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The Role of Agroecology in Sustainable Intensification. Report for the Land Use Policy Group

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LUPG The Role of Agroecology in Sustainable Intensification Lampkin, N.H., Pearce, B.D., Leake, A.R., Creissen, H., Gerrard, C.L., Girling, R., Lloyd, S., Padel, S., Smith, J., Smith, L.G., Vieweger, A., Wolfe, M.S. June 2015 Disclaimer This report was produced by the authors on behalf of the Land Use Policy Group (LUPG). The views expressed within the report are those of the contractors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the agencies within LUPG. This report should be quoted as: Lampkin, N.H., Pearce, B.D., Leake, A.R., Creissen, H., Gerrard, C.L., Girling, R., Lloyd, S., Padel, S., Smith, J., Smith, L.G., Vieweger, A., Wolfe, M.S., 2015. The role of agroecology in sustainable intensification. Report for the Land Use Policy Group. Organic Research Centre, Elm Farm and Game & Wildlife Conservation Trust. Corresponding author: Prof Nic Lampkin ([email protected]) Copyright The copyright to this report is the joint property of the LUPG agencies. For further information, the LUPG contact is: Cécile Smith, Scottish Natural Heritage ([email protected]) LUPG LUPG comprises Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, Scottish Natural Heritage, the Environment Agency, Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Scottish Environment Protection Agency. LUPG provides independent evidence and analysis to Government on matters of common concern related to agriculture, woodlands and other rural land uses. It seeks to develop a common understanding of the pros and cons of policy mechanisms related to land use, particularly farming and forestry. Natural England Natural England is the government’s advisor on the natural environment. We provide practical advice, grounded in science, on how best to safeguard England’s natural wealth for the benefit of everyone. Our remit is to ensure sustainable stewardship of the land and sea so that people and nature can thrive. It is our responsibility to see that England’s rich natural environment can adapt and survive intact for future generations to enjoy. www.naturalengland.org.uk Natural Resources Wales Natural Resources Wales is a Welsh Government Sponsored Body. Our Purpose is to ensure that the environment and natural resources of Wales are sustainably maintained, sustainably enhanced and sustainably used, now and in the future. http://naturalresources.wales/ Scottish Natural Heritage Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is a government body established to secure conservation and enhancement of Scotland’s unique and valued natural heritage – the wildlife, habitats and landscapes that have evolved in Scotland through long partnership between people and nature. SNH advises on policies and promotes projects that aim to improve the natural heritage and support its sustainable use. Its aim is to help people to enjoy Scotland’s natural heritage responsibly, understand it more fully and use it wisely so it can be sustained for future generations. www.snh.org.uk The Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is the leading public organisation for protecting and improving the environment in England and Wales. The EA achieves this by regulating industry, waste and water quality; managing flood risk and water resources, and improving wildlife habitats in addition to many other activities. The EA also monitors the environment, and makes the information that it collects widely available. www.environment-agency.gov.uk Northern Ireland Environment Agency The Northern Ireland Environment Agency takes the lead in advising on, and in implementing, the Government's environmental policy and strategy in Northern Ireland. The Agency carries out a range of activities, which promote the Government's key themes of sustainable development, biodiversity and climate change. Our overall aims are to protect and conserve Northern Ireland's natural heritage and built environment, to control pollution and to promote the wider appreciation of the environment and best environmental practices. www.ni-environment.gov.uk The Scottish Environment Protection Agency The Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) is Scotland's environmental regulator. SEPA's main role is to protect and improve the environment, and it does so by regulating activities that can cause pollution, and by monitoring the quality of Scotland's air, land and water. SEPA reports on the state of Scotland's environment and publishes a wide range of environmental data and information. http://www.sepa.org.uk/ FOREWORD The capacity of the global food system to support a rising world population while preserving healthy ecosystems is the subject of much debate. Going back to 2007-08, the global spike in commodity prices highlighted that demand for food was starting to rise faster than supply. A range of factors are responsible for this trend. Failures in distribution, wastage along supply chains and inequalities in purchasing power are among the structural problems affecting food availability. The ongoing rise in the global population and the expansion of the middle-class within many countries is affecting the magnitude and the nature of the demand for food, with a shift to diets which are richer in animal-proteins. The ongoing rise in global temperatures, increasingly changeable weather patterns and greater competition for land, energy and water will affect the global food system as well as the ecosystem services which underpin agriculture and the natural environment in general1. In 2009, The Royal Society addressed the challenge of how food availability might be increased without repeating the environmental damage of the mid-20th Century - and discussed the concept of ‘sustainable intensification’ of global agriculture in which yields are increased without adverse environmental impact and without the cultivation of more land. This concept was developed in more detail in the Foresight report on the Future of Food and Farming, which described sustainable intensification as “simultaneously raising yields, increasing the efficiency with which inputs are being used and reducing the negative environmental effects of food production”2. Working through the Land Use Policy Group (LUPG), the statutory conservation, countryside and environmental agencies from across the UK are able to collaborate on a wide range of issues relating to land management. As such we have been engaging with the concept of sustainable intensification for a number of years. For example, a previous LUPG report considered how the sustainable intensification concept could be applied at the level of individual farms. In particular, the project aimed to explore whether there were examples of farmers increasing yields at the same time as reducing negative environmental impacts – or even enhancing the environment on their farms. The resulting piece of work - “Exploring the Concept of Sustainable Intensification” - was undertaken by John Elliott of ADAS and Professor Les Firbank of Leeds University and published in January 2013. The final report showed that out of a sample of twenty cutting-edge farms across Great Britain, four of these appeared to be carrying out sustainable intensification according to the research methodology. The project also demonstrated the need for a range of mutually agreed indicators and metrics that can be used to assess whether or not individual farms are on a path towards sustainable intensification. A significant amount of work is currently taking place under the auspices of Defra’s Sustainable Intensification Platform. The LUPG agencies are keen to avoid duplication and fund research work only where we can add value. 1 International Assessment of Agricultural knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) (2009). Agriculture at a Crossroads: Global report 2009. FAO, GEF, UNDP, UNEP, UNESCO, the World Bank and WHO. http://www.unep.org/dewa/assessments/ecosystems/iaastd/tabid/105853/default.aspx 2 Foresight. The Future of Food and Farming (2011) Final Project Report. The Government Office for Science, London. https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/288329/11-546-future- of-food-and-farming-report.pdf In parallel with the promotion of the sustainable intensification concept, we observed that there has been a rise in interest in agro-ecology, as exemplified by a number of recent high level reports3,4. We therefore felt there would be merit in developing an understanding of the relationships between the sustainable intensification and agro-ecology concepts, the extent to which they are compatible, and whether or not agro-ecological systems and practices can form a valid path for achieving sustainable intensification. While mindful of the political and social dimensions inherent in the concept of agroecology, we chose to focus on systems and practices as these can be used to support the management of individual farms. As a result, this particular report presents evidence from a desk-based review of agro-ecological systems and practices followed by an evaluation that compares agroecological and conventional systems in terms of energy and GHG emissions, biodiversity, soil and water, profitability and productivity. We are now of the opinion that agroecology can form an integral part of sustainable intensification, although there are a number of barriers hindering the wider adoption of this kind of approach, in particular those relating to knowledge exchange. Clearly, further work is required to improve our understanding of the opportunities for agroecological systems and practices to contribute to sustainable intensification
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