Learning Objectives

At the end of this segment you should:

• Be able to describe the components of an agroecosystem
• Understand the many scales, interactions, and dynamics of an agroecosystem
• Identify with an agroecosystem relevant to your work

Resources

• Agroecosystem
• Ecosystem Services
• Food System Scorecard

Presentation Notes

• The Agroecosystem Concept
• Agroecosystem Assessment

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Activities

1. -- Know Your Agroecosystem --

   1. You drew a general diagram of an agroecosystem on side 1 of your poster paper. Now, think about an agroecosystem that represents the work that you do and draw an agroecosystem diagram that represents your agroecosystem on side 3.

   2. Draw some arrows on your agroesystem that represents the linkages of the players in your agroecosystem. Are these linkages that you can manage?

   3. Think about what extends beyond (or below) your agroecosystem. Add some players and linkages to your agroecosystem using the space you left on side 2. Can you draw a whole new/complementary system?

2. -- Assessing Model Agroecosystems --

   1. Consider the goals of agroecology. What progress has your system made to improve the outcomes of each of the main goals of agroecology (production, environment, society)? By intuition, give your system a score for each goal.

   2. Consider the linkages you drew on your agroecosystem diagram in Know Your Agroecosystem, step 2. Are there specific management practices or interventions that have improved the sustainability of the system through strengthening or weakening those linkages? What linkages would you focus on the improve the agroecosystem-oriented score? How does your assessment of the system change when you look at the extended system from Know Your Agroecosystem, step 3.