For years agroecologists have warned that industrial agriculture became too narrow ecologically, highly dependent on outside inputs, and extremely vulnerable to insect pests, diseases, climate change and now as demonstrated by the COVID19 pandemic prone to a complete shut down by unforeseen crisis. Like never before, COVID19 has revealed how closely linked human, animal and ecological health are. As a powerful systemic approach, agroecology reveals that the way we practice agriculture can provide opportunities for improving environmental and human health, but if done wrongly, agriculture can cause major risks to health. The last pandemics (African swine fever, novel influenza H1N1) were all linked to large scale animal production which creates opportunities for many viruses to mutate and spread. The practices at these industrial operations not only leave animals more susceptible to viral infections, but can sponsor the conditions by which pathogens can evolve to more infectious types. The massive and indiscriminate use of antibiotics and growth promoters in industrial livestock models makes things worst by creating pathogenic strains resistant to such to drugs. Like many viruses, various super bacteria are in line for the next pandemics, for which there are no control products available. The situation is aggravated, as large scale monocultures advance at the expense of natural habitats which can lead to disease emergence. Deforestation led by modern agriculture triggers processes by which previously boxed-in pathogens in natural environments are spilling over into livestock and human communities. Today three crop species, wheat, rice, and corn provide more than 50% of the calories consumed globally, comprising a low value diet, which significantly impacts the food security, nutritional status and health particularly of poor and vulnerable people. Many countries are losing their food security as the corporate globalized food system has disrupted the diversified food production systems managed by peasants, As a consequence there is a shift from traditional diverse and rich diets to highly processed, energy dense, micro-nutrient-poor foods. Obesity and diet-related chronic diseases have proliferated. Large-scale crop monocultures are highly vulnerable to pest, weed and disease epidemics, and rely on injections of about 2.3bn kg of pesticides yearly, posing major risks to the general population through toxic residues in the food supply. Many insecticides lead to declines in pollinators and natural enemies of pests that contribute key ecosystem services to agriculture. This loss of biodiversity costs hundreds of billions of dollars annually in crop production and human health. In most countries restrictions on travel, trade and lockdown of entire cities has constrained the influx of imported foods with devastating consequences on the poor’s access to meals. This is problematic in cities with 10 million or more people which need to import 6000 tons of food per day, traveling on average about 1000 km. Food supplies are also impacted in countries dependent on migrant farmworkers who are particularly vulnerable to COVID19 and if they get sick they cannot get to the fields for harvesting and planting. A sharp decline in trucking and air traffic has limited the capacity to move fresh produce long distances, thus getting plentiful supplies to people, many of whom have suddenly lost their income, is a major challenge. Paradoxically food is being dumped as demand from closed restaurants, schools, stadiums, theme parks and cruise ships has plummeted. Clearly COVID19 has revealed the socio-ecological fragility of current industrial-globalized food systems and the effects on farming and food supply chains raises concerns about widespread food shortages and price spikes. A This article is part of the Topical Collection: Agriculture, Food & Covid-19.

中文翻译：

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生态农业和 COVID-19 后农业的出现

多年来，农业生态学家一直警告说，工业化农业在生态上变得过于狭隘，高度依赖外部投入，并且极易受到虫害、疾病、气候变化的影响，而现在正如 COVID19 大流行所证明的那样，由于不可预见的危机而容易完全关闭。COVID19 前所未有地揭示了人类、动物和生态健康之间的密切联系。作为一种强有力的系统方法，农业生态学揭示了我们从事农业的方式可以为改善环境和人类健康提供机会，但如果操作不当，农业可能会对健康造成重大风险。最近的大流行（非洲猪瘟、新型流感 H1N1）都与大规模的动物生产有关，这为许多病毒的变异和传播创造了机会。这些工业操作中的做法不仅使动物更容易受到病毒感染，而且可以为病原体进化成更具传染性的类型提供条件。在工业牲畜模型中大量和不加选择地使用抗生素和生长促进剂，通过产生对这些药物具有抗药性的致病菌株，使事情变得更糟。像许多病毒一样，各种超级细菌都在为下一次大流行做好准备，而没有可用的控制产品。随着大规模单一栽培的发展以牺牲自然栖息地为代价，这种情况变得更加严重，这可能导致疾病的出现。现代农业导致的森林砍伐引发了先前在自然环境中封闭的病原体蔓延到牲畜和人类社区的过程。今天三种作物，小麦，水稻，玉米提供了全球 50% 以上的卡路里消耗，构成低价值饮食，这严重影响了粮食安全、营养状况和健康，尤其是贫困和弱势群体的健康。由于企业全球化的粮食系统破坏了由农民管理的多样化粮食生产系统，许多国家正在失去粮食安全，因此，人们从传统的多样化和丰富的饮食转向高度加工、能量密集、微量营养素缺乏的食物. 肥胖和与饮食有关的慢性疾病激增。大规模作物单一种植极易受到害虫、杂草和疾病流行的影响，并且每年需要注射约 23 亿公斤的杀虫剂，食品供应中的有毒残留物对普通民众构成重大风险。许多杀虫剂导致传粉媒介和害虫天敌的减少，这些害虫为农业提供关键的生态系统服务。这种生物多样性的丧失每年在作物生产和人类健康方面造成数千亿美元的损失。在大多数国家，对旅行、贸易的限制以及对整个城市的封锁限制了进口食品的流入，对穷人获得膳食造成了毁灭性的后果。这对于拥有 1000 万或更多人口的城市来说是个问题，这些城市每天需要进口 6000 吨食品，平均旅行约 1000 公里。在依赖农民工的国家，粮食供应也受到影响，这些农民工特别容易感染 COVID19，如果他们生病了，就无法前往田间收割和种植。货运和空中交通的急剧下降限制了新鲜农产品长途运输的能力，因此为人们提供充足的供应是一项重大挑战，其中许多人突然失去了收入。矛盾的是，由于关闭的餐馆、学校、体育场馆、主题公园和游轮的需求急剧下降，食品正在被抛售。显然，COVID19 揭示了当前工业全球化食品系统的社会生态脆弱性，对农业和食品供应链的影响引发了人们对普遍食品短缺和价格飙升的担忧。A 本文是专题合集的一部分：农业、食品和 Covid-19。学校、体育场馆、主题公园和游轮的数量直线下降。显然，COVID19 揭示了当前工业全球化食品系统的社会生态脆弱性，对农业和食品供应链的影响引发了人们对普遍食品短缺和价格飙升的担忧。A 本文是专题合集的一部分：农业、食品和 Covid-19。学校、体育场馆、主题公园和游轮的数量直线下降。显然，COVID19 揭示了当前工业全球化食品系统的社会生态脆弱性，对农业和食品供应链的影响引发了人们对普遍食品短缺和价格飙升的担忧。A 本文是专题合集的一部分：农业、食品和 Covid-19。