News » IUCN report "Approaches to sustainable agriculture"

IUCN Europe is launching the report "Approaches to sustainableagriculture", a referential document for the key approaches, concepts,and practices being considered by practitioners, researchers, and policymakers today. This report comes at a crucial time, to help with theimplementation of the recently launched EU Green Deal, in particular theFarm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies.

The new IUCN report "Approaches to sustainable agriculture" aims to shed some light on the abundance of understandings and terminology in the field - the many different approaches, practices,concepts - which can distract from the focus of building a common pathforward for sustainable agriculture in the future. Whether it isagro-ecology, regenerative agriculture, organic farming,nature-inclusive agriculture, ecological intensification or others, alldecision makers and stakeholders in the farming and environmental communities need clarity as a very first step. Different approaches to sustainable agriculture exist, and they have a number of important commonalities and challenges, but also that their diversity is a strength in itself.

Considering that the production of healthy food at affordable prices with environmental protection at the core is crucial for our survival as a species, addressing these challenges is the most important step we need to take for our common future, right now.?To ensure the road to genuine sustainable agriculture is a justtransition, it is important to provide enough support for the necessaryadditional investments needed while keeping agricultural activity alsoprofitable?, said Luc Bas, Director of the IUCN European Office. ?Thenew Common Agriculture Policy should become our main tool to achievesustainable agriculture in the EU?.

Highlighted messages from the new report

• The approaches examined in this report would appear to share more similarities with each other than with conventional agricultural approaches.
• The approaches all share the common goal of striving for sustainability, which includes environmental aspects but also socio-economic considerations
• Each approach valid in a given set of circumstances: this report shows that different approaches exist, that they have a number of important commonalities, but also that their diversity is a strength in itself.
• Most of the approaches share some common challenges,related with low profitability and/or low productivity, more costly interms of knowledge and/or labour, challenges related with their uptakeand scalability, and very importantly the lack of common metrics for their environmental performance.
• Many of the approaches share similar environmentally- friendly practices, including: croprotation, cover and companion cropping, mixed and intercropping, thereduction of synthetic pesticide and mineral fertiliser use, no orminimal tillage, lower livestock densities, managed and free rangegrazing, as well as: crop diversification, mixing farming andforestry, mixed crop and animal farming, nutrient balancing, recoveryand reuse, and the inclusion of landscape elements such as hedgerows andflower strips. Without being exhaustive, we may nevertheless conclude that all the practices listed can be considered ?sustainable agricultural practices?.

For more information visit: https://www.iucn.org/news/europe/202006/sustainable-agriculture-explained.