in food systems.

Executive Summary: http://www.ipes-food.org/images/Reports/UniformityToDiversity_ExecSummary.pdf

Full Report: http://www.ipes-food.org/images/Reports/UniformityToDiversity_FullReport.pdf