Lennart Salomonsson

Agroecology: The Ecology of Food Systems

ABSTRACT We present a compelling rationale for defining agroecology as the ecology of food systems. Our purpose is to provide a framework that will guide research, education, and action in the multiple and interacting facets of an increasingly complex global agriculture and food system. To accomplish such goals, it is essential to build bridges and connections among and beyond our disciplines in production agriculture, as well as beyond the farm gate into the rural landscape and community. Fields of sociology, anthropology, environmental sciences, ethics, and economics are crucial to the mix. They provide additional vantage points from which we can view the food system anew, as well as insights on how to establish valuation criteria beyond neoclassical economics. Examples from Mexico, California, and the Nordic Region are used to illustrate the successful implementation of this educational strategy in universities. Design of individual farms using principles of ecology is expanded to the levels of landscape, community, and bioregion, with emphasis on uniqueness of place and the people and other species that inhabit that place. We conclude that defining agroecology as the ecology of food systems will foster the development of broader interdisciplinary research teams and attractive systems-based courses for tomorrows best students. In contrast to the narrow focus on crop-soil interactions, this definition will help us raise higher-level research questions whose solutions will advance the development of a sustainable agriculture and food system.

The Effects of Farm Size and Organic Farming on Diversity of Birds, Pollinators, and Plants in a Swedish Landscape

This study compares diversity and abundance of birds plus abundance of butterflies, bumblebees and herbaceous plants between six small farms (<52 ha arable land) and six large farms (>135 ha arable land) in Roslagen in southeastern Sweden. Two of the large and four of the small farms were organic. Large-scale landscape mosaic and underlying bedrock were similar for all farms. Statistical analysis was performed using box-plots on medians and analysis of variance on mean values. More than twice as many bird species and territories, butterflies, and herbaceous plant species, and five times more bumblebees were found on the small compared to the large farms. The largest differences were found between small organic and large conventional farms. Differences were also noted between small and large organic farms: 56% more bird species were found on small organic than on large organic farms, although none of the farms used any pesticides. We therefore argue that the consideration of organic agricultures effect on biodiversity should include factors affected by farm size.

Innovative Education in Agroecology: Experiential Learning for a Sustainable Agriculture

The transdisciplinary field of agroecology provides a platform for experiential learning based on an expanded vision of research on sustainable farming and food systems and the application of results in creating effective learning landscapes for students. With increased recognition of limitations of fossil fuels, fresh water, and available farmland, educators are changing focus from strategies to reach maximum yields to those that feature resource use efficiency and resilience of production systems in a less benign climate. To help students deal with complexity and uncertainty and a wide range of biological and social dimensions of the food challenge, a whole-systems approach that involves life-cycle analysis and consideration of long-term impacts of systems is essential. Seven educational case studies in the Nordic Region and the U.S. Midwest demonstrate how educators can incorporate theory of the ecology of food systems with the action learning component needed to develop student potentials to create responsible change in society. New roles of agroecology instructors and students are described as they pursue a co-learning strategy to develop and apply technology to assure the productivity and security of future food systems.

Effects of Organic Fertilizers and Urea when Applied to Spring Wheat

Abstract Ecologically or organically produced wheat often has a protein content that is too low to be successfully used in modern bakeries. To increase the protein content in spring wheat, two organic fertilizers (slurry manure and meat bone meal) were compared with urea in field trials. Mycological analyses were performed to study whether any mould infection occurred. Protein content was increased by the organic fertilizers to a level about the same as given by the urea treatment. Slurry manure exhibited a lower effect per kg applied N than urea and meat bone meal. The results indicate that no consistent differences in endogenic mould infection were present between treatments. Meat bone meal can be used as a supplement at growth stage 30–31 to increase the protein content. Slurry manure has to be applied at high rates at sowing to get a pronounced effect on protein content and yield.

Effects of protein and starch characteristics on the baking properties of wheat cultivated by different strategies with organic fertilizers and urea

Protein and starch characteristics were analysed in white flour from one spring wheat (Kadett) and one winter wheat (Kosack) experiment grown with different levels of organic fertilizers or urea. Fertilization with meat bone meal and liquid manure, respectively, was used to represent organic farming and urea to represent conventional wheat production. The fertilizers were applied as three single doses of 30, 60 and 90 kg N ha−1 or split doses at two different growing stages, i.e. 30 + 30 kg N ha−1. No major differences between fertilizers were noticed. The main differences were found between experiments. Compared with the winter wheat, the spring wheat samples had a higher content of endosperm storage proteins, a lower content of detergent‐soluble proteins and a smaller diameter of large starch granules, and responded to increased N fertilizer applications by a significant increase in protein content and content of endosperm storage proteins. In the winter wheat samples, the starch content increased signi...

