The constant gardener
Monoculture
Julietta Singh,
University of Minnesota
Literally meaning "one culture," the term monoculture is used widely in globalization discourses to describe a
commonly used method of crop cultivation. Monocultural production refers to a single-crop production method wherein
all other existing or potential crops are excluded. Such practices are used both in small and large-scale farming
operations across the globe.
This method of production is amongst the most contested of farming practices today. Many global environmentalists
dispute the use of monocultures, arguing that a lack of diversity inherent to this mode of production has serious
repercussions for soil fertility, local climates, and the consumption practices of both humans and animals. At the
crux of the issue is the widespread use of environmentally destructive chemical products in this mode of production,
bringing to the forefront a conflict between the private property rights of landholders and the rights of the
populace to a clean environment and to sustainable use of lands.
(Photo: Stephanie Colvey, IDRC-CRDI)
One of the most vocal critiques of the widespread use of monocultures comes from the organic agricultural movement.
Developed in the 1920s in Europe and North America, this movement emerged as a response to the growth and expansion
of monocultural practices. The movement champions polycultural land practices and the use of sustainable methods for
soil fertility and pest control, and rejects technologies such as genetic engineering.
Because genetically engineered "miracle" seeds and heavy chemical use in monocultural production has been developed
and exported by the West, substantial focus is now being placed on the impact that this practice is having upon
non-Western regions. In her book Monocultures of the Mind (1993), Indian scientist and
activist Vandana Shiva expresses deep scientific and socio-cultural concerns about the vast consequences that
monocultures have upon ecosystems and human communities. Many contemporary critics such as Shiva regard
monocultures not simply as production practices, but as ideological frameworks wherein humans come to reject
— and finally to forget about — the earth's fundamental need for biodiversity.
Unsurprisingly, in Third World regions where communities have a more direct relationship to food production, the
effects of monocultural production on the environment and the social landscape are more striking and immediately
apparent. Activists, scientists, and community members in various developing regions are protesting the myriad ways in which
the importation of chemically based monocultures into Third World territories is dramatically altering communities
that have for centuries relied upon diversity as a necessity for survival.
