Not Just a Label: synergies and tradeoffs between social and ecological resilience in organic and conventional Michigan apple orchards

Abstract

Resilience is an important consideration that enriches the sustainability discourse surrounding farming. Certified organic farm management has been shown to confer resilience to insect pest outbreaks but debate surrounding this issue continues due to lack of context specific ecological knowledge and social data. To explore this, a conceptual model linking organic management, natural enemy communities, resilience to insect pest outbreaks, perceptions of ecological resilience, forms and extent of social resilience, and farmer behavior in a feedback loop was created and tested in apple orchards in Michigan. The model was tested by measuring indicators of ecological and social resilience in field surveys and experiments and long-form interviews with apple farmers. Specifically, ecological resilience was addressed by comparing ant community composition and predatory function in 2 certified organic and 2 conventional apple orchards in southern Michigan using baiting methods and by simulating a pest outbreak using moth larva. Social resilience and feedbacks between ecological resilience and farm management were assessed in long-form interviews conducted with 10 orchard owners/mangers across the Midwest that focused on farmer perceptions of insects and past experiences adapting to insect outbreaks. Ant abundance, species richness, and predation on moth larva were significantly higher in organic than conventional orchards. This indicates that organic apple orchards are more ecologically resilient to insect pest outbreaks. Similarly, interviews indicated that organic apple farmers’ sources of social capital were more abundant and uniquely characterized by trust and reciprocity, suggesting greater social resilience. Overall, the results confirmed the conceptual model and demonstrated that robust social capital and predatory insect communities interact synergistically in certified organic apple orchards and provide farmers with high resilience, while in conventional apple orchards, farmers trade social capital and predatory insects for a single form of resilience, synthetic agrochemicals.