Biodiversity as an Organizing Principle in Agroecosystem Management:

Case Studies of Holistic Resource Management Practitioners in the USA

Běla BonušováCZU ITS

Tropical Crop Management and Ecology

Abstract

● Practicioners attend holistic resource management (HRM )course

● They develope a goal including:● quality of life values● forms of production to support those values● landscape planning with enhancing biodiversity and

respecting ecosystem processes (energy flow, succession, hydrological and nutrient cycling)

● They are monitored with integrating social, economical and ecological factors

● The fundamental principal is biodiversity enhancement

● Large scale monoculture farming● decreasing diversity of farming practices● biodiversity of agricultural landscapes

Introduction

● Agroecosystem management alternatives:● Permaculture (Mollison 1993)● Bio-Dynamic Agriculture (Steiner 1984)● Fukuoka‘s Natural Farming ( Fukuoka, 1978, 1985)● organic agriculture (e. g. Wolf 1977)● „alternative“ agriculture (e. g. Natural Resource Councel

1989)● „sustainable“ agriculture (e. g. Edwards et al. 1990)● „ecological“ agriculture (e. g. Soule and Piper 1992)● Holistic Resource Management (Savory 1988, 1991, 1994

and Bingham and Savory 1990)● Emphasis on biodiversity protection

Introduction

Introduction

● Savory builds his argument for greater biodiversity in agroecosystems on the hypothesis that stability is positively correlated with diversity in ES function

● He equates desertification with loss of biodiversity● „Biodiversity is not about rare and endangered

species, it is about human survival“

● Practicioners attend holistic resource management (HRM )course● They develope a goal● They are monitored with integrating social, economical and

ecological factors● The fundamental principal is biodiversity enhancement● Participatory ethnographic approach● Qualitative research methods

Methods

HRM Process

● Defining the whole being managed: People, landbase and money

● People work out together a holistic goal, which includes:● Quality of life values● Forms of production they must achieve to

support these life values● A vision of what they wish the land to look like in

the future to sustain the production for future generations

● HRM students are tought to understand and work with main ecological processes:

● Ecological succession● Community dynamics● Energy flow● Nutrient cycles● Water cycle

HRM Process

HRM Model Tools

● Human creativity● Money● Labour● Rest (allowing the land to lay fallow)● Fire, grazing, animal impact● Living organisms (soil microorganisms, insects, pollinators,

birds and other wild fauna maintaining the ecosystem balanced)

● Technology

Decisions Testing Guidelines

1. Whole ES impacts

2. Weak link in the operations

3. Marginal reaction – when comparing more than one option – which of these options will provide bigger return of money?

4. Energy / Wealth – Source and use asks: Will the proposed tool require the use of finite energy sources and will such use have to be repeated?

5. Society and Culture – will the decision strengthen the community?

6. Gross Margin analysis – another economic test

If used conscientiously, process gives decisions of objective evaluation and optimization between environmental, economic and social considerations

Methods

Results

● 100 % of the practicioners think biodiversity is important to the economical and ecological well – being of their farms

● All but one observed increasing wildlife biodiversity● 80 % increasing profits (of these 40 % actual

percentage increases – median 238 %)● 16 % no or little profit yet, but optimistic about the

future

Results

● Changes in nutrient cycles:● faster decomposition of manure piles● incr. soil macrofauna, organic matter content

● Many interviewees reported positive changes in soil erosion and hydroligical cycles as springs and streams runnung where have not run for many years, clear instead murky water

● Water cycle improvement – resistence and resiliance to drought● Energy flow – increase in plant biomas or / and stocking rates on

a unit of land

Results

● Almost all observed improvements in ES:● e. g. layer of permeable soil changed from 5 to 50 cm● return of many native prairie species● greater frequency of perennials

● Community – odd to immediate neighbours, but the net of other HRM farmers is critical to the success

Discussion

● Our survay indicated that majority of farmers percieve biodiversity plays a key role in economic and ecological sustainability of their farms

● Qualitative results – cannot state with scientific certainity relationship between biodiversity and profitability

● „I see a direct link between biodiversity and money, but it will be hard to prove“

● We suggest our findings indicate further research is appropriate

Conclusion

● „We must forget everything we have been tought and learn how to observe.“

One of the HRM farmers● If Savory is correct in contributing the failure of past

civilisations to loss of biodiversity, ultimatelly, this is an issue of considerable importance not only for farmers and ranchers and the rural communities they live in, but for all of us.

● Practical experiences in this survay suggest, that there are viable alternative management approaches, which can support biodiversity, profitability, ES function and quality of life.

Thank you for your attention.