Food Security and Sustainable Resource Use: Comments, by Sara Scherr, President, EcoAgriculture Partners

Food Security and Sustainable Resource Use: Comments

Sara J. Scherr, President, EcoAgriculture PartnersFood Security Futures: Research Priorities for the 21st CenturyDublin, Ireland – 11-12 April 2013

Securing Food Supply in the 21st Century: Beyond Field-Scale Productivity

More than Food: Societal Demands from Agricultural Landscapes

Beyond Resource Use Efficiency:Negotiating Whole Landscape System Efficiency

From Diagnosis to Solutions: Pathways to Transform Agriculture

An Explosion of Innovation on the Ground

www.landscapes.ecoagriculture.org

Ongoing Integrated Agriculture Landscape Initiatives

Latin America & Caribbean Sub-Saharan Africa

# Integrated Landscape Initiatives Identified

104 87

# Countries Represented 21 33

Most Common Motivations for Stakeholder Collaboration

Biodiversity Conservation, Reducing Natural Resource

Degradation

Biodiversity and Natural Resource Conservation

Average # Stakeholders Involved in Initiative(primary stakeholders)

11(farmers, local government,

NGOs)

9+(local/district government,

NGOs, producer groups)Core Investment Domains Institutional planning &

coordination, Agricultural production, Conservation &

Livelihoods

Institutional planning & coordination; Conservation;

Agricultural production

Milder, et al. Unpublished Data

Agroecological Practices that Generate Both High Yields and Ecosystem Services Ecosystem Service

Conservation Agriculture

Holistic Grazing

Organic Agriculture

Precision Agriculture

System of Rice Intensification

Number of studies that indicate positive, neutral or negative outcomes for select system & service combinations.

+ = - + = - + = - + = - + = -Pest Control

1 2 4 7 6

Soil Fertility & Structure

14 2 4 4 3 3 55 8 1 1 12 2 1

Nutrient Cycling

6 1 2 2 1 1 23 39 5 12 2

Wild Biodiversity

3 11 23 1 2

Erosion Control

10 1 1 1 1 1 1 1

H20 qual. & quant.

16 2 2 1 1 9 52 2

Garbach, et al. 2012. ‘An Assessment of the Multi-Functionality of Agroecological Intensification.’ EcoAgriculture Partners: Washington, DC.total # of studies reviewed = 219

Restoring Ecosystem Function in Agricultural Landscapes

Farmers Mobilizing for Land Stewardship, Production and Market Access

Working Together: Overcoming Fragmentation and Institutional Silos

1) Promote Adoption of Known Best Practices (short-term)

2) Support Initiatives Advancing Multi-Objective Farms and Landscapes (medium-term)

3) Focus Advanced Science on Multi-Functional Systems (long-term)

Thank youwww.ecoagriculture.orglandscapes.ecoagriculture.org

Thank You!www.ecoagriculture.orgwww.landscapes.ecoagriculture.org