Description
Prevailing agricultural systems in the U.S. are dominated by intensification through annual crop monocultures and high amounts of external inputs. Increased yields per unit of land have resulted but many undesirable environmental, ecological, and socioeconomic outcomes have co-occurred. Lack of resilience within intensified agricultural systems is a factor in these outcomes. Redesign of agricultural systems and changes in federal policy are needed to better support resilience in agriculture. Redesign for greater resilience must encourage adoption of agricultural systems that are diverse, perennial, circular, and include forages. We developed a transdisciplinary framework within a project orientation with a focus on crops and forages as agents of landscape transformation, and a diverse team of researchers, stakeholders and agency personnel. Our framework features a national network of farmers engaged in prevailing agriculture and practices of diverse, perennial, circular forage systems. Network farmers are collaborating with project scientists to gather on-farm data for better understanding of the opportunities and challenges to greater agricultural resilience. Over the next five years we aim to analyze the economic conditions, social structures, and public policies that prevent wider adoption of diverse perennial circular forage systems, and develop strategies to overcome these constraints.
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
A Transdisciplinary Approach to Landscape Transformation Towards Perennial, Diverse, Circular Systems: Why and How
Prevailing agricultural systems in the U.S. are dominated by intensification through annual crop monocultures and high amounts of external inputs. Increased yields per unit of land have resulted but many undesirable environmental, ecological, and socioeconomic outcomes have co-occurred. Lack of resilience within intensified agricultural systems is a factor in these outcomes. Redesign of agricultural systems and changes in federal policy are needed to better support resilience in agriculture. Redesign for greater resilience must encourage adoption of agricultural systems that are diverse, perennial, circular, and include forages. We developed a transdisciplinary framework within a project orientation with a focus on crops and forages as agents of landscape transformation, and a diverse team of researchers, stakeholders and agency personnel. Our framework features a national network of farmers engaged in prevailing agriculture and practices of diverse, perennial, circular forage systems. Network farmers are collaborating with project scientists to gather on-farm data for better understanding of the opportunities and challenges to greater agricultural resilience. Over the next five years we aim to analyze the economic conditions, social structures, and public policies that prevent wider adoption of diverse perennial circular forage systems, and develop strategies to overcome these constraints.
