| The environmental, social, and economic problems caused by modern conventional agriculture are well-documented. The challenge that lies before us is to develop a sustainable agriculture. A reductionistic approach by itself is not sufficient to do this; holistic, systems-level research is essential in designing and evaluating potentially sustainable agroecosystems.; Ecological planning is an holistic, interdisciplinary method of planning for landscape management. This method is rooted in the body of ecological theory that holds that since natural ecosystem processes generally make the most efficient use possible of available energy and matter, the land use that most closely mimics these natural processes should be the most appropriate and sustainable one. Applied specifically to agriculture, this theory would hold that the farming system most closely approximating the natural ecosystem in a given environment will be biophysically the most sustainable one.; In this study, ecological planning techniques and the Geographic Information System ARC/INFO were used to design an alternative agroecosystem for a landscape in the Palouse region of eastern Washington and northern Idaho. The landscape was found to consist of a mosaic of several different ecological habitat types, each of which would require different management in order to mimic the structure of native ecosystems. For example, in the coniferous forest habitat type, Ponderosa pines could be grown for timber, while along stream channels, poplars and willows could be grown for pulpwood.; Because this agroecosystem differs significantly from conventional management, the sustainability of the system must be evaluated before we can make decisions about whether or not to implement it. The system-level indicator related for this study was energy efficiency. The energy efficiency of the alternative agroecosystem was found to greatly exceed that of current management, indicating that it is a more sustainable system and does take better advantage of natural ecosystem processes. Whether or not the system will be implemented depends on the human ecological determinants of the agroecosystem, such as willingness to change, profitability, federal farm and environmental policy, and others. |
