Systems Thinking and Practice in Agriculture

¹ Hawkesbury Agricultural College, University of Western Sydney, Hawkesbury, Richmond 2753, New South Wales, Australia

Reductionist science with its positivistic philosophical roots and experimental research practices has generally served agriculture well for around 150 yr. Technological innovations based on the propositions generated through this paradigm have played a profound role in the extraordinary productivity growth that has occurred in agriculture across the globe.

Yet with recognition of its success in this context is the realization of its inadequacies from broader perspectives. There is an increasing sense of unease about degradation of biophysical environments, distortions of socio-economic environments, and dislocations of cultural environments too often associated with agricultural practices. There are calls for a new science and praxis of complexity to deal with these problematic relationships between agriculture and the environments in which it is conducted. Systems thinking and practices are emerging as useful in this regard. Two schools are apparent within this broad movement. The first ("hard") approach comes from a pedigree that includes systems analysis, systems engineering, cybernetics, and ecosystem biology. Assuming a world of transforming systems, the "hard" systems scientists in agriculture seek to design new agro-ecosystems that are at once productive, stable, equitable, and sustainable. In the "soft" approach, with its foundation in cognitive science, the systemicity is transferred from the world to the way of investigating the world. This new paradigm presents considerable challenge to conventional methods and methodologies in research, education, and extension in contemporary agriculture.

Key Words: systems • thinking • agriculture

Submitted on August 16, 1990
Accepted on February 4, 1991