in this video, storyfest winner vidya muthupillai, of george washington university, reflects on the ecology of iceland and how flora endemic to her hometown of houston have made their way to the valleys of a vastly different landscape.

a special thank you to lindblad expeditions for their continued partnership with planet forward and for sponsoring our storyfest winners as they traveled across the rocky coastline of iceland, interviewing experts, and creating their upcoming stories. an additional ‘thank you’ goes to icelandair for sponsoring the students’ air travel.

click on the presentation below to explore!

growing up in northern ghana, kansanga experienced food insecurity early in life. times of scarcity brought famine…and bigger questions. “a couple of kilometers out,” he says “there was a food-secure region with year-round cultivation…” why? how? 

these questions guided his career, which began with the pursuit of finding out why his childhood geographical setting had the recurring issue of hunger. the beginning of the answer was in geography, of which he is now an associate professor at the george washington university. according to kansanga, geography is a tool to think and study across scale. he credits it for allowing him to “contextualize the challenges he observed at home outwardly to national and international dynamics” of global food systems and environmental justice.

as a researcher, kansanga’s work has expanded to analyzing solutions to ecological issues in a contextually relevant manner that encompasses the complexities of communities like his own. his research focus on sustainable agriculture depicts how agriculture is enmeshed with interconnected systems of food security, equity, gender, and other social dynamics. in other words, kansanga’s research is in the growing field of agroecology.

what exactly is “agroecology”?

at its most basic, agroecology is a holistic approach to understanding agriculture within the context of various interacting economic, environmental, and social systems. for kansanga, agroecology emphasizes “reorienting agriculture in an ecologically friendly manner” while maintaining a strong social justice dimension that addresses social inequalities in the food system. it’s an approach that expands beyond academia and forms what the united nations food and agriculture organization describes as a “transdisciplinary field” that “is concurrently a science, a set of practices, and a social movement” composed of 10 key elements. see the fao’s explanatory video here.

the agroecological emphasis on examining social inequalities on a local scale has been especially central to kansanga’s research, where he has found that it helps “create an atmosphere for dialogue at the local level.” this dialogue, kansanga says, often plays a key role in beginning difficult cultural discussions that reckon with themes of gender inequality and traditional family dynamics that play into agricultural systems. often, it comes with engaging communities in critical questions such as:

• does everyone have equal access to the farming process?

• how does gender inequality play out in agricultural communities where women tend to play a peripheral role?

• would food production increase if women had the same access to agricultural resources and processes?

furthermore, agroecology provides a framework for preserving and integrating local knowledge alongside innovative solutions — two components that can, at times, seem at odds with each other. but together, they offer much more, as “traditional systems,” kansanga says, “are the basis of scientific advancements in agriculture.” and given a safe environment where farmers actively collaborate with and contribute to agroecological research, kansanga says that traditional insights meet with scientific knowledge and spur innovation and studies into the scientific background of traditional practices.

for example, for centuries, local farmers in sub-saharan africa would plant in raised mounds of soil with intercropped beans and millet to consolidate nutrients and create a form of what kansanga compares to “instant manure” that increased productivity.

however, as the economic principle of maximizing growing space was popularized, many farmers moved to monoculture row crops that lost the ecological synergies of the traditional mound intercropping system. now, agroecology gives researchers like kansanga the space to study traditional practices and work with farmers to create agroecological systems that are more powerful and resilient. 

why is the community lens of agroecology important?

without the lens of communities, agriculture is understood only through the environmental and economic lenses, which kansanga says is a “limited view of how agriculture should be.” relying on technological solutions based on overlapping economic and environmental interests is like “applying a bandage without addressing structural undertones” that make systems unequal and, therefore, unsustainable.

agroecologists seek to understand how ecologically friendly principles and social justice intersect in a way that draws from the three pillars in the united nations’ understanding of sustainability: economic, ecological, and social. in his research, this unique perspective has allowed kansanga to add more nuance to conversations about sustainable food systems, or “agroecosystems,” in west africa. 

for example, kansanga’s studies include examining the multidimensional impact of africa’s green revolution, which was carried out by the alliance for a green revolution in africa (agra) with the aim of reducing food insecurity and poverty in africa. agra primarily focused on increasing agricultural productivity by expanding smallholder farmer access to mass-production technology like commercial seeds, fertilizers, and irrigation systems. however, agroecologists like kansanga emphasize that agra also had socioeconomic impacts on local farmers that changed the local distribution of wealth, displaced traditional staple crops, altered soil and land quality, and shifted gender dynamics.

under the more comprehensive scope of agroecology, kansanga worked with a team of researchers to uncover how the mechanization of smallholder agriculture in the african green revolution contributed to increased gender inequality in ghana.  local women, their research revealed, were displaced from traditional roles in the local agricultural system as the use of heavy machinery contributed to cutting down the native vitellaria paradoxa, or shea trees. in ghana, where shea processing remains one of the only livelihood domains where women control the income input, the shea trees growing in agricultural fields provided valuable access to livelihood resources and a degree of economic independence.

here, kansanga says agroecology goes beyond other approaches to agriculture – like regenerative agriculture – in that it acknowledges gains in ecological productivity and benefits, but also poses the question: “what about the inequalities that underscore the system?” agroecology argues that “inequalities should also receive attention” in agriculture and provides a framework for a community-oriented approach that encompasses social justice and equity for the most marginalized as vital components of sustainable agriculture.

beyond west africa: where do we go from here?

kansanga hopes that his research is only the beginning of cultivating more support for agroecology in and beyond the region. “africa,” he says, “has a good chance of asking the social inequity question and addressing it first because it is not neck-deep in agricultural modernization.”

