text:
Supporting agro-ecology for people and the planet
Sopheap Meas in her rice field, Cambodia 2012. She uses the system of rice intensification (SRI),
an agro-ecology approach which improves yields. Photo: Simon Rawles/Oxfam
Climate change and the injustice of hunger require urgent attention,
and investment in a model of agriculture that is truly sustainable.
Agro-ecology is the science of applying ecological concepts and
principles to the design and management of sustainable agriculture.
An agro-ecological approach provides a range of social, economic,
and environmental benefits that, with the right policy support and
associated investments, can be scaled up to enable smallholder
farming communities to achieve food security.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates
that globally, 842 million people are currently undernourished.1
Shockingly, half of these hungry people are small-scale farmers and their
families,2 for whom agriculture is a livelihood, providing food for their own
needs and generating income.3 A failed harvest due to drought, or the
loss of land caused by irresponsible large-scale land investments, can
have devastating effects on the livelihoods of farmers.
The 2008 food price crisis triggered renewed investment in agriculture.
But the key question is: what type of agriculture is being promoted? In
2013 the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD)5 noted that current priorities are still heavily focused on
increasing production, mostly under the slogan "more with less". This
approach is still very much biased towards the expansion of "somewhat
less polluting" industrial agriculture, rather than more sustainable and
affordable diversified food production in rural areas.6
Generally, the focus is on high levels of use of inputs and the 'Simply distributing
concentration of a handful of dominant crops in monocultures. This seeds and fertilizer, if
that's the plan, will fail
"solution" does not acknowledge the limited assets that small-scale
long term.' – Howard
farmers have available. It fails to account for the real-world heterogeneity Buffett4
and complexity of agriculture or for farmers" increasing need to adapt to
the challenges of greater climate variability. It does not tap into the
knowledge that farmers possess, and it also bypasses women farmers,
who historically have been marginalized from agricultural investment in
spite of the work they do.7 In other words, an approach of this nature will
fail the farmers who most need support.
This briefing makes the case for the need to invest not in industrial-style
farming but in agro-ecology to achieve truly sustainable agriculture and
food security for some of the poorest farmers in the world. Agro-ecology
is the science of applying ecological concepts and principles to the design
and management of sustainable agriculture. An agro-ecological approach
provides a range of social, economic, and environmental benefits that,
with the right policy support and associated investments, can be scaled
up to enable smallholder farming communities to achieve food security.
Sustainable agriculture refers to the capacity of agriculture over time to
contribute to people"s well-being by providing them with sufficient food
and other goods and services in ways that are economically efficient and
profitable, socially responsible, culturally acceptable, and environmentally
sound.8 A key idea is stewardship – preserving the resources that allow
us to meet current needs, so that future generations can meet theirs too.
The implications of this are far-reaching: we cannot continue to farm in
ways that deplete soil, pollute water, reduce biodiversity, and impoverish
rural communities.
Indeed, the industrial agriculture model needs an overhaul, given the
impacts it has. Briefly, these include:
1. Eroding soil nutrient quality and health, with implications for
future productivity
The use of synthetic fertilizers has helped to increase yields, but
excessive or inappropriate fertilizer use has also led to significant soil
degradation and water pollution. Of all the components of the agricultural
ecosystem, soil condition is the most crucial, and healthy soil offers the
most direct benefits to farmers. The declining soil quality experienced in
many regions of the world severely limits productivity.9 The application of
synthetic fertilizer is subject to diminishing returns,10 with increasingly
high input rates required to achieve the same levels of plant growth. In
addition, the natural resources used to make synthetic fertilizers are finite
(e.g. phosphate rock).
The practice of industrial agriculture has also led to a dramatic decline in
the nutrient content of food and animal feed. For example, mineral levels
in fruits and vegetables in the UK fell by up to 76 percent between 1940
and 1991, and a similar trend has been seen in the USA.11 This decline
has been attributed to the unintentional selecting out of high-nutrient crop
varieties when breeding crops for high yield potential; the use of shallow-
rooting annual crops that are unable to tap into soil nutrients at deeper
levels; and the failure to return a full complement of nutrients to the
2. Contributing to climate change and a loss of resilience
Agriculture is both a source of carbon emissions and a carbon sink, and it
both contributes to and mitigates climate change. Major agricultural
sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions include the use of fossil
fuels and fertilizers and the loss of organic matter in soils resulting from
intensive cultivation practices. Estimates vary, but if changes in land use
are included in the calculation, 14–24 per cent of total emissions of
anthropogenic GHGs can be attributed to agriculture.12 Most of those
emissions are attributable to industrial agriculture.13
In the United States, the biggest contributors to GHG emissions are
nitrogen fertilizer, followed by enteric fermentation (i.e. methane
produced in the digestive process of animals, chiefly cattle).14 Even
without accounting for deforestation, it is clear that the current system of
industrial agricultural production is a key cause of climate change.15
3. Loss of biodiversity and decline in human health due to
indiscriminate use of pesticides
The use of synthetic pesticides, as practised throughout the developing
world, poses significant risks to human health and to biodiversity, which
is an important source of food and livelihoods for many of the world"s
poorest people. We have hardly scratched the surface concerning the
ways in which biodiversity contributes to the nutrition, health and
livelihoods of many of the world"s poorest people. It is clear however that
broad-spectrum pesticides that impair floral biodiversity, reduce species
richness and shorten food chains in agricultural systems limit the
capacity of that system to provision the people who live within them.
For example, a study using the most recent risk assessment models to
provide the first detailed analysis of pesticide risks in West Africa
revealed a number of specific pesticides that pose widespread and
significant threats to human health and to wildlife, both terrestrial and
aquatic throughout this region, affecting a large proportion of the area
under irrigated agriculture.16 The study found that farm workers and
family members, including children, are routinely exposed to high
concentrations of toxic organophosphates such as methamidophos and
dimethoate while working on crops.17 Over-use of pesticides makes food
supply vulnerable due to the emergence of "super-weeds" and the severe
impacts on natural enemies and pollinators. It also reduces availability of
plants for gathering and the animals hunted for food that takes place
throughout the developing world. Crop productivity itself is also
threatened, for example, nearly one-third of our food supply is linked to
pollination: 39 of the leading 57 crops globally benefit from natural
pollinators, which are threatened by extensive use of synthetic
Genetic variability is the raw material on which breeding for increased
production and greater resilience depends. Further loss of genetic
diversity in plant crops and animal breeds is dangerous, because it
makes our food supply more vulnerable to outbreaks of pests and
diseases and to loss of capacity to adapt to changing climatic conditions.
For instance, in the 1970s a lack of genetic diversity in US corn varieties
resulted in losses of over $1bn as crops lacked resistance to leaf blight.19
Poor and vulnerable people mostly rely on both on and off-farm
biodiversity to protect against food insecurity and risk.20 By simplifying
systems and restructuring them by repeated pesticide use, we may be
limiting vital nutritional resources among at-risk populations.
4. Perpetuating dependency and failing to meet the needs of the
poorest farmers
For many small-scale farmers, the purchase of manufactured fertilizers
and pesticides is constrained by the high costs of these relative to output
prices, or simply by their unavailability. Also, the farmers who buy
pesticides would still be at risk because the information on how to use
them properly is simply not available.21 Those who buy such inputs often
do so by taking out loans, which can push them into a cycle of debt and
dependency, especially if their harvests fail. This risk is further increased
because oil prices affect agricultural input prices directly and indirectly
(through the price of fuel and fertiliser, and the use of petroleum and
natural gas in manufacturing the inputs, for example).22
Agro-ecology is a scientifically grounded approach that has been field-
tested by farmers around the world. The International Assessment of
Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development
(IAASTD), a multi-year study involving hundreds of experts and several
UN agencies, has defined agro-ecology as "the science of applying
ecological concepts and principles to the design and management of
sustainable agroecosystems".23 The key principles of agro-ecology are:24
• Enhancing the recycling of biomass, optimizing nutrient availability,
and balancing nutrient flow;
• Securing favourable soil conditions for plant growth, particularly by
managing organic matter and enhancing soil activity;
• Minimizing losses due to flows of sunlight, air, and water by way of
micro-climate management, water harvesting, and soil management
through increased soil cover;
• Enhancing species and genetic diversification of the agro-ecosystem;
• Enhancing beneficial biological interactions and synergies among
components of agro-biodiversity and the surroundings, thus promoting
key ecological processes and functions.
