"Sustainable agriculture is farming in sustainable ways meeting society's present food and textile needs, without compromising the ability for current or future generations to meet their needs."
The study of integrating multiple sustainable agricultural practices to optimize environmental, economic, and social benefits.
Agroecology: A holistic approach to farming that views agriculture as part of a larger ecosystem, taking into account the interactions between plants, animals, humans, and the natural environment.
Soil Health: The ability of soil to support plant growth and sustain ecosystem services such as water purification, nutrient cycling, and carbon sequestration.
Crop Rotation: The practice of alternating crops grown on a specific field in a systematic way to prevent soil degradation, pest and disease buildup, and maintain soil fertility.
Organic Agriculture: A form of agriculture that avoids the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and genetically modified organisms (GMOs), while promoting biodiversity and soil fertility.
Integrated Pest Management (IPM): A sustainable approach to controlling pests that relies on natural predators, cultural practices, and selective use of pesticides rather than indiscriminate application of pesticides.
Conservation Agriculture: A farming system that integrates minimum tillage, crop rotation, and cover cropping to improve soil health, reduce erosion, and conserve water.
Agroforestry: A land use system that combines crop and/or livestock farming with tree cultivation to provide ecological benefits such as soil conservation, carbon sequestration, and biodiversity conservation.
Precision Agriculture: A technology-based approach to farming that uses sensors, GPS, and computer systems to optimize crop production, reduce input use, and minimize environmental impacts.
Water Use Efficiency: The optimization of water use in agricultural production to conserve water resources and reduce environmental impacts.
Climate Smart Agriculture: A farming system that aims to increase agricultural productivity while reducing greenhouse gas emissions, enhancing resilience to climate change, and adapting to its adverse impacts.
Organic farming: A farming system that relies on natural inputs and avoids the use of synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, and other harmful chemicals. The focus is on building healthy soil, promoting biodiversity, and using resources efficiently.
Biodynamic farming: A holistic approach that emphasizes the relationship between soil, plants, animals, and the cosmos. It involves using preparations made from natural materials to enhance soil fertility and supporting a diversified farm system.
Permaculture: A sustainable design system that integrates plants, animals, and buildings into a functional ecosystem. It aims to create a self-sustaining system that requires minimal inputs and maximizes outputs.
Agroforestry: A system that involves integrating trees with crops and/or livestock. Trees provide multiple benefits including soil conservation, shade, and food for livestock.
Conservation agriculture: A system that involves minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover, and crop rotation. It aims to reduce erosion, increase soil fertility, and conserve water.
Regenerative agriculture: A system that focuses on building soil health and promoting biodiversity. It includes practices such as cover cropping, crop rotation, and using compost and other organic materials to improve soil fertility.
Aquaponics: A system that combines aquaculture (raising fish) with hydroponics (growing plants without soil) in a closed loop system. The fish waste provides nutrients for the plants, while the plants filter the water for the fish.
Urban agriculture: A system that involves growing food in urban areas, including rooftops, balconies, and community gardens. It promotes food security and reduces the carbon footprint of food transport.
Integrated pest management (IPM): A system that involves using a combination of cultural, biological, and chemical controls to manage pests. The focus is on minimizing the use of harmful chemicals and promoting the natural enemies of pests.
No-till farming: A system that involves planting crops without tillage, which avoids soil disturbance and reduces erosion. It also conserves water and soil organic matter.
Community-supported agriculture (CSA): A system that involves a direct relationship between farmers and consumers, where consumers buy a share of the harvest and receive regular deliveries of fresh produce.
Small-scale farming: A system that involves small farms that are run by families or communities. These farms often use sustainable practices and are focused on producing food for local consumption.
Multi-cropping: A system that involves growing multiple crops in the same field to maximize yields and promote biodiversity.
Polyculture: A system that involves growing multiple crops together in a single field. This promotes biodiversity, reduces the risk of crop failure, and improves soil health.
Agroecology: A system that integrates ecological principles into agriculture. It aims to promote sustainable and resilient farming systems that promote biodiversity and support local communities.
"Developing sustainable food systems contributes to the sustainability of the human population."
"Agriculture has an enormous environmental footprint, playing a significant role in causing climate change, water scarcity, water pollution, land degradation, deforestation and other processes."
"Food systems are responsible for one third of the anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions."
"Sustainable agriculture consists of environment friendly methods of farming that allow the production of crops or livestock without damage to human or natural systems."
"Elements of sustainable agriculture can include permaculture, agroforestry, mixed farming, multiple cropping, and crop rotation."
"Besides sustainable farming practices, dietary shifts to sustainable diets are an intertwined way to substantially reduce environmental impacts."
"Numerous sustainability standards and certification systems exist, including organic certification, Rainforest Alliance, Fair Trade, UTZ Certified, GlobalGAP, Bird Friendly, and the Common Code for the Coffee Community (4C)."
"Agriculture plays a significant role in water scarcity and water pollution."
"Agriculture plays a significant role in land degradation."
"Sustainable agriculture provides a potential solution to enable agricultural systems to feed a growing population within the changing environmental conditions."
"It can be based on an understanding of ecosystem services."
"It involves preventing adverse effects to soil, water, biodiversity, surrounding or downstream resources."
"It is simultaneously causing environmental changes and being impacted by these changes."
"When developing agriculture within sustainable food systems, it is important to develop flexible business process and farming practices."
"Agriculture has an enormous environmental footprint."
"Sustainable agriculture consists of environment friendly methods of farming that allow the production of crops or livestock without damage to human or natural systems, thereby preventing deforestation."
"There are many methods to increase the sustainability of agriculture."
"Sustainable agriculture involves preventing adverse effects...to those working or living on the farm or in neighboring areas."
"Sustainable agriculture consists of environment friendly methods of farming that allow the production of crops or livestock without damage to...biodiversity."