![The time is right to transform American agriculture from monoculture, heavy farming, and food systems to diversified agriculture and food systems with a variety of crops, including specialty crops. Credit: Bigstock.](https://static.globalissues.org/ips/2023/09/8734097064_1429fb8c0b_z-629x408-629x408.jpg)
URBANA, Illinois, USA, Sep 8 (IPS) – A few weeks ago my husband and I drove from Illinois to Iowa to visit a friend. I was excited about my 5+ hour drive. Unfortunately, after 60 minutes of driving, my excitement faded. I was bored. Field after field, as far as my eyes could see, all I saw was corn or soybeans. I also noticed that the edges of the field were empty, with no wildflowers in sight.
Unfortunately, the cultivation of single crop varieties, also known as monoculture, where all plants are genetically similar or identical on vast acres of land, is widespread in the US Midwest and North America due to current problematic policies that encourage crop overproduction, such as corn, soybeans, cotton and wheat.
For example, by 2023, more than 200 million acres of corn and 82 million acres of soybeans will be grown, accounting for nearly 70% of the planted farmland in the United States, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
This system has not only resulted in the overproduction of a few crop species, it has also resulted in a loss of biodiversity, including a reduction in insect diversity.
Furthermore, monoculture cropping systems have led to an increase in many unsustainable and environmentally harmful practices by farmers, including the use of pesticides and fertilizers. Additionally, monoculture contributes to the death of pollinators and reduces the biodiversity of soil-dwelling microorganisms, including beneficial soil microbes that support soil and crop health while harming America’s waterways. The current monoculture farming system in North America is undoubtedly unsustainable.
The time is right to diversify farms in the American Midwest and farms across America. Diversified agriculture and farming systems are a set of methods and tools developed to produce food sustainably by taking advantage of ecological diversity at plot, field and landscape scales.
There are various strategies, including integrating diverse crop rotations, intercropping, cover cropping and agroforestry.
Indeed, the time is ripe to transform American agriculture from heavy monocrop farming and food systems to diversified farming and food systems with a variety of crops, including specialty crops. The time is ripe to consider planting pollination strips and filling field edges with wildflowers. Many benefits could arise if American agriculture were to diversify.
First, there is long-term evidence showing that diversifying crop systems can increase agricultural resilience to the extremities and disturbances associated with a changing climate, including drought, heat waves, insect pest outbreaks and floods.
Second, diversified cropping systems can improve soil fertility and health and reduce pest and weed pressure.
Third, diversified agroecosystems will also become home to biologically diversified species, including insect species that predate insect pests. This will ultimately become a strategy to reduce the use of harmful pesticides and support sustainable insect control.
Recent scientific evidence reaffirms that diversification promotes multiple ecosystem services, including pollination, pest control and water regulation, without compromising yields.
There is a glimmer of hope that a wave of change is coming.
Several agencies, including Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE), the US Forest Service, and the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, promote various crop diversification strategies and emphasize the benefits associated with diversifying crop systems.
For example, according to SARE, diversifying agricultural systems can lead to many benefits, including spreading economic risks for farmers, exploiting profitable niche markets and creating new industries based on agriculture that can make communities competitive while improving quality of life strengthen and improve, and ultimately help agriculture. domestic economy.
It’s encouraging that research funding agencies like the U.S. Department of Agriculture are funding research aimed at diversifying cropping systems in the Midwest and across America. For example, Purdue University received a $10 million grant to diversify the Corn Belt. Corteva recently issued a call for proposals proposing new solutions to enable intercropping practices for agricultural intensification.
Supplementing the funding will begin the management of datasets and comprehensive meta-analytic studies documenting the outcomes of diversified agricultural practices, including for biodiversity, yields and economic returns.
These datasets, which also show diversification as a path to more sustainable agricultural production, serve as a resource for researchers, farmers and practitioners as they demonstrate where diversified systems have effectively contributed to sustainable food production outcomes without compromising economic returns.
Of course, to facilitate the shift in the paradigm from monoculture to diversified cropping systems, we must face the obstacles to the diversification of cropping systems, including the lack of equipment to facilitate the farming of other crops and the lack of a niche market for alternative crops .
Underlying this wave of changes is the need to change agricultural policies to promote diversified agriculture. Eliminating commodity crop declines and reallocating the money to farms that practice diversified agriculture is one strategy that can achieve this.
Changing these systems will take everyone, including farmers, legislators, scientists and advocates.
Diversifying America’s agriculture and food systems is critical to meeting and strengthening America’s food security needs in the face of climate change. Diversifying American agriculture will also help America remain a model country worth emulating. It’s a win-win situation for everyone.
© Inter Press Service (2023) — All rights reservedOriginal source: Inter Press Service