However, agro-ecology is not just a science. Since the 1970s, the
concept has come to refer also to an approach to agriculture and to a
social and political movement.25 In reality, these three dimensions are
often very closely related. As a movement, agro-ecology essentially
seeks to increase the autonomy and control of small-scale farmers over
agricultural and food systems, building strategic alliances with consumers
and other civil society actors. The movement includes both farmers"
organizations and non-government organizations (NGOs) seeking to
spread the practice of agro-ecology to more farmers (horizontal scaling
up or scaling out), to support and advocate for policy measures and
regulations that specifically support agro-ecology, and to challenge
obstacles holding back the potential of smallholder agriculture. Critical
issues for farmers – and women in particular – include having secure
access to and control over land and other natural resources, as well as
ensuring their rights to access, breed, produce, conserve, purchase,
exchange, and use the seeds that they need.26
As an approach, agro-ecology aims to make agriculture economically,
ecologically, and socially more sustainable. The realization of agro-
ecological principles depends primarily upon mimicking natural
processes, thus creating beneficial biological interactions and synergies
between the components of the agro-ecosystem. Creating suitable
combinations of strategies and practices is context-specific, and is
focused on site-specific solutions. It is highly knowledge-intensive, based
on the know-how of small-scale producers and on agro-ecological
science and experimentation.
Important concepts in agro-ecology include diversification of crops and
livestock, crop rotation, and cycles of organic matter. Integrated
management of soil nutrients makes use of crop residues, animal
manure, and food waste, and enables an increase in soil health while
producing more diversified and nutritious food in a way that also
increases resilience to climate change.27 Agro-ecology means finding
biological ways to reduce the need for pesticides (with techniques such
as integrated pest management) or for chemical fertilizers (for example,
by using compost). This produces positive impacts in terms of human
health, reduced GHG emissions, and greater protection of biodiversity.
Emissions from systems that are managed this way will be reduced, and
once established, they should be better cushioned from the impacts of
extreme weather events.
For example, a study using a participatory action research approach and
simple field techniques found significant differences in agro-ecological
resistance between plots on "conventional" and "sustainable" farms in
Central America after Hurricane Mitch. On average, "agro-ecological"
plots on sustainable farms had more topsoil, higher field moisture, more
vegetation, less erosion and lower economic losses after the hurricane
than control plots on conventional farms.28 Another study that examined
the vulnerability of coffee agroforestry systems to disturbances related to
Hurricane Stan in Chiapas, Mexico found that increasing vegetation
complexity within farms may be an efficient strategy to reduce some
susceptibility to hurricane disturbance.29 The attributes of increased
complexity, diversity, and reduced disturbance that underlie climate
resilience will also render systems less susceptible to invasive pests and
diseases, and production may therefore be stabilized. With
agroecological practices that diversify agricultural systems, invasive
species will spread at slower rates, establish less effectively and have
more limited effects on yield and quality.
Practices based on agro-ecological principles include agro-forestry
(agricultural systems that combine trees, crops, and animals in order to
promote intensification and synergies), water harvesting in dry-land
areas, livestock integration into farming systems, reduced tillage,
composting and green manure, systems of rice intensification,
permaculture, and a whole variety of other techniques. The
integration of trees into annual food crop systems has been adopted by
tens of thousands of farmers in Malawi, Zambia, Burkina Faso and
Niger, leading to increases in household and national food security.30 A
recent review of 286 projects in 57 countries found that crop productivity
rose by 79 percent where farmers had adopted agro-ecological
practices,31 while an older study reported food production rising by 73
percent for 4.42 million small-scale farmers growing cereals and root
crops.32 Another successful agro-ecological practice taken up by farmers
around the world is the System of Rice Intensification (SRI), described in
Box 1.
Box 1: System of Rice Intensification (SRI) – an example of agro-
ecology in action
SRI is an agro-ecological approach that originally focused on better
husbandry of hand-planted rice crops and has since been adapted for other
staples. Key components of SRI include starting with fewer, younger,
widely spaced seedlings, grown in mostly aerobic soils instead of
constantly flooded fields. The resulting larger, healthier root systems give
higher yields with 25–50 percent less water and with fewer inputs such as
seeds and less methane gas emissions from paddies.
Oxfam started working on SRI in 2000 and has since expanded its
programmes to 12 countries in Asia, West Africa, and Latin America and
the Caribbean. As of 2013, over 1.5 million smallholder farmers in groups
supported by Oxfam"s partners in Cambodia, Sri Lanka, and Viet Nam had
benefited from SRI, using both local and improved varieties of rice.
Widespread adoption of SRI led to increases in yields of 68 percent in
Cambodia and 30–50 percent in Sri Lanka in the period 2010–13. In
Cambodia, incomes increased by $339 per hectare and in Viet Nam by
$200–300 per hectare. In addition, with each season of SRI application the
soil ecosystem improves, and along with it potential future crop
performance. The same husbandry principles are applied to new crop
rotations, such as potatoes in Viet Nam. Rice straw and stubble are used
as a mulch bed which, as it gradually decomposes, improves the soil
ecosystem for the next rice crop. Farmers have saved between 28 percent
and 47 percent in terms of labour, while gaining improvements of between
8 percent and 25 percent in yields, earning additional income of $480–950
per hectare. They are also increasingly adopting complementary
technologies such as hand-held rotary weeders, which not only improve
efficiency but also address concerns over women"s labour. Successful
scaling up of these innovations requires an enabling policy environment,
particularly in terms of building human capital and empowering
communities. For example, in its national agriculture strategy the
Government of Viet Nam has endorsed SRI as a practice that can increase
climate resilience. During the period 2010–13, public funds allocated to
extend SRI were nearly five times larger than Oxfam"s investment in the six
provinces where its programmes were active.
In Ethiopia, the Agriculture Transformation Agency (ATA) is promoting the
system of crop intensification for teff. Evidence shows that farmers applying
SRI principles have seen yields triple, while also making savings on seed of
up to 90 percent.
SRI is currently being practised in over 50 countries and is promoted by
organizations such as the International Fund for Agricultural Development
(IFAD), Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ),
the US Agency for International Development (USAID), the Asian
Development Bank (ADB), FAO, and the World Bank in their development
portfolios. Closer collaboration between practitioners and the scientific
community is needed to address issues such as labour, nutrition, and
health. For example, SRI"s potential to relieve the labour burden on rice
farmers and to improve their health warrants a close study.
Although millions of farmers worldwide are already engaged in agro-
ecology practices, there are some persistent myths about the approach
that need to be debunked.
Myth 1: Agro-ecology is opposed to science and
Agro-ecology promotes innovative forms of collaboration between
farmers and scientific researchers. It aims to 'modernize' agriculture by
improving the sustainability of farming systems, while putting farmers in
the driving seat of the innovation process. A range of technologies may
be helpful for farmers (e.g. embryo culture, marker-assisted selection40).
What is most important is their accessibility and how they respond to the
real issues that farmers face. To address these issues, it is critical that
farmers are involved in the process of scientific development. As the new
findings about the extent of pesticide risks and lack of effective regulation
reveal, farmers will also rely on scientifically based information being
made available to assist them in making risk management decisions
where laws and conventions are insufficient to protect their health and
the productivity of the systems where they farm.
Myth 2: Agro-ecology cannot be scaled up
Some critics dismiss agro-ecology as an isolated practice carried out on
a few small farms that cannot be scaled up – but this is not true. The
approach can work on farms of different sizes and at different degrees of
market integration. In Cuba, for example, some 110,000 family farmers
associated with the Asociacion Nacional de Agricultores Pequeños
(ANAP) have been practising agro-ecological methods. These farmers,
who control less than 35 percent of the land, are responsible for more
than 70 percent of domestic food production – for example, 67 percent of
roots and tubers, 94 percent of small livestock, 73 per cent of rice, and
80 percent of fruits.41 In Brazil, around 100,000 family farms have
adopted agro-ecological farming practices, showing an increase in
average yields of 300 percent and a 100 percent increase for black
beans and corn, while increasing resilience to irregular weather
patterns.42 With the right policy environment and financial support, agro-
ecology can make a big contribution. Farmer-centered approaches to
agricultural development, including farmer field schools, are built around
concepts of observation and adaptive management and they are less
susceptible to unanticipated adverse impacts because of the vigilance
and empowerment that lies at the heart of these approaches.
