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Anosha Khan Challenges & Change In Society 1/5/11

Overview

Sustainable agriculture is the practice of farming using ethics of ecology, the study of
relationships between organisms and their environment and how over time they satisfy
our needs by:
• making efficient use of non-renewable resources and on-farm resources
• Sustaining economic viability of farm operations
• Enhancing the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole

Article Summary

Sustainable agriculture descends from long-term goals rather than a specific set of
farming practices and usually encourage the decrease of purchased efforts that support
what is managed in on-farm resources.
Low-input agriculture is one of several alternative-farming systems whose methods are
adaptable to sustainable agriculture; this style of farming focuses on the reduction of
chemical fertilizers. Organic farming is also another widely recognized alternative
farming system. "Biological" farming has become common with farmers, is using the
Reams fertility system as the basis for crop production. Nature Farming is equivalent to
organic farming in many ways but emphasizes on soil health through composting rather
than organic fertilizers.

Although sustainable agriculture has become a large and vague issue with many of the
above-mentioned alternative farming systems falling under it, it is important to note that
sustainable agriculture is really a long-term goal, not a specific set of farming practices.
In Sustainable Agriculture in Temperate Zones sustainable agriculture was defined as
such: “Many aspects of modern conventional agriculture are included in sustainable
agriculture, just as are many aspects of alternative farming systems.”

An aspect of modern agriculture, which has been receiving a lot of attention in


sustainable agriculture discussions, is the use of chemicals that aid in fertility and pest
control.

Article Evaluation

Steve Diver, the author of this article is a Permaculture expert and a technical specialist
with the U.S. government funded, "Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas",
center, ATTRA. ATTRA is a sustainable agriculture and farming information center at
the University of Arkansas. He is a full-time agricultural consultant and researcher with
Sustainable Growth Texas, who has earned his B.S and M.S degrees in Horticulture and
manages a certified organic farm, therefore he is a reliable source. Even though his article
does contain a slight amount of bias because he is hired to promote sustained agriculture
and how it is necessary for the environment as well as the people, but he does provide
evidence and reasoning for his ideology because this is mainly an informative article.

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