Blending knowledge systems for agroecological nutrient management and climate resilience

Abstract

Agroecology links multiple ways of knowing in order to understand and manage farms as the ecosystems that they are—agroecosystems. Farmers often have deep, place-based knowledge of their agroecosystems that informs how to manage ecological interactions for multiple benefits. Many Indigenous practices sustained food production for generations without fossil fuel inputs, and traditional ecological knowledge is a valuable source of wisdom for adaptive management of agroecosystems. Other forms of ecological knowledge have been developed using Western scientific research approaches. Through the concept of the ecosystem, ecology applies systems thinking to understand complex relationships between organisms (including humans) and their environment across spatio-temporal scales. In practice, blending these ways of knowing has a wide range of interpretations and manifestations, especially in the past several decades, as agroecology has developed into a science, practice, and social movement. Embracing all three of these aspects, we argue that agroecology could more fully integrate traditional ecological knowledge and farmer knowledge with ecological science—including valuing where they overlap and their unique contributions (Kimmerer, 2013)—in support of food system transformation. We focus on the example of agroecological nutrient management in the context of climate change.