Myth 3: Agro-ecology is subsistence-oriented and
incompatible with markets
Virtually all households in rural areas are both producers and consumers,
buyers and sellers, but many sell agricultural produce and buy their food
at different times of the year. Agro-ecology offers good prospects for
increasing yields and improving the sustainability of farming in resource-
poor and marginal areas,43 potentially allowing farmers to sell some of
their produce if they wish to. Also, since farmers will be spending less on
fertilizers and pesticides, they can actually save money. The relatively
small size of agro-ecological farms means that they are more suited to
local and regional food markets. A review of 28 case studies of "eco-
agricultural" management practices in Asia, Africa, South and North
America, and Europe showed positive economic benefits, while in
another five cases such practices had a neutral impact on incomes.44
The former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Olivier De
Schutter, has identified scaling up agro-ecological approaches as one of
the main challenges of our time, noting both a need to expand the areas
cultivated in this way and to provide an enabling framework for farmers to
use these practices.45
A number of governments, such as those of Brazil, Viet Nam, Cuba, and
France, are showing some support for agro-ecological approaches at
national or international level. At the international level, in October 2012
the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) endorsed the Global
Strategic Framework for Food Security and Nutrition (GSF), which
acknowledges that "agroecological practices have proved to be important
in improving agricultural sustainability as well as the incomes of food
producers and their resilience in the face of climate change". It also
stresses "the importance of local knowledge in promoting food security,
particularly as the latter is influenced by the capacity to manage natural
assets and biodiversity and to adapt to the localized impact of climate
change".46 The GSF includes other useful provisions relevant to scaling
up agro-ecological approaches, and calls in particular on CFS member
states and other stakeholders, including international and regional
organizations, to develop programmes, policies, and laws in line with an
ecosystem approach at local and national levels, in order to increase
agricultural productivity and production in a socially, economically, and
environmentally sustainable manner.47
Different countries and international organizations have implemented
strategies and policy tools to scale up agro-ecology. The following are a
few examples of successful experiences.
• The potential of public procurement: Governments can secure
market preferences for small- and family-scale producers, for instance
in public procurement, as has been the case with Brazil"s Programa
de Aquisiçao de Alimentos (PAA), created in 2003. Under this
initiative, farmers are given a purchase guarantee for specific
quantities of produce at specific prices, making the operation of
thousands of small farms more economically viable.
• Farmer field schools: A FAO study showed that Farmer Field
Schools (FFS) in Mali that provided farmers with training on
alternative methods of pest control enabled cotton to be grown three
times more cost-effectively than farms that purchased and used
synthetic pesticides.48 Over an eight year period, the data showed a
significant reduction in the use of hazardous insecticides by more than
4,324 cotton growing households. With roughly 20 percent of these
households involved progressively over time in FFS training,
insecticide use fell by 92.5 percent for all cotton growing households.
Farmers avoided applying more than 47,000 litres of pesticides, and
saved nearly half a million dollars. By contrast, pesticide use was
unchanged over time in the sector with no farmer training taking place.
A survey of 80 alumni-FFS vegetable farmers in the Senegal River
Valley showed that improved pest control practices learned during the
course of their FFS training had become part of their normal routine 2
years after training. Commercial pesticide use fell by 92 percent, and
the percentage of farmers using these chemicals fell from 97 percent
to 12 percent.49
• Certification: Agro-ecology can take advantage of certification.
Experience to date with organic or other ethical labels shows that a
higher price can be obtained. Because organic certification is
expensive, farmers" organizations have been using participatory
guarantee systems, which offer a low-cost, locally based system of
quality assurance with a heavy emphasis on social control and
knowledge building. Countries such as France and Brazil have
recognized this system as having equal status to third party
certification. Thus it is possible to develop similar schemes for agro-
ecological products.
• Role of the private sector: There is also room for novel partnerships
between farmers using agro-ecological methods and private sector
actors who can see beyond simply selling seeds and fertilizers to
farmers. In the US, for example, the Community Agroecology Network
(CAN), which works to advance agro-ecological systems in Central
America, has launched AgroEco Coffee, a single-origin coffee from a
small co-operative in Costa Rica, which produces the crop as part of
an agro-ecological farm system. In Cuba, producers have emerged to
supply biological and pest control products – not chemicals, but
insects and bacteria whose natural prey is the pests and diseases that
damage crops. There is a huge opportunity for the private sector to
develop products for this market.
A critical element in supporting scaling-up efforts is research. Agro-
ecological approaches have a wide range of benefits, but in order for
them to be scaled up in a specific context there is a need for solutions
that contribute to increasing smallholders" productivity and incomes
(ideally in the short term but also in the longer term); are sustainable, and
do not leave farmers dependent on public subsidies; and find creative
solutions to issues of gender equality and labour needs.
Agro-ecological practices are often associated with higher labour
requirements than in conventional agriculture.50 Labour can either be a
major constraint to adoption or an employment provider for rural
communities: for example, the planting pits used in zero-till agriculture in
Africa have created rural employment.51 There are important gender
implications in the adoption of agro-ecological practices, which require
further attention and research. Also, the preparation, transportation, and
application of organic manure are labour-intensive tasks which may
reduce the net benefits for farmers who do not have access to labour or
who cannot pay for it. Access to animal manure is often constrained by
the size of farmers" plots and also by whether or not they have animals.52
Labour is one area that requires more investment in research to better
understand the dynamics involved, so that farmers have access to a wide
range of appropriate practices that can unlock the full potential of agro-
ecology in a specific context.
Opportunities now exist to scale up the approach, with agriculture back
on the agenda of donors and governments, and the emergence of
different initiatives to increase its sustainability. It is critical that efforts to
scale up such approaches promote solutions that are evidence-based
and create positive impacts for smallholders (see Box 2).
Box 2: Is climate-smart agriculture 'business as usual' or a way to
scale up agro-ecology?
"Climate-smart agriculture" (CSA) is an approach that is being promoted by
a range of stakeholders – for example, the World Bank, FAO, CGIAR and
its Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) programme,
DFID, the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), and the
Rockefeller Foundation.
FAO defines CSA as "agriculture that sustainably increases productivity,
resilience (adaptation), reduces/removes greenhouse gases (mitigation),
and enhances the achievement of national food security and development
goals". It allows for context-specific solutions: "CSA is not a single specific
agricultural technology or practice that can be universally applied. It is an
approach that requires site-specific assessments to identify suitable
agricultural production technologies and practices." At the CFS, the
concept of CSA was discussed but never agreed upon by member states,
notably because of strong opposition from smallholders and civil society
organizations (CSOs).
Generally, the concept of CSA is not yet clearly enough defined. This
makes possible some uses and interpretations of it that are not consistent
with the objective of achieving true agricultural sustainability, notably by
including practices that have not been proved to be solutions to tackling
hunger or achieving sustainable development, such as the use of
genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Secondly, CSA risks being too focused on climate mitigation. There are
concerns that, by prioritizing mitigation, it risks turning smallholder farms
into carbon sinks and diverting attention away from the real challenge of
mitigating climate change – preventing or reducing emissions by rich
countries. In addition, market-based sequestration approaches to
agriculture, promoted by a number of supporters of CSA, risk aggravating
land and water grabs by increasing the value of arable land.
Finally, if the way in which it is implemented is not clarified, CSA risks being
delivered via "business as usual", top-down, non-participatory approaches
that have been shown to be ineffective in the past. Such approaches fail to
account for the heterogeneity of farmers" assets and endowments, and
overall are disempowering for smallholders.
The concept of CSA is still evolving and initiatives are under way to create
an alliance around it. This should be used as an opportunity to clarify what
it means and ensure that CSA practices and approaches are consistent
with agro-ecology and with IAASTD guidance.
