Deep Agroecology

Book excerpt: The ways we farm and the ways we eat will determine the destiny of life on earth. Farms and food are foundational for civilization. Right now our civilization is undergoing massive upheaval. We must build a new foundation, and that imperative task is going to take all of us. Deep Agroecology shows the way. The union of native wisdom ways with sophisticated, sustainable tools and practices can lead to the renewal and the elevation of all forms of life on Earth. Our next, necessary evolutionary step depends on spiritual intelligent, regenerative agriculture: deep agroecology. Agroecology is an ecological approach to growing food and fiber that appreciates farms and orchards as ecosystems. Internationally, agroecology is increasingly recognized as an approach capable of meeting productivity goals while replenishing the soil, sequestering climate destabilizing CO2, and striving toward justice for all the human beings and animals in the food system. Deep agroecology arises from recognition that the way we farm will determine the destiny of life on the earth. This inescapable reality necessarily involves every human being. "The future of humanity depends on our heeding the wisdom of deep agroecology." - John Ikerd, author of Crisis and Opportunity: Sustainability in American Agriculture. While deep agroecology is new territory, it's natural territory, not just for farmers, but for all people.