SOCIOECONOMIC CONSTRAINTS TO FARMING WITH BIODIVERSITY

Technological development in agriculture has led to a diminished use o f biodiversity in food production, and a reduced efficiency of energy use. This paper explores the reasons for these paradoxical effects of progress, by considering the farming system as an integral part of the larger socioeconomic system and natural environment in which it opera tes. Whenever changes in the socioeconomic and demographic characteris tics of society result in a higher opportunity cost of labor, land and capital, the agricultural sector has no other option but to augment t he productivity of labor, land and the economic return of capital inve stments. At the farm level, this translates into the need to increase the density of agricultural throughputs, per hour of farm labor and pe r hectare of land, in the agroecosystem. Above a certain threshold, hi gh densities of agricultural throughputs can no longer be achieved wit h natural patterns of matter cycling in the agroecosystem. Fossil ener gy inputs and monoculture then become a necessity. The relationship be tween socioeconomic and demographic characteristics on the one hand an d actual productivity of labor and land in agriculture on the other ha nd is confirmed by a cross-sectional analysis of a large sample of cou ntries. General trends in economic and population growth indicate that most countries are moving toward high-energy-input and labor-saving t echnologies. Moving away from this path of technological development i n agriculture, as would be required to preserve and enhance biodiversi ty use in agriculture, is an immense challenge that needs to be faced. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science B.V.