TRADITIONAL AGRICULTURE VERSUS ORGANIC AGRICULTURE. THE TERRITORIAL COST OF SUSTAINABILITY

Abstract

The study of traditional agrarian systems can provide useful knowledge for improving the sustainability of present-day agriculture. Nonetheless, with the loss of traditional agroecosystems and the rationale that guides them, as has happened in Europe, an historical research approach can have a decisive role to play in recapturing this knowledge. In this article we study the evolution of a typical Mediterranean agroecosystem during the last 250 years, supporting the claim that high diversity and the internalization of energy fl ows and nutrient cycles found in traditional agriculture, are not only characteristics of the sustainability of such systems, but are based in the need for additional land in production. This claim requires the dedication of land to diverse and complementary uses that leave a footprint on the landscape. Ecological agriculture needs to consider this “territorial cost,” meanwhile trying to minimize it in order to improve its actual degree of sustainability.