Agro-ecology reduces dependence on energy-intensive inputs, while
improving soil fertility, productivity, and biodiversity. Agro-ecological
practices give farmers greater control and enable them to meet their own
food needs and boost their incomes, while decreasing their exposure to
climate shocks. For these outcomes to be achieved, investments and a
supportive policy environment are needed.
As noted, all governments have recognized the Global Strategic
Framework for Food Security and Nutrition (GSF). Now they should, with
the support of donors and international organizations, turn this
commitment into practice and systemically scale up agro-ecological
approaches by taking the steps outlined below.
Ensure that smallholders and agro-ecological farmers are involved
in defining policies and investments in agriculture.
This requires setting up or strengthening multi-stakeholder platforms at
local, national, and regional levels which include small-scale food
Develop adequate public incentives to promote agro-ecological
practices. This will involve governments:
• Using public food procurement schemes (e.g. for schools, hospitals,
etc.) to support agro-ecological farming;
• Exploring, together with smallholder organizations, potential benefits
and the sustainability of promoting certification or other tools to
improve the marketing of agro-ecological products; more direct
incentives (such as payments for ecosystem services) and ways to
improve access to finance to support smallholders to transition
towards agro-ecological systems; and ways to ensure that the private
sector can contribute to efforts to scale up agro-ecology (by
establishing incentives and regulations/disincentives);
• Building or strengthening extension and education services for agro-
ecological technologies.
• Building or strengthening regulation and compliance systems for
hazardous pesticides that can impair systems and delay ecological
restoration of intensively managed areas.
Ensure that the right policies are in place to support agro-ecological
approaches, notably by:
• Establishing and revising policies on trade, investment, and
intellectual property rights to ensure that they protect indigenous
peoples" and farmers" rights to select, domesticate, breed, exchange,
and use native species of crops and livestock and promote
• Ensuring that all investments in agriculture and food production
systems avoid the depletion of natural resources and promote their
sustainable use and regeneration by promoting agro-ecology.
Governments should start by agreeing to include this recommendation
in the CFS principles for agricultural investment;
• Securing smallholders" access to land and other natural and
productive resources;
• Adopting regulations (e.g. on synthetic pesticides) that provide
incentives to all farmers to move towards agro-ecological approaches.
Ensure that strong farmer-led, bottom-up knowledge and research
systems are in place. This will require:
• Ensuring that research based on farmers" needs is prioritized;
• Ensuring that farmer-led and participatory research approaches are
adopted by research institutions;
• Supporting farmer-to-farmer knowledge networks and organizations to
develop and share learning on agro-ecology, building primarily on
traditional know-how;
• Ensuring that research systems – which should include input from
smallholders – develop the knowledge base of agro-ecology, address
the implications of agro-ecological management in different contexts,
and further develop agro-ecological approaches to production.
Note: websites cited were last accessed on 10 March 2014, unless otherwise
1 FAO (2013) "Global hunger down, but millions still chronically hungry", 1 October
2013. http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/198105/icode/
2 IFAD (2013) "Smallholders, Food Security and The Environment", International Fund
for Agricultural Development, p.11.
3 FAO (2003) "World Agriculture: Towards 2015/2030. An FAO perspective", London
and Sterling, VA: Earthscan. http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/y4252e/y4252e00.htm
4 Howard Buffett Key Note Speech at the World Food Prize 2010 Norman E. Borlaug
International Symposium "Take it to the Farmer": Reaching the World"s Smallholders
October 13–15, 2010, Des Moines, Iowa
5 United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (2013) "Trade and
Environment Review 2013: Wake Up Before It Is Too Late: Make agriculture truly
sustainable now for food security in a changing climate".
6 Ibid. p7.
7 FAO (2011) "The State of Food and Agriculture 2010–2011: Women in Agriculture:
Closing the Gender Gap for Development".
8 UNDESA/DSD (2000) "The contribution of sustainable agriculture and land
management to sustainable development", Sustainable Development Innovation
Briefs: Issue 7, May 2009. New York: United Nations Department of Economic and
Social Affairs, Division for Sustainable Development.
9 M.W. Rosegrant and S.A. Cline (2003) "Global food security: challenges and policies",
Science 302, 1917–1919.
10 J. Tivy (1990) Agricultural Ecology, Singapore: Longman Singapore Publishers Ltd;
K.G. Cassman (1999) "Ecological intensification of cereal production: yield potential,
soil quality and precision agriculture", Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences 96, 5952–5959; M. Wibbelmann, U. Schmutz, J. Wright, D. Udall, F. Rayns,
M. Kneafsey, L. Trenchard, J. Bennett, and M. Lennartsson (2013) "Mainstreaming
Agroecology: Implications for Global Food and Farming Systems", Centre for
Agroecology and Food Security Discussion Paper. Coventry, UK: Centre for
Agroecology and Food Security.
11 M. Wibbelmann et al. (2013), op. cit, p.2.
12 K. Paustian, M. Antle, J. Sheehan, and E.A. Paul (2006) "Agriculture"s Role in
Greenhouse Gas Mitigation". Washington, DC: Pew Center on Global Climate
13 B. Lin et al. (2011) Effects of industrial agriculture on climate change and the
mitigation potential of small-scale agro-ecological farms. CAB Reviews, available at:
site=167; Union of Concerned Scientists (2011) Drivers of Deforestation; What is
driving deforestation today?, available at:
14 E. Takle and D. Hofstrand (2008) "Global Warming – Agriculture"s Impact on
Greenhouse Gas Emissions", Ag Decision Maker, Iowa State University Extension
and Outreach. http://www.extension.iastate.edu/agdm/articles/others/TakApr08.html
15 Direct GHG emissions from agriculture, not including indirect emissions from land use
change, are estimated to be 10–12% of global anthropogenic GHG emissions.
Vermeulen et al. Op cit.
16 P.C. Jepson, M. Guzy, K. Blaustein, M. Sow, M. Sarr, P. Mineau and S. Kegley (2014)
Measuring pesticide ecological and health risks in West African agriculture to
establish an enabling environment for sustainable intensification. Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society B, http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2013.0491
17 Ibid. In West Africa, the use of protective clothing to reduce exposure to pesticides is
largely unknown.
18 Harold van der Valk and Irene Koomen (2013). Aspects determining the risk of
pesticides to wild bees: Risk profiles for focal crops on three continents (Field
Manual). Food and Agriculture Agency of the United Nations, Rome.
19 J.K Waage and J.D Mumford (2008). Agricultural biosecurity. Philosophical
Transactions Royal Society London Biological Sciences, Feb 27, 2008; 363(1492):
20 B. Vira and A. Kontoleon (2010) "Dependence of the Poor on Biodiversity: Which
poor, what biodiversity?". Paper prepared for the CPRC International Conference
2010, 8–10 September, Manchester, UK.
f. This review found that the "poor tend to depend disproportionately on relatively low
value or "inferior" goods and services from biodiversity, while the more affluent groups
may get interested in such resources if they have higher commercial values (often
crowding out the poor in the process). Similarly, risk dependence of the poor on
biodiversity takes the form of a last resort, in the absence of alternatives. This
dependence of the poor on low value activities (and on biodiversity as a last resort
against various forms of risk) may confirm the suggestion in some recent literature of
a resource‐based "poverty trap". This may have important policy implications, as it
suggests that the poor may need to break their dependence on biodiversity in order to
improve their livelihood outcomes.
21 See Jepson.
22 Multiple agencies (2011) Price Volatility in Food and Agricultural Markets: Policy
Responses. P10.
Policy Report including contributions by FAO, IFAD, IMF,OECD, UNCTAD, WFP, the
World Bank, the WTO, IFPRI and the UN HLTF June 2, 2011
23 B. McIntyre, H.R. Herren, J. Wakhungu, R.T. Watson (eds.). 2009. IAASTD
International Assessment of Agriculture Knowledge, Science and Technology for
Development Global Report. Island Press, Washington DC.p560.
24 M. A. Altieri and C.I. Nicholls (2012) p. 9 "Agroecology Scaling Up for Food
Sovereignty and Resiliency" in E. Lichtfouse (ed.), Sustainable Agriculture Reviews,
Sustainable Agriculture Reviews 11.
