Agroecology Knowledge Hub

Recycling: more recycling means agricultural production with lower economic and environmental costs

Waste is a human concept – it does not exist in natural ecosystems. By imitating natural ecosystems, agroecological practices support biological processes that drive the recycling of nutrients, biomass and water within production systems, thereby increasing resource-use efficiency and minimizing waste and pollution.

Recycling can take place at both farm-scale and within landscapes, through diversification and building of synergies between different components and activities. For example, agroforestry systems that include deep rooting trees can capture nutrients lost beyond the roots of annual crops. Crop–livestock systems promote recycling of organic materials by using manure for composting or directly as fertilizer, and crop residues and by-products as livestock feed. Nutrient cycling accounts for 51 percent of the economic value of all non-provisioning ecosystem services, and integrating livestock plays a large role in this. Similarly, in rice–fish systems, aquatic animals help to fertilize the rice crop and reduce pests, reducing the need for external fertilizer or pesticide inputs.

Recycling delivers multiple benefits by closing cycles and reducing waste that translates into lower dependency on external resources, increasing the autonomy of producers and reducing their vulnerability to market and climate shocks. Recycling organic materials and by-products offers great potential for agroecological innovations.

Database

The virtual workshop on ''Agroecology and safe food system transitions for green, inclusive and resilient COVID-19 recovery in the Southeast Asian Nation (ASEAN)'', was organized through the project ''Agroecology and Safe Food System Transition'' (ASSET) by the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), FAO, the French...
Event
2021
FAO and Civil Society Organizations are presenting the Webinar ''An introduction to the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE): Metrics for Sustainable Food and Agriculture'' on 12 and 15 November 2021. FAO in dialogue with Civil Society Organisations and academia developed a global analytical framework for the multidimensional assessment of the performance...
Event
2021
FAO has recently partnered with the organization IN SITU to measure the impact of agroecology through the Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE) in 60 farms surrounding Rosario City in the State of Santa Fe, Argentina. The results of that assessment and their connection to public policies for territorial development will...
Argentina
Event
2021
The first generation of the professionalizing Master in Agroecology will be welcomed with the symposium "Directions and Frontiers of Agroecology as a Transdiscipline" promoted by the College of the Southern Border (ECOSUR), the Latin American Scientific Society for Agroecology (SOCLA) and La Via Campesina. To connect to this virtual inauguration symposium,...
Event
2022
The FAO Africa Gender Team is pleased to invite you to this year's virtual International Women's Day celebration, which will be taking place on 9 March, from 10:00-11:30 AM GMT. The virtual celebration will highlight how peasant and indigenous women are actively promoting healthy food systems through agroecology, regenerative approaches...
Senegal - Uganda - Zambia - Zimbabwe
Event
2022