The Role of Agroecology in Sustainable Intensification

Abstract

INTRODUCTION

The Land Use Policy Group (LUPG) of the UK environmental, conservation and countryside agencies identified a need to develop a better understanding of the relationship between the concepts of sustainable intensification and agroecology, the extent to which they are compatible, and whether agroecological practices, systems and strategies are a valid and/or necessary path to sustainable intensification.

The Organic Research Centre (ORC), with the support of the Game and Wildlife Conservation Trust (GWCT), undertook this project to consider these questions for Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH), acting on behalf of the LUPG. The objectives of the study were to:

• describe what agroecological systems and strategies exist in both a UK and a European context;

• explore the relationship between sustainable intensification and agroecological approaches.

The study is intended to help to develop the work of the LUPG and others on sustainable intensification and follows research carried out for the LUPG by ADAS/Firbank (Elliott et al., 2013) exploring the concept of sustainable intensification.

The current study is desk-based and appraises whether agroecological systems and techniques have relevance to sustainable intensification. It involves a systematic comparison of the relative performance of agroecological and conventional agricultural systems, based on a literature review and contact with experts.