Dec 9: Addressing Agricultural Sustainability

Join Dr. John Reganold, PWIAS International Visiting Research Scholar, on December 9, to learn how alternative farming systems, agricultural policy reform, and consumer choices all play a role to ensure the sustainability of agriculture in the long term.

Here is the link to the Zoom recording of the seminar. The talk begins at 8:01.

Dr. Reganold is Regents Professor of Soil Science and Agroecology at Washington State University, He has shaped his career by his interest in soil science and agriculture, receiving his Ph.D. in Soil Science from the University of California at Davis. He has spent 30-plus years bringing a blend of innovative teaching and research on soil quality and sustainable farming systems into the mainstream of higher education and food production.

About the talk

Agriculture is at a critical juncture. While trying to provide calories for 7.9 billion people, agriculture is a major contributor to global greenhouse gases, biodiversity loss, nutrient pollution, land clearing, soil degradation, and public health problems. Concerns about the long-term sustainability of agriculture have promoted interest in alternative, more diversified farming systems, such as organic, agroforestry, and regenerative agriculture, compared to mainstream conventional systems. These alternative farming systems are better at contributing to multiple sustainability goals but are expanding too slowly to be transformational. Incentives for appropriate markets, reform of farm-related policies, and reorientation of publicly funded agricultural science are needed to hasten farmers adopting these more sustainable farming systems. Additionally, consumers play a vital role in the foods they choose to eat.

Although we have a long way to go, I’m impressed by how far farmers across the world and especially in less developed countries have come in moving our food-production systems in a healthy direction.

John Reganold

Dr. Reganold is hosted by PWIAS Associates, Dr. Claire Kremen, Institute for Resources, Environment and Sustainability (IRES), and Dr. Sean Smukler, Agriculture and Environment, Faculty of Land and Food Systems.

Photo credit: James Baltz/Unsplash