The hybridization of agriculture

Editor's Note: The following is an adapted excerpt of a contribution chapter from Agritecture to an upcoming book advocating global food reform: Menu B, written by a who's who of global food reformists and changemakers that have been aggregated by Marc Buckely, SDG Advocate Expert World Economic Forum Global Food Reformist. Read more HERE. 

Experts say that this transition to new manufacturing processes has pushed earth out of the Holocene - an epoch with predictable climate patterns that allowed humanity to thrive for around two million years - and into the Anthropocene - an epoch in which humanity's population and economic development impact the Earth's global environment in a distinct and measurable way.

Image sourced from Eden Green

In other words, since the 1950s, the increased industrialization, urbanization, and globalization of humanity have collectively overstepped the planetary boundaries in which we know humans can thrive. 

The very resources upon which we fundamentally depend, such as food, water and energy, are being depleted faster than ever. As such, we are now in an unprecedented time, a phrase repeated much too often, that demands creativity in return for continued survival.

The fact of the matter remains, however, that any action we take has consequences — some are good, some are bad, and some are somewhere in between. Moreover, the determinants of these consequences can shape-shift, which adds a layer of increased complexity.

Let's take a look at what this means for agriculture.

The increased globalization of the food system over the past 50 years has spread the false narrative to many governments and businesses that a one-size-fits-all conventional approach to agriculture is the solution to food insecurity. In other words, bigger is better and yield is king. 

Continue reading.

Written by: Sustainability Analyst, Brakeley Bryant & Founder & CEO, Henry Gordon Smith

Header photo: Rendering sourced from Richard Aguilar

Source: Agritecture