I would agree with Julie's post. CATIE is in Costa Rica works throughout Meso and parts of South America on sustainable agriculture (the motto is Conserve while Producing, produce while conserving) including work on sustainable livestock management - we're in the process of finalizing Rainforest Alliance's certification standards for cattle farms.. See articles authored by Celia Harvey who now is working Conservation International. Most conservation organizations now have strong agriculture programs including TNC, WWF, CI and WCS. In addition to the authors mentioned below I would recommend Ivette Perfect.
Probably one of the best agroecology programs in the world is the University of Goettingens with Teja Tscharntke, Stefan Dewenter and Alex Klein (now at Berkeley). Clarie Kremen's work on pollination also won her the MacArthur Genius Prize and should be included. Two groups that merit attention would be EcoAgriculture Partners led by Sara Scherr. See her books co-authored with Jeff McNeely (Agricultural Economist and Conservation Biologist). And the agroecology branch of the Diversitas Group which just came out with a special section on conservation in agriculture (Volume 2(1-2) of Environmental Sustainability. I would argue that this is one of the most rapidly growing branches of ecology. Fabrice On Jun 26, 2010, at 5:42 PM, Julie Cotton wrote: > A quick disclosure - I work at MSU and did my graduate education at U-M, so > this response pretty Midwest focused, and includes names I know as a > privilege of my job and schooling. There are many great researchers out > there pursuing aspects of agroecology/sustainability in the food production > system that I am not mentioning, though they certainly have had significant > contributions to the field. > > Before you start to try to reinvent the wheel, there is a strong and ongoing > literature around sustainable, agriculture, and a growing one on meat > production. > > As far as ecologists in the field, try starting with the authors of > Agroecology textbooks and the new International Assessment of Agricultural > Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development [IAASTD] report: Steve > Gliessman, John Vandermeer, Peter Rosset, Ivette Perfecto to name just a > few. Many scientists that might be "classified" as agricultural researchers > are strongly utilizing ecological knowledge - check out the long-term > ecological research site in agriculture at MSU with many well-known > researchers like Sieg Snapp and Phil Robertson. Look to the land-grant > institutions with strong agroecologically-based programs for more about > sustainable meat production. Here at MSU, we have cattle grazing ecologist > Satiago Utsumi. There are also many social science researchers looking at > ag technology adoption, political ecology, and the renewing of ancestral > skills... that is another set of literature that I am less familiar with, > but can mention recent influential public economics writer Raj Patel and > political ecologist Jahi Chappell. > > Most traditional animal science departments are wary of ecological-based > production methods, opting in the past to focus on feed efficiency and > disease management, but there is a growing willingness to consider many > alternatives. Remember that research funding is tighter than ever, so > industry groups influence what can be researched in academia. Yet, the > majority of cattle producers are still small - it's not until later > consolidation in the production model that most cattle could be considered > "industrial". Anyone familiar with sustainable poultry, pork and other meat > production, please chime in. > > In addition to the above mentions, Iowa State, University of > Wisconsin-Madison, UC Santa Cruz, UC Berkeley, UC Davis, Cornell, and many > other institutions have strong faculty in agroecology... you just need to do > a little searching and you'll find a surprising amount of ecologists working > in the agricultural venue - a few hundred are registered in the ESA > Agroecology section. However, I would say that people researching more > sustainable meat production are underrepresented and this field presents a > lot of potential with both consumer preferences and the price of fuel in > flux. It deserves to be said that in places where grazing animals is one of > the sole sources of local food for humans (e.g. areas of Africa), the > approach to and importance of both raising and sustaining animals is very > different. > > There are many reports recently out that calculate the toll of raising meat > that appear to be much more objective than interest-group led efforts. FAO's > recent "Livestock in a changing landscape" may be of interest. > > Julie Cotton > Academic Specialist > Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems > Michigan State University > ******************************************************** Fabrice DeClerck PhD Community and Landscape Ecologist Division of Research and Development CATIE 7170, Turrialba, Costa Rica 30501 (506) 2558-2596 fadecle...@catie.ac.cr Adjunct Research Scholar Tropical Agriculture Programs The Earth Institute at Columbia University ********************************************************
