A comparison of traditional and conventional agricultural models | Traditional craft horticultural production subsistence agriculture |
Conventional intensive industrial agriculture mass production agribusiness |
survival of the local community, risk aversion: don't put all your eggs in one basket, constant supply of basic food needs first, then "luxuries" | maximization of production and profit based on economic rationality & efficiency | |
a belief that the earth is alive, a more gentle manipulation - by hand | the soil is considered to be dead, intensive mechanized tillage with heavy machinery | |
naturally variable rainfall, some irrigation | irrigation | |
natural organic, fallow time, nutrient cycling, polyculture symbiosis | synthetic petrochemical fertilizer | |
diverse seeds are locally developed, crossbreeding and diversity for risk aversion requires diverse management practices. | mass produced hybrid seeds are imported, genetic manipulation and uniformity for maximum yields and standardization of management practices. | |
natural predators and polyculture resilience | petrochemical pesticides, genetic manipulation | |
hand weeding, polyculture resilience | petrochemical herbicides, genetic manipulation | |
intimate knowledge of the local ecosystem passed down, skillful but gentle manipulation of the ecosystem, very labor intensive work at a variety of tasks | little specific local knowledge, wholesale transfer of "technology" devised and diffused from central point - just read the label, mechanization with fossil fuels replaces most human and animal labor | |
agroecology: a diverse and complex mixture of plants in balance with the natural environment. resilient, automatically corrects for annual fluctuations, imitation of the environment's flora and fauna makes for a sustainable living system | conventional monoculture: "food production is treated like an
industrial process in which individual plants assume the role of miniature
factories" the individual plant grows in a sterile, stable environment created with massive artificial inputs and energy |
Sources:
Plant illustrations by Mary Frances Jackson
Gliessman, Stephen, 1998, Agroecology: Ecological Processes in Sustainable Agriculture Chelsea, MI; Sleeping Bear Press