Not Just a Label:synergies and tradeoffs between social and ecological resilience in organic and conventional Michigan apple orchards

[摘要] Resilience is an important consideration that enriches the sustainability discoursesurrounding farming. Certified organic farm management has been shown to confer resilience toinsect pest outbreaks but debate surrounding this issue continues due to lack of context specificecological knowledge and social data. To explore this, a conceptual model linking organicmanagement, natural enemy communities, resilience to insect pest outbreaks, perceptions ofecological resilience, forms and extent of social resilience, and farmer behavior in a feedbackloop was created and tested in apple orchards in Michigan. The model was tested by measuringindicators of ecological and social resilience in field surveys and experiments and long-forminterviews with apple farmers. Specifically, ecological resilience was addressed by comparingant community composition and predatory function in 2 certified organic and 2 conventionalapple orchards in southern Michigan using baiting methods and by simulating a pest outbreakusing moth larva. Social resilience and feedbacks between ecological resilience and farmmanagement were assessed in long-form interviews conducted with 10 orchard owners/mangersacross the Midwest that focused on farmer perceptions of insects and past experiences adaptingto insect outbreaks. Ant abundance, species richness, and predation on moth larva weresignificantly higher in organic than conventional orchards. This indicates that organic appleorchards are more ecologically resilient to insect pest outbreaks. Similarly, interviews indicatedthat organic apple farmers’ sources of social capital were more abundant and uniquelycharacterized by trust and reciprocity, suggesting greater social resilience. Overall, the resultsconfirmed the conceptual model and demonstrated that robust social capital and predatory insectcommunities interact synergistically in certified organic apple orchards and provide farmers withhigh resilience, while in conventional apple orchards, farmers trade social capital and predatoryinsects for a single form of resilience, synthetic agrochemicals.

[发布机构] University of Michigan

[效力级别] apple orchards

[关键词] Michigan;apple orchards;organic;Natural Resources and Environment