Illusory efficiency

Illusory efficiency: science disproves those who rely on GMOs and TEA

Introduction
The ecological, climate, food, and social crises of our time have a common root: the loss of a systemic vision of life and the resulting breakdown in the coevolutionary processes between natural and human systems.
Addressing these crises requires a paradigm shift: from the reductionist model, which separates production, nature, and society, to a holistic model, consistent with scientific knowledge of ecology, evolution, and complex systems.

Agriculture as an Ecological-Social System
Agriculture is an artificial system, but this does not mean it is exempt from the fundamental laws that govern living systems.
Agroecosystems:
– function through flows of solar energy,
– depend on biogeochemical cycles,
– are based on networks of biological interactions,
– are inseparable from the social systems that manage them.
Consequently, any effective agricultural policy must recognize agriculture as a complex ecological-social system, and not as a simple sum of inputs and outputs.

Agroecology and Coevolution: A Scientific Paradigm
Agroecology is based on the recognition that:
– cultivated species, animal breeds, and local varieties have coevolved with specific territories,
– human communities have coevolved with these biological resources through practices, knowledge, and institutions,
– resilience emerges from the evolutionary continuity between nature and society.
Using local genetic resources and biodiverse agricultural systems is not a nostalgic choice, but a scientifically based strategy to increase stability, adaptability, and energy efficiency.

Public Policies Oriented to Coevolution: The Case of the Sicilian Region
Some local policies are beginning to explicitly recognize these principles.
A significant example is Regional Law No. 21 of July 29, 2021, of the Sicilian Region, which moves in the direction of:
– protection of agricultural and food biodiversity,
– valorization of native varieties and breeds,
– recognition of the role of local communities as custodians of genetic resources,
– promotion of agricultural models consistent with the territories.
This approach represents a significant cultural shift: policy no longer intervenes simply to increase production, but to govern coevolutionary processes, recognizing that food security depends on the health of ecosystems and the vitality of local social systems.

GMOs, TEAs, and Alien Species: A Reductionist View of Efficiency
The introduction of GMOs, TEAs, or alien species is often based on a false assumption: that production efficiency depends on a single species, variety, or genetic trait.
From an ecological and thermodynamic perspective, this approach is misleading because Primary Productivity is an emergent property.
Primary Productivity:
– is never the result of a single organism,
– depends on the overall organization of the system,
– emerges from the interaction between plants, soil, microorganisms, water, insects, and climate.
A gene or variety does not “produce” alone: ​​it produces the system.

Thermodynamics of Complex Systems and Agroecosystems
According to the principles of thermodynamics of complex systems and dissipative systems (Prigogine): efficiency does not derive from simplification but from organization and functional diversity; systems far from equilibrium remain stable by dissipating energy in a structured manner.
Furthermore, biodiverse agroecosystems:
– capture more solar energy,
– reduce entropic losses,
– distribute energy flows across multiple trophic levels,
– maintain productivity over time without increasing dependence on external inputs.
Simplified agroecosystems, on the other hand:
– require continuous external energy inputs,
– are intrinsically unstable,
– transfer ecological and social costs into the future.

Coevolution of Human Systems and Food Sovereignty
Human communities are part of ecological systems.
The introduction of GMOs, TEA, and standardized agricultural models interfere not only with biological coevolution, but also with:
– local knowledge,
– the capacity for autonomous selection and adaptation,
– the direct management of genetic resources.
Food sovereignty is an emergent property of biodiverse, territorialized, and socially organized systems, and therefore not of supply chains dependent on a few centralized technological packages.

Programmatic Conclusion
An agri-food model consistent with life sciences must recognize that:
productivity is a property of the system, not of a single species;
efficiency arises from ecological organization;
resilience depends on the coevolution of nature and society.
Policies such as Regional Law 21/2021 of the Sicilian Region indicate that an agroecological transition is possible when policy takes a systemic, territorial, and scientifically grounded vision.
The challenge is not to increase production in the short term, but to maintain the Earth’s productive capacity in the long term, respecting the laws that govern living systems.

Guido Bissanti

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