unlike much of the global north, africa has what kansanga says is a late-comer advantage where intensive agriculture and heavy mechanization have yet to take hold completely, and there are remnants of traditional practices left. still, he challenges the global north to examine food systems with an agroecological approach that recognizes how their agricultural systems are interconnected with systems of inequality within the global north and to reinforce such systems in the global south. 

on agroecology,  kansanga says, “it’s working,” but its journey towards integration into mainstream consciousness is stymied by challenges of resources and funding. still, agroecology is moving the conversation of agriculture beyond the economy and the environment and back to the communities and people it sustains. it challenges advocates of sustainable agriculture to understand agriculture as more than an economic and ecological issue, but a social justice issue. agroecology offers the opportunity to build valuable communal contexts into a more equitable global food system, and for kansanga, this includes personal contexts as well, because ground zero for agroecology is home.

here, kossler is at the top of the food chain. as the vice president of ranch operations at turner enterprises (tei), kossler oversees all 15 ranches in turner’s 1.85 million-acre land empire and the 45,000 bison on them – the largest private bison herd in the world. growing up in the 1960s on a ranch in colorado, the experienced rancher is a living witness to over six decades of change in agriculture and the communities it sustains. with the rise of what he calls “additive agriculture,” kossler has seen farmers and ranchers grappling with declining profit margins, degrading land quality, and an exodus of youth from the industry. 

he explains that additive agriculture stems from the intensive use of chemical additives – fertilizers, pesticides – to increase monoculture agricultural yields. the results? short-term gains that compromise ecological integrity and long-term profitability. it’s a model where man allegedly triumphs over nature, and an industry standard that the turner institute of ecoagriculture is challenging. 

a delicate balance

according to the tei mission statement, turner enterprises has always had a triple bottom line of economic sustainability, ecological sensitivity, and conservation. the company’s goal is still profit, “but not at the expense of nature,” kossler said with emphasis. this “balance of conservation and commerce,” as kossler calls it, pushed tei toward implementing more holistic land management practices. years later, kossler finally matched tei’s guiding principles with a name: regenerative agriculture. 

unlike additive agriculture, regenerative agriculture is a set of practices that focus on maximizing productivity through restoring ecosystem services, like building healthy soil microbiomes, enhancing carbon sequestration and water infiltration, and supporting native ecosystem biodiversity. the connection was instant, kossler said, “i just knew this was the next step for [tei]. we were already doing a lot of it, but there was more we could do…it became a mission in our company.”

as a result, in 2021, kossler and the team at turner enterprises founded the turner institute of ecoagriculture as an agriculture research organization dedicated to “researching, developing, and disseminating sustainability strategies and techniques for conserving ecosystems, agriculture, and rural communities,” according to the institute.

driving across mcginley ranch is evidence that principles of regenerative agriculture have been embraced with open arms: pastures are divided uniquely to support high-intensity grazing, the lush meadows are grazed instead of hayed for the winter, and two fleeing prairie chickens signal a rebounding endangered population. the ranch aims to “lead by example” in the agriculture industry, turning a profit off the land while also actively supporting its regeneration. their products, kossler said, are of higher quality as a result of it. 

healthy soil, hard sell 

still, there are profound challenges ahead for the transition to more sustainable agricultural practices. 

“change is fearful,” kossler said, especially when there is a way things have always been done culturally ingrained in the agriculture community. “many are more comfortable doing something that’s not really working well,” he said, and what they’re doing is often reinforced by a higher education system that supports industrialized additive agriculture. “what we were taught was only half of the story – one side of a two-sided story. i feel as though i was only told half of the story.” 

financially, farmers and ranchers can also be put in a tight spot if they are seeking to transition. despite long-run increases in yield, the tight margins in agriculture can make it hard to front the initial cost of switching to regenerative practices due to upfront costs like fencing and the “three-year trough,” or a time of lower production while natural systems adjust to new agricultural practices. it can be a hard sell, and many “hardcore ag producers are skeptical,” kossler said, especially older generations. 

but in the fertile soils kossler and his team are growing, they’ve cultivated more than prairie grasses and carbon sinks: change is taking root. as the outliers in the equation, mcginley ranch and the turner institute of ecoagriculture have been in the business of influencing others to create “synergies” for change. “we’re kind of herd animals,” kossler said, and like bison, once some go, others will follow. 

the future of regenerative agriculture

in the sandhills, the dominoes have already begun toppling. after watching, then inquiring about the success of mcginley’s regeneratively-managed pastures, a nearby rancher has adopted what ranch techs mcginley say is the uncommon practice of grazing meadows instead of haying them for the winter. partnerships between the turner institute of ecoagriculture and research institutions, like south dakota state university’s center of excellence for bison studies, are changing the traditional understanding of agriculture in academia and adopting regenerative approaches. 

perhaps most importantly, younger generations are buying in. jessica lovitt, mcginley ranch’s primary range data specialist, is one of them. like many in agribusiness, lovitt started with very traditional cattle ranching on her family ranch. after coming to mcginley, she admits to harboring doubts, having “never seen things done [differently] before.” despite her reservations, she said, “the results speak for themselves,” and credits her traditional background for pushing her to ask more questions. now, she offers others the same advice: “get out and go see it for yourself…give it a chance. ask the questions.” 

lovitt embodies a critical generational transition that mcginley is investing in to help turn the tides: educating the younger generations helps bring viable paths of integrating regenerative practices into family agricultural operations. as the turner institute takes on more young staff and interns, kossler is hopeful that they will “go home and make some changes,” and the pace of progress will quicken. 

together, kossler and lovitt hope that private and government support can help alleviate the financial barriers for agricultural communities seeking to do right by themselves and by the land they live off. both are optimistic that 10 years from now, the rolling sandhills of nebraska will have healthier soils, pastures, and communities.