Agroecology to drastically reduce the use of chemicals
Agroecology to drastically reduce the use of chemicals
Research at a global level, especially on the reduction of plant protection products and chemical fertilizers, through the aid of agroecology, is increasingly confirmed. Authors such as Miguel Altieri, Stephen Gliessman, Vandana Shiva, Ernesto Méndez, Clara Nicholls, Pablo Tittonell, etc., through their research, increasingly demonstrate how agroecology is, at the same time, the solution to ensure more abundant production and healthier, than to reduce the use of synthetic chemistry and external inputs and safeguard the fertility of the soil.
It is enough to consult the countless publications on various scientific portals or on Google Scholar to realize that, in the agroecological sector, research has now provided incontrovertible indications and certainties.
On the other hand, the use of external inputs, such as fuels, products and synthetic fertilizers, is no longer sustainable either for the chemical and extractive sectors (linked to a linear economy that has come to an end) or for ecological systems (in which agriculture has a notable impact).
Data on the use of plant protection products tell us that, today, 4 million tons are used in the world, the global market of which reached a value of 84.5 billion dollars in 2019, with an annual growth rate of over 4% since 2015. In the European Union, consumption has recorded a slight decline in recent years, as well as in our country which still remains in second place after Spain for consumption of plant protection products.
There are still too many synthetic chemicals used by conventional European farms, especially those considered highly dangerous.
However, beyond the guidelines and regulations of the European Union, these good intentions are undermined by the action of the agrochemical and intensive agriculture lobbies, which would like to stop or, at least, slow down the necessary process towards the creation of sustainable agriculture that gives greater economic satisfaction to farmers and better guarantees for nature and society.
We remind you, in this regard, that the use of synthetic products, such as herbicides, insecticides, fungicides, fertilizers, etc. it is one of the main causes of loss of soil functionality due to the decrease in fertility, organic substance, soil microorganisms and planetary biodiversity in general.
In this direction, to make an extreme summary, replacing the principles on which ecosystems are regulated, we are gradually demolishing soil and topsoil, that is, the vitality of that thin layer that constitutes the epidermis of the planet: the ecosphere.
An ecosphere which sees, in addition to the more well-known loss of biodiversity (plants, fungi, animals), that of the microorganisms of agricultural soil which are gradually disappearing, making the soil itself increasingly desert-like.
In short, a vicious tunnel from which, with conventional agricultural systems, one cannot escape because they have low energy and ecological performance and, therefore, highly polluting.
Thus, to relaunch agriculture and its ecological function, the quality of soils must be improved with the aim of maximizing ecosystem services for global health; we must find the most effective agronomic tools and practices so that agriculture can conserve and enhance soils and not impoverish and degrade them. In this sense, some authors (including Yang et al. 2020) report the effects of different agronomic practices on soil quality. Crop diversification, intercropping, rotations but also the reduction of processing, the reduction of chemical inputs such as fertilizers and plant protection products contribute to improving the quality of the soil and making it healthier, with benefits not only for agriculture, but also for the whole planet. Management practices that replace annual crops with perennials introduce species with greater root mass, or crop rotations or the adoption of cover crops, all provide greater carbon inputs, ultimately leading to increased carbon stocks organic in the soil. The addition of soil amendments that decompose slowly, such as compost (organic material similar to soil derived from the decomposition and aerobic transformation by microorganisms of organic residues with soil amendment and fertilizing function) and biochar (vegetable carbon produced by the pyrolysis of mainly biomass plants, rich in carbon and with a soil amendment function), is also an important management strategy to increase organic carbon stocks in the soil (Paustian K. et al. 2016).
Therefore, to get out of the dangerous tunnel into which we have been led, through the use of external inputs (linked to so-called specialized agriculture), we must completely rewrite agricultural models, re-educate a new class of farmers, to free them from a dependence on external input which makes them (and consumers) the final object of an economic-financial system completely detached from the rules and principles of nature and from the energy and thermodynamic terminus in general
It is necessary to carry out that retro-innovation where all the recent scientific research (and that which is increasingly coming from various parts of the world) is combined with that knowledge which in over 10,000 years of history had formed a class of farmers who were real living encyclopedias and which the green revolution has brutally swept away, leaving us orphans of that knowledge which is humanity’s only safeguard of freedom.
Farmers expect, also through their movements, a revolution but this has begun and takes the name of agroecology: a system of guaranteeing their income, healthy food and the protection of ecological and human health without comparison.
However, we need to speed up the process through the re-education of researchers, technicians, farmers and consumers in this new discipline.
Guido Bissanti