From Crevillente, Alicante, news comes that contribute to the development and diffusion of organic farming. Thus, the Environmental Education Center CAM 'The Mills' celebrates this week the third edition of the Agro-ecology Week in which for five days, will be the audience in the precepts of organic agriculture and livestock.

Until next Friday, nearly a hundred people attend classes, educational sessions and workshops on agro-ecology with the aim of promoting the acquisition of knowledge, attitudes and behaviors that respect the environment. 

Agro-ecology Week, sponsored by Caja Mediterráneo through its social work, has established itself as a meeting place which provides adequate training and updating of knowledge and farming practices in the community.

Attendees will address, among other things, the principles of organic agriculture and agro-ecology.

But .... What is agro-ecology?

Agro-ecology is a scientific discipline that uses ecological theory to the study, design and evaluation of Agro-Cultural systems that are productive while conserving resources. Agroecological research considers the interactions of all the biophysical, technical and socioeconomic information concerning agricultural systems as fundamental units of study, where mineral cycles, energy transformations, biological processes and socioeconomic relationships are analyzed as a whole in a interdisciplinary way.

Agro-ecology is responsible for maintaining a productive agriculture that optimizes the use of local resources and minimize negative environmental and socioeconomic impact of new technologies. In industrialized countries, modern agriculture with high yields and maximizing use of inputs creates environmental and health problems that often don’t substitute for basic needs or producers or consumers. In developing countries, and promote environmental degradation, modern agricultural technologies have inconsiderate circumstances and socio-economic needs of a large number of poor farmers.

To put into practice agro-ecological technologies requires technological innovation, changes in agricultural policies, economic changes, but more importantly is to have a thorough understanding of the long-term complex interactions within the resources, people and the environment. To achieve this understanding, agriculture should be viewed as an ecological system. It is essential a new scheme of interdisciplinary work that integrates the biophysical sciences, ecology and other social sciences. Agro-ecology provides the scheme of work through the application of ecological theory to agro-ecosystem management according to specific resources and socio-economic realities, and providing a methodology for interdisciplinary connections required.

Source: Ecoalimenta