An Ecological Approach to Production Agriculture

Row-crop agriculture is one of the most extensive and closely coupled natural– human systems and has extraordinary implications for human welfare and environmental well-being. The continued intensification of row-crop agriculture provides food for billions and, for at least the past 50 years, has slowed (but not stopped) the expansion of cropping onto lands valued for conservation and other environmental services. Nevertheless, intensification has also caused direct harm to the environment: The escape of reactive nitrogen and phosphorus from intensively managed fields pollutes surface and coastal waters and contaminates groundwater, pesticides kill nontarget organisms important to ecological communities and ecosystems sometimes far away, soil loss threatens waterways and long-term cropland fertility, accelerated carbon and nitrogen cycling contribute to climate destabilization, and irrigation depletes limited water resources. The search for practices that attenuate, avoid, or even reverse these harms has produced a rich scientific literature and sporadic efforts to legislate solutions. That these harms persist and, indeed, are growing in the face of increased global demands for food and fuel underscores the challenge of identifying solutions that work in ways that are attractive to farmers and responsive to global markets. On one hand are farmers’ needs for practices that ensure a sustained income in the face of market