My boss and mentor Olle Gunnarsson discussed some time in the 1970s that there should be a discipline “Production ecology”. The situation was that one discipline developed production, another discipline found faults with it. Not an optimal situation. At that time the question was more straightforward. We had a national market and a national agricultural policy. Prices were an issue between Swedish society (consumers) and the agricultural sector.
Now the issue seems to be ripe. There is a discussion about a discipline “Agroecology”. At last. But the situation is more difficult. For mainstream agriculture international competitiveness is vital. We should produce at the same costs as the leading producers in the world for our most important products. Is it possible? In fact no.
That sharpens the issue. Production ecology needs to consider production economy, at least if the discipline should be more than abstract science.