25 A. Wezel, S. Bellon, T. Doré, C. Francis, D. Vallod and C. David (2009) "Agroecology
as a science, a movement and a practice: a review". Agronomy for Sustainable
Development 29(4), 503– 515.
26 For a more comprehensive definition of agro-ecology, referring to its three
interconnected dimensions (science, agricultural approach, and movement), see, e.g.,
S. Parmentier (2014) "Scaling Up Agroecological Approaches: What, why and how?",
Oxfam-Solidarity discussion paper.
27 M. Wibbelmann, et al. (2013) Op. cit..
28, Miguel A. Altieri and C.I. Nicholls (2012) "Agroecology Scaling Up for Food
Sovereignty and Resiliency" in E. Lichtfouse (ed.), Sustainable Agriculture Reviews,
Sustainable Agriculture Reviews 11.
29 Stacy M. Philpott, Brenda B. Lin,, Shalene Jha,, Shannon J. Brines (2008)
"A multi-scale assessment of hurricane impacts on agricultural landscapes based on
land use and topographic features". Agriculture, Ecosystems and Environment 128
(2008) 12–20.
30 D. Garrity (2010) "Evergreen agriculture: a robust approach to sustainable food
security in Africa", Food Security 2:3–20.
31 J. Pretty, A. Noble, D. Bossio, J. Dixon, R. Hine, F.W.T. Penning de Vries, and J.
Morison (2006) "Resource-conserving agriculture increases yields in developing
countries", Environmental Science and Technology (Policy Analysis) 40(4): 1114–9.
32 J. Pretty and R. Hine (2001) "Reducing Food Poverty with Sustainable Agriculture: A
Summary of New Evidence", Colchester, UK: University of Essex Centre for
Environment and Society.
33 For more details on SRI see http://sri.ciifad.cornell.edu/
34 Jagannath et al. (2013),
35 L. Pommier (2014) "External Evaluation for Oxfam America"s FLAIR program",
unpublished draft, 15 January 2014, p.11, p.25, and p.65; S. Ariyarathne (2013)
"Milestone of a Journey: Cultivation of SRI in Sri Lanka", p.4.
36 Plant Protection Department of Viet Nam (2012). Achievement of the development of
the minimum tillage potato production in Viet Nam for period 2008 – 2011. Presented
at a workshop 15 January 2012 at the Farmer Field Day on Minimum Tillage Potatoes
Method in Hanoi, Vietnam.
37 L. Pommier (2014), op. cit, p.20.
38 SRI-Rice (2014) p. 25. The System of Crop Intensification: Agroecological
Innovations to Improve Agricultural Production, Food Security, and Resilience to
Climate Change. SRI International Network and Resources Center (SRI-Rice), Cornell
University, Ithaca, New York.
39 Sabarmate.,
40 Marker-assisted (or molecular-assisted) breeding provides a dramatic improvement in
the efficiency with which breeders can select plants with desirable combinations of
genes. A marker is a "genetic tag" that identifies a particular location within a plant"s
DNA sequences. Markers can be used in transferring a single gene into a new cultivar
or in testing plants for the inheritance of many genes at once.
41 P.M. Rosset, B. Machín-Sosa, A.M. Roque-Jaime, and D.R. Avila-Lozano (2011) "The
Campesino-to-Campesino agroecology movement of ANAP in Cuba", Journal of
Peasant Studies 38:161–191.
42 B. Mckay (2012) "A Socially Inclusive Pathway to Food Security: The Agroecological
Alternative", Research Brief No 23, International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth
(cited in S. Parmentier (2014) "Scaling Up Agroecological Approaches", op. cit., p.34.)
43 J. Pretty and R. Hine (2001) "Reducing Food Poverty with Sustainable Agriculture",
op. cit.
44 Cited in M. Wibbelmann, U. Schmutz, J. Wright, D. Udall, F. Rayns, M. Kneafsey, L.
Trenchard, J. Bennett and M. Lennartsson (2013) p. 15 Mainstreaming Agroecology:
Implications for Global Food and Farming Systems. Centre for Agroecology and Food
Security Discussion Paper. Coventry: Centre for Agroecology and Food Security.
Original study is from S.J. Scherr, J.A., McNeely, and S. Shames (2008)
"Ecoagriculture: agriculture, environmental conservation and poverty reduction at a
landscape scale". in The Role of the Environment in Poverty Alleviation. ed. by P.
Galizzi and A. Herklotz, New York: Fordham University Press, 64–68.
45 O. De Schutter (2010) Human Rights Council Sixteenth session Agenda item 3.
Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and
cultural rights, including the right to development. Report submitted by the Special
Rapporteur on the right to food, Olivier De Schutter.
46 CFS (2012). Committee on World Food Security (2012). P9. Global Strategic
Framework for Food Security and Nutrition. Consolidated version endorsed by the
CFS, Thirty-ninth session, Rome, Italy 15–20 October 2012.
47 Agro-ecological approaches have also been recognized in the framework of other
CFS processes. Notably, they are referred to within the Voluntary Guidelines on the
Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of
National Food Security (VGGT), the first global framework setting out principles and
internationally accepted standards for responsible governance of tenure, which was
officially adopted in May 2012. The guidelines are a set of recommendations for all
stakeholders, but in particular states, to improve tenure governance of land, fisheries,
and forests, with the overarching goal of achieving food security for all (with an
emphasis on vulnerable and marginalized people) and to support the progressive
realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security. In
terms of regulated spatial planning, the VGGT notably state (paragraph 20.5): "Spatial
planning should take duly into account the need to promote diversified sustainable
management of land, fisheries and forests, including agro-ecological approaches and
sustainable intensification, and to meet the challenges of climate change and food
security"; FAO (2012). Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of
Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security.
Available at http://www.fao.org/nr/tenure/voluntary-guidelines/en/
40 W. Settle, M. Soumare, M. Sarr, M.H. Garba and A-S. Poisot (2014) Reducing
pesticide risks by farming communities: Cotton famer field schools in Mali.
Philosphical Transactions of the Royal Society (B).
http://rstb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/369/1639/20120277.full.pdf; W. Settle
and M.H. Garba (2011) Sustainable crop production intensification in the Senegal and
Niger River Basins of Francophone West Africa. International Journal of Agricultural
Sustainability 9(1). 171–185.
48 W. Settle, M. Soumare, M. Sarr, M.H. Garba and A-S. Poisot (2014) op. cit.
49 W. Settle and M.H. Garba (2011) Op. cit. pp171–185
50 D. Pimentel, P. Hepperly, J. Hanson, D. Douds, and R. Seidel (2005) "Environmental,
energetic and economic comparisons of organic and conventional farming systems",
BioScience 55(7), 573–582.
51 J. Pretty, C. Toulmin, and S. Williams (2011) "Sustainable intensification in African
agriculture", International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability 9(1), 5–24.
52 M.W. Rosegrant (2014) Food security in a world of natural resource scarcity : the role
of agricultural technologies. P11; M. W. Rosegrant, Jawoo Koo, Nicola Cenacchi,
Claudia Ringler, Richard Robertson, Myles Fisher, Cindy Cox, Karen Garrett,
Nicostrato D. Perez, Pascale Sabbagh. Edition 1. Washington, DC. International Food
Policy Research Institute http://www.ifpri.org/sites/default/files/publications/oc76.pdf
53 FAO (2010: ii): "Climate-Smart" Agriculture: Policies, Practices and Financing for Food
Security, Adaptation and Mitigation. Rome, Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations http://www.fao.org/docrep/013/i1881e/i1881e00.pdf
54 FAO (2013) Climate Smart Agriculture: Sourcebook
55 S. Sivakumaran (2012). Not so smart "Climate-Smart Agriculture", PCFS (People"s
Coalition for Food Sovereignty); F. Delvaux, S. Desgain, M. Eggen, C. Guffens, S.
Parmentier and V. Pissoort (2013). Ruées vers ls terres. Quelles complicités belges
dans le nouveau Fr West mondial ? Les responsabilités belges dans les acquisition
de terre à l"étranger. CNCD–11.11.11, 11.11.11, AEFJN (Africa Europe Faith and
Justice Network), Entraide et Fraternité, FIAN Belgium, Oxfam-Solidarité, SOS Faim.
