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The description of the possible models of agriculture according to a tripartite classification (HEI, LEI, IEI) leads to a significant simplification of the various agricultural models that actually exist in the world. This simplified representation has been used to facilitate the consideration of some important trends. In light of the analyses and evidence that has emerged from research, we believe that: A complete classification of “agricultural models” should start from the definition of typical situations regarding the use of key inputs, such as: - genetic resources: traditional local varieties, modern varieties obtained by conventional breeding, hybrids and GMOs; - water resources: rain-fed cultivation and crop irrigation; - energy resources: labor intensive and highly mechanized; - soil resources (quantity): extensive farming and intensive agriculture; - soil resources (quality): zero/minimum tillage and conventional plowing; - nutritional resources: organic fertilizers, natural fertilizers, inorganic and synthetic fertilizers; - the fight against pathogens and weeds: biological control, integrated pest management and the fight against synthetic chemical products. Each form of agriculture (or agricultural model) can never be assessed in the abstract, but must always be placed in a geographical context with regard to the climate, soil, and economic and social development. In each context, the objectives of productivity and sustainability can be pursued, at best simultaneously, with a specific form of agriculture; however, with the development of growing uncertainties about the factors that define the context (for example, climate change, the spreading of new pathogens, etc.),
the coexistence of different agricultural models can provide an essential model of risk management. A main model can be applied to make the most of the opportunity of favorable conditions, but other models can still be kept active on a smaller scale, to be rapidly expandable when certain environmental conditions have changed. It seems possible, for example, to seize the opportunity of highly productive corn hybrids that require high inputs, while, however, at the same time also ensuring the reproduction of an adequate amount of seed of varieties of traditional corn to be used when local conditions have changed to the disadvantage of the hybrids (e.g., due to drought, pathogens, the exploding costs of fertilizer and energy, etc.). In an ideal world, where one can rationally plan the global agricultural production and where the distribution of food resources and access to food are ensured by efficient and equitable international systems, it would make sense to speak of the specialization of the planet’s arable land in order to optimize the use of the scarce basic resources. Indeed, it is clear that it actually makes more sense to produce rain-fed cereals in temperate regions of the planet than to pursue the self-sufficiency of individual countries. The matter of “good agricultural practices” can be seen across the different agricultural models because, in some ways, they can be applied to each type of agriculture. Proper crop rotation, in contrast to crop repetition, has positive effects on the fertility of the soil. The same is true for all the other “best practices”: from the calculation of the correct amount of seed, rational fertilization (dose, form, timing, splits), to pest management and water harvesting.
2.2 THE MAIN AGRICULTURAL MODELS IDENTIFIED TODAY: FROM TAXONOMY TO THEIR PRACTICAL APPLICATION
Traditional Agriculture Traditional agriculture includes forms of breeding arising from the co-evolution of local social and environmental systems. It has a high ecological logic expressed through the intensive use of local knowledge and natural resources, including the management of agrobiodiversity as a form of a diversified agricultural system.
New models for sustainable agriculture
BCFNmodels New Index for 2011 sustainable agriculture
Agricultural models and good agricultural practices
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James P. Blair/National Geographic Stock