Opportunities and barriers in diversified farming and the use of agroecological principles in the Global North – The experiences of Danish biodynamic farmers

Abstract

Diversification through agroecological principles may maintain and stabilize yields in an increasingly more unpredictable climate, including market price fluctuations, as well as preserve and enhance the threatened natural resource base and the environment. Based on a participatory interview process this article identifies the barriers encountered by a group of Danish biodynamic farmers striving for self-sufficient farm systems with no or very little dependency on imported materials by developing biologically, economically and socially diverse farms. Through an iterative interview process the study found that barriers outside farm management are hindering the transition toward diverse farming and that a further exploration of the need for and implications of food sovereignty in the Global North might generate the discussions needed to support implementation of more agroecological farming system practises.

Crop Diversification for Improved Weed Management: A Review

“…A large-scale monoculture agriculture system has deeply entrenched across the world ensuing difficulty for any alternative production system such as diversified farming to flourish [154,155]. Reluctance among the commercial farmers in adopting crop diversification could be because of not prioritizing the importance of ecology or the lack of knowledge about diverse farming models and relevant scientific mechanisms governing their several advantages [34,156]. In the absence of proper knowledge and skills, it is evident for the farmers to be more doubtful of the economic success of relatively complex farming systems on a large-scale.…”

“…Although diversified farming uses agricultural inputs more judiciously and could be cheaper in the long run, small-scale farmers may struggle to establish a diverse agriculture farm as it requires more resources at the beginning. A case study on danish farmers revealed that, with the diversified cropping system, farmers experienced an increase in the types of farm activities, requiring broad knowledge, skills, equipment, manpower, and advisory services to run, and needing more years to return the initial investments [156]. Therefore, farmers with no other alternative income source are unlikely to take risk towards the diversified approach [154].…”

Crop Diversification for Improved Weed Management: A Review

“…Not having proper policies and channels to disseminate farmer's knowledge to the extension workers and researchers also hinders the adoption of crop diversification. Inadequate legislation provisions to meet the needs of diversified farming are also reported by Aare et al [134] in Denmark. More restrictions were found regarding the use of certain species or cultivars, thus discouraging diversification.…”

“…A large-scale monoculture agriculture system has deeply entrenched across the world ensuing difficulty for any alternative production system like diversified farming to flourish [132,133]. Reluctance among the commercial farmers in adopting crop diversification could be because of not prioritizing the importance of ecology or the lack of knowledge about diverse farming models and relevant scientific mechanisms governing their several advantages [134,34]. In the absence of proper knowledge and skills, it is evident for the farmers to be more doubtful of the economic success of relatively complex farming systems on a large-scale.…”

“…Although diversified farming uses agricultural inputs more judiciously and could be cheaper in the long run, small-scale farmers may struggle to establish a diverse agriculture farm as it requires more resources at the beginning. A case study on danish farmers revealed that, with the diversified cropping system, farmers experienced an increase in the types of farm activities, requiring broad knowledge, skills, equipment, manpower, and advisory services to run, and needing more years to return the initial investments [134]. Therefore, farmers with no other alternative income source are unlikely to take risk towards the diversified approach [132].…”