Greenpeace: Agriculture at a Crossroads

Greenpeace has just published a new report “Agriculture at a Crossroads: Food for survival”. Climate change, hunger and poverty, loss of biodiversity, forest destruction, water crises, and food safety are linked to the way food and other agricultural products are produced, traded, consumed and discarded. However, agriculture is often not high on the agenda. Yet, none of the major global challenges ahead will be met without profound and lasting changes of today’s dominant agricultural practices and food policies.

As the present multiple economic, environmental and social crises have built up over a long period of time, it will probably require several decades - and the hard work and commitment of more than one generation in thousands of different environments - to achieve a situation which would warrant calling our agricultural and food practices economically, socially and ecologically sustainable.
 

To reach this goal entails changes and adaptations at all levels: farming methods, consumption patterns, trade relations, production, storage and processing technologies, human rights and gender balance, tradition and values, education and sharing of knowledge, innovation and conservation and lifestyle patterns, according to Greenpeace. Lasting results will have to be measured by the length of life cycles of trees, soil, watersheds and eco-system development, as well as generational cultural adaptation. The full report is available here