Chaplin-Kramer Rebecca, Chappell M Jahi, Bennett Elena M
Natural Capital Project, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.
Institute on the Environment, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2023 Feb;1520(1):89-104. doi: 10.1111/nyas.14950. Epub 2022 Dec 28.
There has been a seismic shift in the center of gravity of scientific writing and thinking about agriculture over the past decades, from a prevailing focus on maximizing yields toward a goal of balancing trade-offs and ensuring the delivery of multiple ecosystem services. Maximizing crop yields often results in a system where most benefits accrue to very few (in the form of profits), alongside irreparable environmental harm to agricultural ecosystems, landscapes, and people. Here, we present evidence that an un-yielding, which we define as de-emphasizing the importance of yields alone, is necessary to achieve the goal of a more Food secure, Agrobiodiverse, Regenerative, Equitable and just (FARE) agriculture. Focusing on yields places the emphasis on one particular outcome of agriculture, which is only an intermediate means to the true endpoint of human well-being. Using yields as a placeholder for this outcome ignores the many other benefits of agriculture that people also care about, like health, livelihoods, and a sense of place. Shifting the emphasis to these multiple benefits rather than merely yields, and to their equitable delivery to all people, we find clear scientific evidence of win-wins for people and nature through four strategies that foster FARE agriculture: reduced disturbance, systems reintegration, diversity, and justice (in the form of securing rights to land and other resources). Through a broad review of the current state of agriculture, desired futures, and the possible pathways to reach them, we argue that while trade-offs between some ecosystem services in agriculture are unavoidable, the same need not be true of the end benefits we desire from them.
在过去几十年里，科学写作和农业思维的重心发生了巨大转变，从普遍关注产量最大化转向平衡权衡并确保提供多种生态系统服务的目标。最大化作物产量往往导致这样一种系统，即大部分利益归于极少数人（以利润形式），同时对农业生态系统、景观和人类造成不可修复的环境损害。在此，我们提出证据表明，一种不屈从（我们将其定义为不再单纯强调产量的重要性）对于实现更具粮食安全、农业生物多样性、再生性、公平性和公正性（FARE）的农业目标是必要的。关注产量将重点置于农业的一个特定结果上，而这只是实现人类福祉这一真正终点的中间手段。将产量用作这一结果的替代指标忽略了人们同样关心的农业的许多其他益处，如健康、生计和归属感。将重点转向这些多重益处而非仅仅是产量，并确保公平地惠及所有人，我们通过促进FARE农业的四种策略找到了人类与自然双赢的明确科学证据：减少干扰、系统重新整合、多样性和公正性（以保障土地及其他资源权利的形式）。通过广泛审视农业现状、理想未来以及实现这些未来的可能途径，我们认为，虽然农业中某些生态系统服务之间的权衡不可避免，但我们期望从这些服务中获得的最终益处并非必然如此。
