Agroecology
Agroecology
Agroecology consists of the application of the principles of ecological protection for the production of food, fuel, fiber and drugs, as well as the management of agro-systems, according to the Guidelines of the World Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on agroecology. Agroecology is an agricultural production system which, drawing its fundamental principles from ecology (and therefore on a strictly scientific basis), follows the criteria as faithfully as possible, transferring them to the agricultural, livestock and forestry sectors. Agroecology is a discipline that however, it does not stop only at the organizational and productive aspects but must necessarily also address the relationships between production and consumption, agri-food education, transport, supply chains and distribution processes. Therefore, suitable criteria cannot be applied. Agroecology without respecting the criteria of Food Sovereignty, as stated for the first time in April 1996 at at the international conference of the coalition, held in Tlaxcala (Mexico), to then be officially proposed during the Forum parallel to the World Food Summit of the FAO in Rome, in November of the same year.
Agroecology is therefore an organizational model that, involving ecosystems, territories and sociability unite them in a single vision, thus completing the concept of Sustainable Development in a complete and integrated way. In agroecology we finally come to realize the perfect balance of Nature, definitively abandoning the use of chemistry and biocides, as regulators of production systems not in line with the thermodynamic principles of the ecosystem, which are based on biodiversity, mutuality, subsidiarity and the sharing of energy roles. In agro-ecological systems, production models with minimal environmental impact are also realized, at low energy expenditure and high efficiency of process returns. The agroecology is the only productive model capable of guaranteeing the food needs of the future and capable of ensuring healthy, nutritious and culturally appropriate food, the resources to produce it and the ability to maintain itself and the companies that adopt it. To comply to the dictates of agroecology it is necessary, to play with strength, to change therefore also the nutritional habits, abandoning the obsolete criterion of agricultural and food specializations that impoverish humanity and the Planet.
Guido Bissanti