© Oxfam International April 2014
This paper was written by Gina E. Castillo, with substantial inputs from Stephane
Parmentier, Luca Chinotti, Eric Munoz, Le Minh, and Emmanuel Tumusiime. Oxfam
acknowledges the assistance of Professor Paul Jepson for his helpful insights and
comments on earlier versions of this paper. It is part of a series of papers written to
inform public debate on development and humanitarian policy issues.
For further information on the issues raised in this paper please e-mail
This publication is copyright but the text may be used free of charge for the purposes of
advocacy, campaigning, education, and research, provided that the source is
acknowledged in full. The copyright holder requests that all such use be registered with
them for impact assessment purposes. For copying in any other circumstances, or for re-
use in other publications, or for translation or adaptation, permission must be secured
and a fee may be charged. E-mail email@example.com.
The information in this publication is correct at the time of going to press.
Published by Oxfam GB for Oxfam International under ISBN 978-1-78077-582-1 in April
Oxfam GB, Oxfam House, John Smith Drive, Cowley, Oxford, OX4 2JY, UK.
Oxfam is an international confederation of 17 organizations networked together in more
than 90 countries, as part of a global movement for change, to build a future free from the
injustice of poverty. Please write to any of the agencies for further information, or visit


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This new year brings to Washington a fresh start. Last week, we welcomed to the 113th Congress many new faces, including my colleague Senator Deb Fischer.
This new year brings to Washington a fresh start. Last week, we welcomed to the 113th Congress many new faces, including my colleague Senator Deb Fischer. I am proud to be joined by such a competent and capable leader who has aptly served Nebraska for years. I am confident Deb will bring the same passion to Capitol Hill, and I look forward to working with her to address the issues facing our state and country. Although it's a new year and a new session, many of the important issues we must tackle are far from novel. Our country's debt has grown, and the government is spending more than it takes in. Our economy is still searching for traction, and many Americans remain unemployed or underemployed. In 2013, Congress must resolve to make these issues the top priority. We cannot afford to let this opportunity to address the state of our economy slip away. For my part, I will be joining the Senate Committee on Appropriations, which is directly involved in doling out and reining in federal dollars for different government programs—I think it's time we do less of the former and more of the latter. We need to find places to trim the fat while ensuring important programs receive adequate resources. This will require difficult decisions by me and all of my colleagues in Congress—decisions that must be made. I will also remain on the Agriculture, Veterans' Affairs and Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs committees, where I will continue to push for a new five-year farm bill, strengthen and improve services for our vets and fight for pro-growth financial reform policies. The committee process is essential to the operation of the Senate. The most effective method for the Senate to get its work done in a timely manner is by debating and amending bills in committee, then allowing the full Senate an opportunity to debate and amend them. That's how the Senate is supposed to work and how potential new laws should be scrutinized. Unfortunately, for far too long Congress has failed to pass a budget. The result has been a sputtering Senate which lurches from one crisis to the next, often stalling until the last minute. Senators have been resigned to voting on massive year-end bills to avert calamities we've all known were coming. We must return to a regular order where bills can be thoroughly vetted in committee and debated in the Senate with opportunities for amendments along the way. Unfortunately, the Senate has not been allowed to work this way in recent years. Clearly, we have our work cut out for us in 2013, but I am optimistic that we can achieve our goals if we take advantage of this new window of opportunity and allow the Senate processes to work as designed. As I have in the past, I stand ready to work with my fellow Senators from both sides of the aisle to make the difficult decisions we were sent here to make.


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text:
Please note: You are viewing an archived Bucknell University news story. It is possible that information found on this page has become outdated or inaccurate, and links and images contained within are not guaranteed to function correctly.
Provost Mick Smyer
"What does success look like? Sports psychology, Bucknell and you"
Aug. 25, 2009
To the chair of the Board of Trustees Ken Freeman and your fellow trustees in the audience, President and Mrs. Mitchell, distinguished guests, faculty colleagues, students, staff members, and, most especially, transfer students and members of the Class of 2013, welcome to Convocation 2009. My name is Mick Smyer and I am the Provost of Bucknell University. It is a very real pleasure to welcome you tonight.
To my faculty colleagues, thank you for being here. I look forward to talking with you in both formal and informal settings in the coming days. We have much work to do together this year. Tonight, though, I want to focus my remarks on the newest members of the Bucknell community: transfer students and members of the Class of 2013.
You have been on campus less than a week. I started my orientation a little earlier — a year ago. I have learned a lot about the Bucknell community, and tonight I want to give you a scouting report, share with you what I have learned.
I have chosen a simple title for my remarks tonight: What Does Success Look Like? Sports psychology, Bucknell, and you. During the next few minutes, I will try to explain that title and the extraordinary community you and I have had the good fortune to join.
What does success look like?
What do Tiger Woods, Serena Williams, and Michael Phelps have in common? Yes, each is a world-class athlete. Yes, each is a popular culture icon. They also each have used common strategies to accomplish uncommon achievements. In short, each of them has asked a simple question: What does success look like? And I hope that you will ask this question often about your time at Bucknell, as you start that time and throughout your four years here.
What does success look like? For Tiger Woods, it is winning more majors than Jack Nicklaus, or any other professional golfer. For Serena Williams it means winning at Wimbledon (or just beating her sister!) For Michael Phelps, it means earning more gold medals than any other Olympic athlete in one Olympics, and he achieved that goal in 2008, so he did not stop there. Now he seems determined to establish more world records than any other swimmer in history.
Although the goals may vary, each of these successful athletes has been explicit about outlining what success looks like for him or her.
Sports psychology
That brings me to sports psychology. I am a psychologist by training — a clinical psychologist, not a sport psychologist. But over the next few minutes I want to highlight one strategy, what sports psychologists call visualization or mental imagery, because its key components may help you envision success at Bucknell.
Psychologists have found that athletes or anyone else can improve their performance by explicitly envisioning what success looks like. The more detailed the image, the better the outcome. For example, most people are nervous when they are asked to make a presentation in class. But the first step to success is to ask a simple question: What do I want people to remember, what is the single most important idea from the presentation? By focusing on this successful outcome, you can then work backward and structure the speech to accomplish that. Another simple step in this process is to see the setting that you'll be speaking in. Once you've done that, you can visualize yourself in front of the class giving the presentation, making the points to the class. In many ways, these steps embody the advice given to someone who was nervous about giving a talk: "Everyone has butterflies when they give a talk; those who are good at it just get the butterflies to fly in formation."
Another major component of the mental imagery or visualization technique is concentration — focused attention on the process and outcome. Focused attention. How many of you have a Facebook account? Twitter? How many have simultaneously studied, IM'd, managed a Pandora account, and checked out friends on Facebook? It would be impossible to take that approach to envisioning success — it just wouldn't work with divided attention.
So as you begin your career at Bucknell, think of the image of those world-class athletes and their concentrated effort to envision success. In each class and activity you are involved in, ask what will success be in this class — not just the grade, but the meaning of the lessons for you in particular? When the class is over, what will success, lasting success, look like for you as a student and a person?
Geoff Schneider, director of the University's Teaching and Learning Center, surveyed our faculty who have received teaching awards. What he found was that they took many of the same steps of envisioning success: clarifying the goals for the class; thinking through the steps needed to achieve those goals; and thinking about the possible obstacles they might encounter. They also highlighted one other key to success: using the time just before class to mentally prepare for the class. In short, arriving at class ready to concentrate and ready to make something interesting happen — not a bad recipe for your own approach!
Which brings us to the next part of my title:
From the orientation activities, you already have a sense of the large roles that the faculty, staff and your fellow students will play in your time at Bucknell, a sense of what I shared with you on Friday night at matriculation. When I asked a faculty member about the strengths of Bucknell, she quickly started with two key elements: "our extraordinary attention to undergraduate education and our close-knit community
And the Bucknell community does envision your success. For example, last year our faculty endorsed a set of educational goals for Bucknell students, a set of academic aspirations for each Bucknell graduate. As you have heard during orientation, we want each of you to be able to learn an area in-depth, as well as think critically across broad problem domains; to respond creatively to both local and global challenges; to critically evaluate arguments and to express yourself well in writing and speaking; to act responsibly and ethically; and to develop habits of mind that will make you a lifelong learner.
