Introduction
Growing sustainable food (By Roman Synkevych on unsplash.com)
The unsustainability of the current paradigm of industrialized agriculture has several consequences such as the loss of soil productivity, water and air pollution and the loss of biodiversity. FAO estimates that in the coming decades there will be a 60% increase in food demand as a result of the increase of population and economic growth. Given this reality, a paradigm shift for agriculture is urgent.
Sustainable agriculture emerges as an alternative to the current model and aims to ensure the economic profitability of farms while ensuring ecosystem protection, environmental impacts reduction and a global food security for all. There are some types of sustainable agriculture that have been developed over the years, namely, organic farming, biodynamic farming, natural farming and permaculture.
This session plan aims students to be able to reflect on the negative impacts caused by the current industrialized agriculture and to think critically about some alternatives to sustainable agriculture.
Learning Objectives
- The learner knows principles of sustainable agriculture
- The learner understands the need for sustainable agriculture to combat hunger and malnutrition worldwide and knows about other strategies to combat hunger, malnutrition and poor diets
- The learner is able to communicate on the issues and connections between combating hunger and promoting sustainable agriculture
- The learner is able to reflect on their own values and deal with diverging values, attitudes and strategies in relation to combating hunger and malnutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture
- The learner is able to evaluate and implement actions personally and locally to promote sustainable agriculture
- The learner is able to change their production and consumption practices in order to contribute to the combat against hunger and the promotion of sustainable agriculture
- Systems thinking competency
- Critical thinking competency
Instructions
Step 1) Introduction (10 minutes)
- Start the session explaining the scope of the project or the educational process in question. The SDG 2 refers to hunger eradication – show the short video to introduce the SDG from resources section.
- Briefly introduce the SDG through a short introductory reflection based on the vídeo:
Ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, help to maintain ecosystems, strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, and progressively improve land and soil quality is one of the targets needed for hunger eradication. Do you think that current agricultural practices are sustainable?
Step 2) Impacts of Monoculture/ Industrialized Agriculture (25 minutes)
Show several images of healthy, rich and diverse ecosystems and monoculture crop/ industrialized agriculture (some examples in resources section).
Ask the students: What do you see? What do these systems have in common? What are their differences?
Work Group
Divide the class into 4 groups and ask them to answer the following questions:
- How do farmers prevent crops from being damaged or destroyed by pests?
- What can be added to the soil to enable plants to grow faster?
- How do crops get water besides from rain? (irrigation) What is required to transport water through irrigation systems?
- What machines do farmers use to manage cropland? What powers those machines?
- What impacts can these practices have on the environment (soil, water, atmosphere, biodiversity,...)?
- Do you think this type of practice is sustainable? Why?
Reflection
- Ask students to share their thoughts on the topic.
- Briefly systematize the impacts of monoculture and industrialized agriculture on the environment and society.
Step 3) Analysis and Presentation of types of sustainable agriculture (75 minutes)
Is there an alternative to monoculture and industrialized agriculture? - Divide the class and explain that each group will study a different type of agriculture (find some examples of case studies in resources section) and make a presentation of it in a creative way, answering the following questions:
- What is this type of agriculture?
- What are the benefits of this type of agriculture? What are the negative aspects?
- The increase in population and the economic growth expected in the coming decades, will put a strong pressure on agriculture. Do you think sustainable agriculture can meet this challenge? Why? How?
- How can your personal choices as a consumer contribute to promote sustainable agriculture?
Distribute the four case studies: Organic Agriculture; Biodynamic Agriculture; Natural Agriculture; Permaculture.
Some examples of creative presentation ideas can be role-play; a short video; a poster;...
Step 4) Conclusion (10 minutes)
Conclude the session explaining what sustainable agriculture consists of and systematizes knowledge about the types of sustainable agriculture studied presented by the students.
- CALL TO ACTION 1
Evaluating the Sustainability of a Local Farm - To explore how sustainable practices are implemented, students will visit a local garden or a farm. Ahead of time, students will research sustainable farming techniques and create a checklist of aspects of agriculture (e.g., water use, pest management, waste management) and a list of questions for the farmer about methods (e.g., How does your farm prevent pests from damaging crops? Do you use pesticides?). Students will take notes on the farmer’s responses. After the trip, students will write a summary explaining what approaches the farm took and why, how sustainable those approaches are, and what could be done to make the farm more sustainable.
- CALL TO ACTION 2
Sustainable Design Project (Science) - Students will do a research on different sustainable agriculture approaches, such as organic farming or permaculture, and design a plan for a sustainable garden or farm in their neighborhood. They can share their work with local authorities in order to raise awareness for this practice and how it can be beneficial to the community.
Notes for Educators
Estimated Total Duration: 2 hours + Call to Action
Preparation
The facilitators can search for more information about the differents types of sustainable agriculture in the following websites:
- Organic Agriculture: http://www.fao.org/organicag/oa-home/en/
- Biodynamic Agriculture: https://www.biodynamics.com/what-is-biodynamics
- Natural Agriculture: https://shumei-international.org/
- Permaculture: https://permaculture.org.uk
Variations
- If most students are unaware of the answers about impacts of monoculture/ industrialized agriculture, allow time to search the information on the web. Careful not to give too much time, it would be ineffective. Here some links where they can search for information:
- As an alternative, facilitators can show the part of the documentary “Tomorrow” related to agriculture or ask students to view and summarize the documentary.
