In The Structure of Scientific Revolutions, physicist and philosopher, Thomas Kuhn revolutionised the history of science by showing that science does not evolve linearly on the basis of objective, theory-neutral facts, instead it is characterised by periodic paradigm shifts, which open up new approaches to understanding, creating new value frameworks. The notion of “scientific truth” is shaped by the paradigm within which “facts” are measured.
Such a paradigm shift is currently taking place in the field of food and agriculture as we move from the industrial paradigm to the emerging paradigm of agro-ecology, or ecological agriculture. The old paradigm is ecologically and socially, broken. It has devastated 75 per cent of the biodiversity, soil, water. Industrial agriculture contributes 40 per cent of the greenhouse gases that are destabilising the climate and is promoted as an answer to hunger and poverty. The opposite is true. Industrial agriculture has failed as a food system that should nourish us. Industrial farms produce commodities not food.