Similarly, our colleagues in student life have a set of expectations: that you will sample broadly from the co-curricular offerings as you start your time at Bucknell and that over time you will begin to focus your energies and assume leadership roles in campus activities. Yesterday, Activities Unlimited introduced you to the broad range of opportunities that Bucknell has for you. What may not have been readily apparent, though, is that these activities are designed to achieve the same goals that our faculty have outlined: to help you think critically, to help you learn about an area in-depth, and to help you connect your local concerns to larger national and international contexts.
In short, the Bucknell community starts with a clear vision of success for you and for itself. And we know that you can live up to it — if your approach is thoughtful, imaginative, and deliberate. Why do we have such confidence in you? Because you were admitted to Bucknell. We believe you have the talent, energy, and drive to succeed.
I also have a sobering message to deliver: Bucknell is a place that challenges you. Some of you may have coasted, to use a familiar term, in high school or at your previous institution. Bucknell didn't become one of the finest liberal arts universities in the country by providing a learning environment where students could coast. We assume you came here to succeed, which means you came here to work hard and do well in and out of class.
If you do that, we know that you will succeed.
In the end, a faculty member put it best: "This is a student-centered place. The whole place is keyed to educate undergraduates at the most holistic level."
That just leaves one element in my title:
You are in the midst of a period of great growth and development. Recent research in neuroscience has documented that the phrase young adults really is appropriate: The adolescent brain is still undergoing significant development until the mid 20s. That's the good news. The bad news is that the development is uneven: The areas related to risk-taking are well developed by your age, while the areas related to control and problem-solving develop more slowly.
When I spoke with your parents on Friday afternoon about this pattern, I asked them to perform a simple thought experiment — one which you could do right now: Remember when you were first learning to ride a bike? Your parents ran along side of you — first with training wheels on the bike; then without training wheels, as they leaned over, holding a hand on the bike to keep you steady. At some point, they let go and you were on your own. You may not have even noticed it at first. I told your parents that just as in bike riding, now they have to let go. Your job is to keep moving ahead with their support, but without having them hold on or intervene for you on campus.
So when you envision success, envision staying in control, and being a good problem-solver in and out of class. Your success here will require it.
Fortunately, Bucknell has designed an academic and co-curricular environment that will support you as much as it challenges you. In the classroom, you will begin with general courses, select a major, and complete your studies with a capstone experience. Similarly, outside the classroom, you will probably begin by sampling clubs or activities widely in your first year or two, eventually focusing and assuming leadership later in your time with us.
A friend of mine, Fr. Michael Himes, tells me that these academic and student life activities are designed to help you answer three simple but important questions: What gives me great joy? What am I good at? And who cares?
What gives me great joy is different from what do I enjoy. Have you ever found yourself lost in an activity — losing track of time, totally engaged in what you are doing? For some of you, that feeling — what psychologist Mike Csikszentmihalyi labels an "optimal experience" — will come in puzzling out a math problem or in writing a short story. For others, it might come in singing, working with children, or doing community service. Yet others might find that sensation in athletics or in a chemistry lab. As Professor Toole pointed out to you during the Matriculation Ceremony on Friday night, Bucknell is here to help you see that concentrated engagement, using your skills to the utmost, is joyful.
The second question — what am I good at — may seem simple. But ask your parents if their list of what they are good at is the same now as it was when they were 17 or 18! For example, you may find through your biology major that, to your surprise, you are really good at lab work and experimentation. You may find through your photography minor that you are really talented in that area — a talent you didn't even know you had. You may find through your sorority or fraternity that you excel at working in and leading teams.
Over the next four years, part of what we will try to do is to assure that you try more than one item in the Bucknell menu. Whether it is an academic program like Institute for Leadership in Technology and Management (ILTM), study abroad or an advanced seminar in poetry or a co-curricular activity like Bucknell Student Government or Building on Foundations — this is a supportive environment that will challenge you and work with you as you discover more about what you are good at.
The poet Rita Dove captured it well in her poem Dawn Revisited:
Imagine you wake up
with a second chance: The blue jay
hawks his pretty wares
and the oak still stands, spreading
glorious shade....
How good to rise in sunlight,
in the prodigal smell of biscuits -
eggs and sausage on the grill.
The whole sky is yours
to write on, blown open
to a blank page. Come on,
shake a leg! You'll never know
who's down there, frying those eggs,
if you don't get up and see.
The third question — who cares? — helps you to shift the focus solely away from yourself and reminds you that you are part of a larger societal context. How can you take your joy and your talent into the world? What is the social structure that will allow you to do what you are good at? Our fate is inextricably linked to those around us.
Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel spoke at Bucknell's commencement last May and made the point with exceptional clarity:
One of my mottos has been that the opposite of love is not hate, but indifference.
That means the opposite of education is not ignorance, it is indifference...
So whatever you do in your life, indifference is never an option.
He continued to tell the Class of 2009:
[The learning] you have received in this marvelous university with such able professors, some inspiring, others inspired.... has become your baggage. Remember, don't leave it in your bag. Open it from time to time.
...you can do something. You can, even for one person. There must be on this planet at least one person who needs you. One person you can help. Don't turn away; help. Because those who suffer, often suffer not because of the person or the group that inflicts the suffering; they seem to suffer because nobody cares.
In the Bucknell community, we care and we ask you to remember that success, real success, the success that lasts, links your talents and concerns to the larger society.
For some, that may mean thinking about how to use your engineering passion in a changing world increasingly concerned about sustainability. For others, it may mean linking your love for history to issues of human rights and immigration or connecting your dedication to children to your passion for video development and creating the 21st-century version of Sesame Street.
In this hall tonight are young women and men who will develop the solutions to some of the most interesting and vexing problems in the world. Those young men and women are you. You will continue to develop the skills and passion to succeed during your time at Bucknell. And we will be your partner in the enterprise.
In a few minutes we will process to the Academic Quad and you will be applauded by Bucknell students, faculty, and staff. They will be welcoming you, indicating that they are ready to join you on the next phase of your journey, ready to help you envision success.
Over the next four years, we will be providing the day-to-day lessons, the encouragement, the expectations. You will be concentrating, envisioning success and rising to the challenges, making the decisions, and learning to be an increasingly responsible young adult, discovering what success looks like at Bucknell and beyond, and discovering how exciting success can be.
Welcome to the Bucknell community, to your University, and 'Ray Bucknell!
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Sports Briefs
The Poteau Pirates Quarterback Club third annual Community Pep Rally will begin at 7 p.m. Tuesday at Costner Stadium. The Poteau High School band will perform as well as will the Poteau High School cheerleaders and dance team.There will be a dance-off between classes, and the players will be signing autographs.— — —Carl Albert State College Assistant Softball Coach Megan Young will give softball lessons at $25 per hour to girls up through age 18.To schedule a session or for additional information, call (580) 704-4517.— — —Friday Couple Scrambles will take place at 5:30 p.m. every Friday at Wolf Ridge Golf Course.The entry fee is $15 per person for the nine-hole weekly event. For additional information, call (918) 647-2582.— — —The Poteau Fall Softball League will be Sept. 17-Oct. 25. The league will have three divisions, ages 12-, 10- and 8-and-younger. There will be six teams in the age 12-and-younger league, while the other two leagues will have 12 teams.The entry fee is $300 per team for the age 12-and-younger league, while the entry fee is $250 per team in the other two leagues.The age 12-and-younger league will play games beginning at 6 p.m. Mondays, 10-and-younger league games will begin at 6 p.m. Tuesdays and games for the age 8-and-younger league is 6 p.m. Thursdays.For additional information, call Billy Bond at (918) 647-1939.— — —A couples scramble will take place Sept. 8 at Wolf Ridge Golf Course, and will begin with an 8 a.m. shotgun start.The entry fee for the two-person scramble is $120 per couple.For additional information, call (918) 647-2582.— — —The 30th annual Carl Albert State College Coaches Golf Classic will take place at 10 a.m. Sept. 10 at Wolf Ridge Golf Course. Registration will begin at 9 a.m.Entry fee is $50 per golfer, which includes green fees and golf carts. Each golfer will receive a mulligan.For additional information, call (918) 647-1376.— — —Tryouts for the 2013 Season for a 12-year-old Major USSSA baseball team will take place on four dates at the Spiro Little League Fields.The tryout dates will be 3 p.m. Sunday as well as Sept. 16, Sept. 23 and Sept. 30.Participants cannot turn age 13 before May 1.For additional information or to sign up, (479) 414-0458.


