Identifying Farming Strategies Associated With Achieving Global Agricultural Sustainability
Smith, Olivia M., Jocson, Dowen M.I., Lee, Benjamin W., Orpet, Robert J., Taylor, Joseph M., Davis, Alexandra G., Rieser, Cassandra J., Clarke, Abigail E., Cohen, Abigail L., Hayes, Abigail M., Auth, Connor A., Bergeron, Paul E., Marshall, Adrian T., Reganold, John P., Crowder, David W., and Northfield, Tobin D. (2022) Identifying Farming Strategies Associated With Achieving Global Agricultural Sustainability. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 6. 882503.
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Abstract
Sustainable agroecosystems provide adequate food while supporting environmental and human wellbeing and are a key part of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Some strategies to promote sustainability include reducing inputs, substituting conventional crops with genetically modified (GM) alternatives, and using organic production. Here, we leveraged global databases covering 121 countries to determine which farming strategies—the amount of inputs per area (fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation), GM crops, and percent agriculture in organic production—are most correlated with 12 sustainability metrics recognized by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Using quantile regression, we found that countries with higher Human Development Indices (HDI) (including education, income, and lifespan), higher-income equality, lower food insecurity, and higher cereal yields had the most organic production and inputs. However, input-intensive strategies were associated with greater agricultural greenhouse gas emissions. In contrast, countries with more GM crops were last on track to meeting the SDG of reduced inequalities. Using a longitudinal analysis spanning 2004–2018, we found that countries were generally decreasing inputs and increasing their share of agriculture in organic production. Also, in disentangling correlation vs. causation, we hypothesize that a country's development is more likely to drive changes in agricultural strategies than vice versa. Altogether, our correlative analyses suggest that countries with greater progress toward the SDGs of no poverty, zero hunger, good health and wellbeing, quality education, decent work, economic growth, and reduced inequalities had the highest production of organic agriculture and, to a lesser extent, intensive use of inputs.
| Item ID: | 76474 |
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| Item Type: | Article (Research - C1) |
| ISSN: | 2571-581X |
| Keywords: | agriculture, genetically modified crops, input-intensive, organic agriculture, social-ecological systems, Sustainable Development Goals |
| Copyright Information: | Copyright © 2022 Smith, Jocson, Lee, Orpet, Taylor, Davis, Rieser, Clarke, Cohen, Hayes, Auth, Bergeron, Marshall, Reganold, Crowder and Northfield. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
| Date Deposited: | 19 Apr 2023 00:14 |
| FoR Codes: | 30 AGRICULTURAL, VETERINARY AND FOOD SCIENCES > 3004 Crop and pasture production > 300499 Crop and pasture production not elsewhere classified @ 100% |
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