- Instead of doing the work groups during the class, students can search for each type of sustainable agriculture as homework and present their research in a next session.
Further Information
Industrialized Agriculture
After the end of World War II, the agricultural sector changed dramatically. Agricultural productivity increased due to the development of new technologies, mechanization, increased use of chemicals, specialization and government policies that favored the maximization of production and the reduction of food prices. These changes have enabled fewer farmers to produce more food at lower prices.
Although these developments have had many positive effects and reduced many risks in agriculture, they also cause significant environmental and social costs such as:
- Decline in soil productivity and a loss of topsoil due to wind and water erosion;
- Excessive use of surface and ground water for irrigation;
- Contamination of groundwater through fertilizers and pesticides;
- Air pollution and the emission of greenhouse gases, which in turn contribute to climate change;
- Loss of biodiversity and wildlife due to land use changes;
- Reduction of genetic diversity due to the dependence on uniform crops and livestock breeds;
- Neglect of the living and working conditions of agricultural workers;
- New threats to human health and security due to the spread of new diseases;
- Concentration of market power in a few agri-food industries;
- Disintegration of rural communities.
Sustainable Agriculture
The high levels of hunger and malnutrition that still exist worldwide and unsustainable human activity represent a major challenge for agriculture. With the increase in population and changes in food diets in the coming decades, it is expected that agriculture will need to increase its production by 60% by 2050. At the same time, about 1/3 of the food produced (1.3 billion tonnes / year) is wasted throughout the supply chain, with huge financial and environmental costs.
To face these challenges, sustainable agriculture emerges as an alternative that aims to contribute to nourishing healthy ecosystems and supporting the sustainable management of soils, water and natural resources, ensuring world food security. To be sustainable, agriculture must meet the needs of current and future generations for its products and services, while ensuring financial profitability, environmental health and economic and social equity. The global transition to sustainable agriculture will require major improvements in resource efficiency, environmental protection and systems resilience. Sustainable agriculture requires a system of global governance that takes food security concerns into account in commercial and agricultural policies to promote local and regional agricultural markets.
Thus, to achieve the goals of SDG 2, a paradigm shift in agriculture is necessary. There are several trends of sustainable agriculture that aim to be an alternative to the current model, namely organic agriculture, biodynamic agriculture, natural agriculture and permaculture.
Organic Agriculture
It emerges as an alternative to industrialized agriculture and is the most recognized trend of sustainable agriculture. It aims to integrate human activities within ecosystems limits and maintain soil productivity. To this end, organic farming does not use chemicals on its farms, such as fertilizers and synthetic pesticides. Organic production and labeling of organic products are regulated through Regulation (EU) 2018/848 of the European Parliament and of the Council.
However, since this type of agriculture does not use certain factors of production, it is considered as limiting by many defenders of sustainable agriculture and who therefore prefer to support other types of sustainable agriculture, such as permaculture and biodynamic agriculture.
Biodynamic Agriculture
Developed by the Austrian Rudolf Steiner in 1924, this type of agriculture considers farms as organisms that should be managed holistically in order to guarantee the integrity of the farm. The recycling and reuse of resources are essential, which is why animal and plant production are usually associated. Biodynamic agriculture emphasizes the importance of preparations based on plants, minerals and excrements and also the coordination of activities with the astrological phases. Currently, biodynamic agriculture certification already exists, although it is not to the same extent as organic farming. This is an agricultural current that is being increasingly studied by the scientific community.
Natural Agriculture
This area of sustainable agriculture began in the 1970s and is based on the experience of Japanese microbiologist Masanobu Fukuoka. It requires a reduction in the control and manipulation of the agricultural system, letting nature do its part. This author defends practices such as direct sowing, no weeding and no use of agrochemicals. Natural agriculture gave rise to several sustainable practices and it is considered the origin of permaculture.
Permaculture
This term was first introduced by Australian Bill Mollison and means "permanent agriculture". Permaculture corresponds to the ecological engineering of agricultural systems, with the objective of creating agricultural systems that “self-perpetuate”, as they are ecologically stable with a reduced intervention. This corresponds to a production planning strategy in order to take advantage of local conditions and resources in the most efficient way possible.
Role of individuals in food production
How can individuals support sustainable agriculture? There are several ways to support sustainable agriculture, including through the purchase of certified products or the purchase of products from small local producers. In addition, individuals can also participate in food production through gardening or community garden projects. Community gardens are collaborative projects in shared open spaces, where participants contribute to the maintenance of the garden and receive part of the products. Gardening offers many benefits beyond the consumption of fruits and vegetables. Gardeners are involved in physical activities, learning new skills and creating green spaces. Gardeners also learn the difficulties inherent in agricultural production and the work required to produce food.
Sources
- MacDonald, R., & Reitmeier, C. (2017). Sustainability of the Food System. Understanding Food Systems, 287–338. doi:10.1016/b978-0-12-804445-2.00008-9
- http://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals/overview/fao-and-the-post-2015-development-agenda/sustainable-agriculture/en/
- https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/sustainable-agriculture-23562787/
- https://www.quercus.pt/artigos-agricultura-sustentavel/3115-tipos-de-agricultura-sustentavel
- https://www.foodspan.org/