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You can read Human Kinetics e-books on desktop, laptop, and various mobile devices, as long as you have authorized the device or e-reader app to read e-books protected by Adobe's digital rights management (DRM).
Formats available: PDF, ePUB
A text for health and fitness students preparing for ACSM Certified
Health Fitness Specialist certification exams or other health and
fitness certifications. Also a resource for health and fitness
Edmund O. Acevedo, PhD, is a professor and chair of the
department of health and human performance at Virginia Commonwealth
He is a fellow of the American College of Sports Medicine and the
American Psychological Association. He is an ACSM-certified clinical
exercise specialist. His 21-year career in research and teaching has
cemented his commitment to standardized fundamentals for exercise
testing and prescription.
Dr. Acevedo makes his home in Midlothian, Virginia, with his wife,
Tracy, and their two children. In his free time, he enjoys on- and
off-road running and biking.
Michael A. Starks, PhD, is an adjunct professor in the college of
education at the University of Memphis.
He is a certified strength and conditioning specialist from the National
Strength and Conditioning Association and is a CPR and first aid
instructor for the National Safety Council and American Red Cross.
Starks makes his home in Germantown, Tennessee, with his wife, Stacy,
and three children. In his free time, he enjoys resistance training,
competing in triathlons, and coaching.
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NEW YORK (AP) — He has the second longest-running song in the history of the Billboard Hot 100 chart. You've likely heard the song — but not the name of the man who created it.
Aaron Bruno is the musician behind "Sail," the sleeper hit from his band Awolnation. "Sail" became a success after it debuted in 2011 and spent 79 weeks on the Hot 100 chart, ending its run last month. Though not as ubiquitous as Pharrell's "Happy," it has made its impact on every platform, including TV, film, commercials and pop radio. It is one of those melodies that burrow in your head — even if you don't know the title. And it has sold more than 5 million tracks in the United States.
"Being played after a Miley Cyrus song blows my mind still to this day," Bruno said.
"Sail" originated from a journal entry.
The 35-year-old industry veteran, who had been in different groups before Awolnation, was beginning to think his dreams weren't achievable, and he had financial woes.
The haunting, screeching track finds him frustrated, angry and beaten. Lyrics include, "Maybe I should cry for help, maybe I should kill myself."
"I definitely wasn't feeling super-optimistic at that point. There was no deal, there was nothing like that, there was no money. It was definitely a darker time in my life," he said. "(The) lyrics came out; they just poured out of my soul on a piece of paper."
The success of "Sail" is a bit uncharted: After the song peaked in the Top 5 on alternative radio, a request came from the TV channel History to use the track in the trailer for the historical drama "Vikings." That more than tripled the song's weekly downloads, "and it never stopped," said Bruno's longtime manager, Berko Pearce.
"Purposely we tried to build it slow and really grow and have a base and really be a rock band," Pearce said.
The song was also used heavily in the trailer for the film "The Counselor," starring Brad Pitt, Penelope Cruz and Michael Fassbender; in a viral video with skydiver Jeb Corliss; and in a BMW commercial, among other licensing uses. "Sail" peaked at No. 17 on the Hot 100 chart and is just behind Imagine Dragon's Grammy-winning "Radioactive," which is the longest-running song on the Billboard chart with 85 weeks and counting.
Pearce originally signed Bruno and Under the Influence of Giants to Maverick in the early 2000s, two days after watching them rehearse in his A&R days. He managed Bruno's next band, Home Town Hero, when they were signed to Def Jam, and he and Bruno remained friends in the five years between that band and the birth of Awolnation.
He put Bruno in touch with the independent label Red Bull Records when he decided to get back into music.
"We always ran with the idea of no marketing plan; make it up as we go along," Pearce said. "We wanted to keep it free and see what happens."
Bruno said he had to find enough confidence in himself to lead the five-member Awolnation. He derived the band's name from his childhood moniker, Awol, adding nation because he thought "at the very least, if I had an ambitious name for a project then the sky would be the limit."
Bruno wrote and produced Awolnation's 2011 debut, "Megalithic Symphony." On it, he sings and plays the guitar, piano, percussion, bass and more. It has reached gold status and sold 544,000 units, and before going into the recording process for its follow-up — due out this year — Awolnation spent three years on the road performing for feverish fans, and the venues grew as "Sail" soared.
"All I knew before is putting out first albums ... this is actually the first time where people are anticipating something," said Bruno, who performed in bands signed to Def Jam and Warner's Maverick Records.
"I'm so used to trying to convince people I'm any good, I guess," he added.
He has been spending the last few months in a ranch north of Santa Barbara, Calif., without cellphone service and little Internet access to record new music, and he has a list of people who have requested his services. He also has famous new friends, including Rick Rubin and Steve Perry.
"It's not my style to drop names," he said.
"My world's gotten kind of weird," he added. "Some people I grew up listening to have befriended me, which has been a pretty cool experience."
Follow Mesfin Fekadu at twitter.com/MusicMesfin


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Seriously, what does Ky Madden do to earn playing time? He cannot shoot the ball. He's a complete liability on the floor on the offensive end.
Wade channeling his inner Alex Dillard.Then does something completely dumb. Walks all the way across the lane and misses the layup.I'm more than a little tired of the "We're young" excuse. All teams are young at some places. I'm not saying I expect these guys to be Kentucky but I expect them, after 22 games, to go out and give at least a reasonable amount of effort on the road. It was obviously not there tonight. They know by this point what it takes to compete on the road - they did it at Bama, for the most part, except for that killer 5 minute scoring drought at the end of the game.These guys may turn it around at some point, but as hard as is to say, I might be as disappointed with this group as I've been with a Razorback team in the last 10 years.
The Arkansas Razorbacks will not win a road game this season. They will not make the tourney.
We got our asses handed to us.It happens.
And when it happens to a 1-7 team who has looked like crap all year.......frick.
I wonder if this is how other teams feel when they lose to Arkansas. "I mean they are Arkansas, we thought we could steal a road win there."Same story, different mascot shirts. It happens. It sucks but it happens. Who was it that we just jumped on 1st half that couldn't do anything right and we couldn't miss.
I've never experienced anyone working at CFA being a jerk or rude but yesterday I encountered a guy in the drive thru who was not only rude but a jerk. When I finally had my order and he didn't even say my pleasure I yelled "thanks for being a jerk" and drove off.
As frustrating as the game was to watch... it's just as frustrating to see the "definitely won't make the tourney now" comments.I guess I just realize how ridiculous of an expectation that is for this team.
And when it happens to a 1 2-7 team who has looked like crap all year.......frick.
Once upon a time, big fat titties, and they all lived happily ever after. The End
Again, didn't make it through the whole thread. This was stupid enough.
How will I ever sleep at night.I get we are bad at lots of things, things involving technioque or skills or just plain god-given ability. Those all take time to cure with a combination of coaching and recruiting. Those failings don't piss me off this year.But when there is a frequent problem of dribblers going coast to coast and shooting lay-ups, getting down the court with the ball faster than guys running without the ball, and/or people failing to get out and cover wide open three point shooters, to me that's either a conditioning issue or a hustle issue.
Is Sanchez done? We need him. Really.
Sanchez needs to go to the film room and watch Willis Reed hobble out on a broke ankle to play in a game.
This is hilarious. Where's the Boarliss from the Miss. St. thread?
Would I rather stick my balls in a meat grinder or a salad shooter.
That, and a horse who just broke down in the stretch.
Wait, Mike has a horse?


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