The prospects for organic agriculture in Hungary – A human ecological approach

Abstract

The natural, social, and economic issues and problems of today and the near future pose new challenges for researchers and educators in every disciplines. In this complex situation, human ecology, which synthesizes the knowledge of individual disciplines and focuses on connections and interactions, has a special role to meet this challenge. In the service of practical sustainability, it helps to reveal the complexity of the agricultural sector and to prepare public policy decisions, taking the special features and capabilities of the particular environments into account. In the complex understanding of the operation of highly complex living systems, in mitigating the effects of climate change, in conserving biodiversity, in assessing the effects of biogeochemical processes and in solving many other problems at local and global level, the holistic system-approach is needed for putting them in contexts. In this study, we highlight the reasonableness and the vital role of human ecology in organic farming as well as outline its future challenges and possibilities.