مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد ارزیابی پایداری کشاورزی – الزویر 2018

Recent studies (Rockström et al., 2016, 2009; Steffen et al., 2015) show that human pressure on the biosphere and geosphere is significant, manifesting itself in an accelerated extinction of species, acidification of the oceans, climate change, alteration of biogeochemical cycles among others. According to these authors human activities have reached a scale in which an abrupt global change cannot be overlooked, especially after the industrial revolution due to a higher use of fossil fuels and the intensification of industrial agriculture. According to Pérez (2007), industrial agriculture is characterized by a growing increase in capital created by humans, represented in agricultural machinery, supplies etc., with the aim of substituting or controlling the natural resource (soil, water, seeds) and the work for capital. The latter generates an artificialization of nature, striving for a maximum homogeneous production. Broad scientific evidence e.g. (Betts et al., 2017; Ehrlich and Ehrlich, 2009; Foley et al., 2011; Kareiva and Marvier, 2011), demonstrates that industrial agriculture and associated food systems: i) transforms and homogenizes the landscape; ii) reduces biodiversity and promotes genetic erosion; iii) contaminates the air and hydric sources; iv) Puts human and animal health at risk due to the chemical residue in the agricultural products; v) Fosters cultural change and puts traditional knowledge at risk as well as the diversity of non-commercial species among others. Changes in agricultural practices generated an intensification of industrial production due to the global necessity to guarantee access to food on behalf of the growing population as well as the integration of markets, and globalization. This propensity toward intensification of industrial agriculture corresponds to a trend in which the tropical regions are affected by agroindustrial modernization. This effect changes all the landscapes and their biodiversity to give way to agricultural monoculture, livestock (pastures) and/or forests (plantations), generating inadequate life quality levels to its inhabitants (Toledo, 2003). Nevertheless, actions are aimed at reaching sustainability on the agricultural production systems. In this sense three basic questions have been object of study in the last few years (Conway, 1994): • How to evaluate the sustainability of the agricultural production systems? • What is the impact of a specific agricultural practice on the sustainability of the rural environment? • What is the appropriate approach to explore economic, environmental and social dimensions?