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Greater diversification could help agriculture withstand climate, economic and geopolitical crises.
“Items in this section have limited availability due to supplier production issues,” “Sorry, temporarily out of stock” and “Sold out” are all signs that became familiar as recent global upheavals exposed how precarious our food supply is.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to bare shelves in supermarkets as shipping routes were cut off. The war in Ukraine has affected the supply of essential grains.
But increased climate change stands to cause even greater disruption. Researchers say part of the solution to mitigating that risk is for farms to become more mixed through some combination of crop cultivation, livestock production and forestry, a move that would also make agriculture more sustainable.
For Dr. Sara Burbi, assistant professor at Coventry University in the UK until December 2022 and now an independent researcher, COVID-19 was a wake-up call.
“Suddenly, we experienced first-hand what happens when value chains are not resilient to shocks and what happens when globalization, with all its intricacies, does not work anymore,” she said. “We saw highly specialized farming systems fail when they over-relied on external inputs that they had no access to.”
Climate change, according to Burbi, could provide even bigger global shocks ranging from widespread crop failures to lower yields or damage from flooding. More sustainable agriculture is essential to ensure food supplies can withstand the impact of climate change and unexpected local, national and even global crises.
Beneficial combos
During her tenure at Coventry University, Burbi coordinated the AGROMIX project, which runs until end-October 2024.
As part of the project, pilot farms across Europe are…
2023-01-27 13:38:45 European farms mix things up to guard against food-supply shocks
Article from phys.org Many farmers in Europe are shaking up the way they do business in an effort to protect their crops from any possible shock to the global food supply in the future. These farmers are increasingly looking to diversify their businesses and grow a variety of crops, so that any potential shock to the food system will not greatly impact their profits.
Recent events around the world, both in Europe and elsewhere, have created changes to the way in which the food system operates. For instance, the pandemic has led to disruptions in trade and supply chains, leaving European farmers scrambling to adapt. This has led to a push for more diversity in agricultural production, as farmers look for ways to mitigate potential risks posed by potential future disruptions.
One way European farmers are attempting to diversify is through the practice of crop rotation. This involves rotating different crops through the same field, in the same growing season, which helps reduce soil erosion and improve soil fertility while allowing the farmer to cultivate multiple crops on the same field. By alternating between different crops, a farmer can reduce the chances of any one crop being adversely impacted by a shock to the food supply, while benefiting from the diversity in their yield.
In addition, many European farmers are now using organic farming methods, which rely less on chemical fertilizers and pesticides and more on natural methods such as crop rotation. Organic farming helps further reduce potential risks to a farmer’s crops, as well as create more production opportunities through crop rotation, without the need for as many heavy inputs.
Ultimately, European farmers are learning to adapt and diversify their operations, in order to guard against any potential shocks to the food supply in the future. By rotating crops and using organic methods, farmers can reduce their risks, while still maintaining a steady supply of nutritious and diverse foods.