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. . . .