Challenges in designing ecological agriculture education: A nordic perspective on change

Educators in ecological agriculture are developing learning environments that differ in three fundamental ways from conventional teaching in agricultural universities and colleges. First, increased emphasis on food and production systems will expand and complement the current focus on specific disciplines and technologies. Second, introduction of research methods and learning objectives from social sciences will broaden the potentials for students to understand the complexities of food systems and the people who make them work. Third, action research and education will move learning activities into the agroecosystems environment and the human landscape, where students will learn from a broad array of people and experiences. This design of a new learning environment will enhance the education of students to serve agricultural and food systems well into a future that is changing at an accelerating rate.

WHEAT CULTIVATED WITH ORGANIC FERTILIZERS AND UREA : BAKING PERFORMANCE AND DOUGH PROPERTIES

Data describing white flour composition, dough properties and baking performance of both spring and winter wheat treated with different fertilizer strategies including meat bone meal, slurry manure and urea, were analyzed by principal component analysis and variance analysis. No significant differences in the analyzed variables were found between flour from wheat fertilized with organic fertilizers or urea at different N rates, irrespective of experiment. The differences mainly reflected variation between experiments. Higher N application rates significantly increased flour protein content and dough development time but decreased dough softening. Protein content was positively correlated to wet gluten content and dough stability, development time, resistance, extensibility as well as bread yield. The correlation between protein content and dough softening was negative and the correlation to farinograph water absorption was poor. The bread yield response to increasing protein content, obtained by increasin...

Open-Ended Cases in Agroecology: Farming and Food Systems in the Nordic Region and the US Midwest.

Abstract Our aim is to describe open-ended case studies for learning real-life problem solving skills, and relate this approach to conventional, closed-ended decision case studies. Teaching methods are open-ended cases in agroecology, an alternative to traditional strategies that lead students through prepared materials and structured discussions to determine an outcome already known to the instructor. Our method promotes a culture of curiosity. Multiple evaluation criteria show how this learning strategy provides students with practice in researching, envisioning and designing potential scenarios for clients in the field. In agroecology case studies, students and instructors are co-learners in a discovery process that includes gathering information from key clients, interviewing major stakeholders, and building an understanding of the current context of the local farming and food systems. Two agroecology courses in Norway, a field course in the US Midwest, and an experimental course in Sweden and Vietnam illustrate this learning strategy. Student evaluations of learning have been highly positive, and skills and methods from courses have been applied in their thesis projects and professional careers. Practical results reveal that students are well prepared for an uncertain, complex, multi-dimensional and dynamic future, have the capacity to develop alternative future scenarios, and have practiced methods to evaluate options based on production, economic, environmental and social criteria and impacts. This innovative strategy is offered as a complement or alternative to conventional decision case studies and evaluated as an approach to experiential learning, an important and effective method for adult learners.

Ecological agriculture research : increasing competence through PhD courses

Abstract A PhD course in ecological agriculture was organised for the Nordic/Baltic Region by an international team. Components were a pre-course literature review and written thesis summary, a week-long intensive workshop in Stange, Norway, and follow-through reports and evaluations. Research in ecological agriculture requires a firm foundation in science and experimental methods as well as a set of other research methods for inquiry at different levels of the spatial hierarchy. PhD students need to learn about and practice a range of inquiry methods to study and evaluate both component technologies and more holistic aspects of practices, farms, and food systems. Most important is to learn when and where these methods should be applied. Lectures, large group discussions, and small group working sessions were used to involve each student in a team with facilitators in grappling with the challenges of research design and implementation. Traditional methods of experiment design, on research station and on f...

Future Education in Ecological Agriculture and Food Systems: A Student-Faculty Evaluation and Planning Process

ABSTRACT Three graduate-level short courses on ecological agriculture and food systems were held in 1995–1997 in Norway to introduce systems thinking, creative research methods, and innovative learning approaches. In 1999, a three-day evaluation and planning workshop was held to assess course impacts, to determine relative importance of content areas, to compare learning methods with special attention to case studies, and to vision and develop action plans for future education in the region. Students and faculty agreed that soft systems research methods and varied learning processes in the course were more valuable than specific technical content that can be learned in other venues. Nine priority education areas were identified for ecological agriculture: (1) systems thinking, (2) research methods, (3) farmer/stakeholder participation, (4) improving production methods, (5) relating agriculture to food systems, (6) learning about learning, (7) values and ethics, (8) faculty development and institutional change, and (9) agricultural and food policy. We explored current knowledge and future educational importance of each area, and found that case studies can integrate many of these topics. Four specific priority educational needs were identified through visioning toward an action plan for the region: (1) publish a Nordic teaching text in ecological agriculture, (2) expand the network of educators and researchers with a short course for faculty, (3) broaden the focus from farm production to food systems by including additional disciplines and themes, and (4) coordinate thesis research activities in ecological agriculture among universities. Evaluation and planning were efficient and productive in this short workshop, due to prior organization and creating ownership in the process and the future education plans, and all participants were involved in writing this final document.