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Agroecosystem health, agroecosystem resilience, and food security

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  • Casey Hoy

Abstract

This paper lays out the relationships between three mutually reinforcing concepts associated with agroecosystems: (1) agroecosystem health, the extent to which an agroecosystem can meet human needs for all of its residents over time; (2) resilience, the capacity of a system to adapt, reorganize, and maintain key functions in the face of turbulent and unpredictable change in its environment; (3) food security, sufficient quantity and quality of food for everyone at all times. Agroecosystem health has been defined by a number of properties including the following: stability, sustainability, equitability, productivity, and autonomy, each in the context of specific spatial and temporal scales. Indicators that characterize biophysical and social conditions including soil health, biodiversity, topography, farm economics, land economics, and social organization can be combined using analytical hierarchy process to map agroecosystem health across a landscape. The resulting map may provide incentive and guidance for improving the conditions underlying agroecosystem health. Resilience and agroecosystem health overlap largely because both rely on diversity, in biological and physical as well as human cultural, social, and economic terms. The Agroecosystems Management Program at The Ohio State University has approached research and outreach to improve agroecosystem health, resilience, and food security by encouraging self-organizing social networks for economic development around local and regional agricultural supply chains, encouraging farm enterprise diversity at a wider range of farming scales, and conducting research to monitor and estimate the benefits of such diversification. Social media tools have been explored for connecting entrepreneurs at the planning stage, with the ultimate goal of improving the economic support for more diversified enterprises in agroecosystems. Although challenging, such adaptive management experiments may create and encourage new opportunities for managing agroecosystem health, and with it, resilient food production and security. Copyright AESS 2015

Suggested Citation

  • Casey Hoy, 2015. "Agroecosystem health, agroecosystem resilience, and food security," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 5(4), pages 623-635, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:jenvss:v:5:y:2015:i:4:p:623-635
    DOI: 10.1007/s13412-015-0322-0
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Gerald Marten & Nurcan Atalan-Helicke, 2015. "Introduction to the Symposium on American Food Resilience (Part 2)," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 5(4), pages 537-542, December.
    2. Thomas P. Tomich & Casey Hoy & Michael R. Dimock & Allan D. Hollander & Patrick R. Huber & Ayaz Hyder & Matthew C. Lange & Courtney M. Riggle & Michael T. Roberts & James F. Quinn, 2023. "Why Do We Need Food Systems Informatics? Introduction to This Special Collection on Smart and Connected Regional Food Systems," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(8), pages 1-20, April.
    3. Hang Zhang & Hai Chen & Tianwei Geng & Di Liu & Qinqin Shi, 2020. "Evolutionary Characteristics and Trade-Offs’ Development of Social–Ecological Production Landscapes in the Loess Plateau Region from a Resilience Point of View: A Case Study in Mizhi County, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(4), pages 1-17, February.
    4. Gerald Marten & Nurcan Atalan-Helicke, 2015. "Introduction to the Symposium on American Food Resilience," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 5(3), pages 308-320, September.
    5. George Mutugu Mwangi & Stella Despoudi & Oscar Rodriguez Espindola & Konstantina Spanaki & Thanos Papadopoulos, 2022. "A planetary boundaries perspective on the sustainability: resilience relationship in the Kenyan tea supply chain," Annals of Operations Research, Springer, vol. 319(1), pages 661-695, December.

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