Input-intensive crop monocultures and industrial-scale feedlots must be consigned to the past in order to put global food systems onto sustainable footing, according to IPES-Food’s first major report, released June 2nd: ‘From Uniformity to Diversity: A paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems’. The solution is to diversify agriculture and reorient it around ecological practices, whether the starting point is highly-industrialized agriculture or subsistence farming in the world’s poorest countries. The report asks three key questions:
- What are the outcomes of industrial agriculture / diversified agroecological systems?
- What is keeping industrial agriculture in place?
- How can the balance be shifted?
