Agricultural Sustainability

Khoram et al. (2006) studied that the mean score of the farmers' knowledge,
attitude and practical application of sustainable agriculture was 81.52 (16.92), 73.46 (15.20) and
58.04 (14.13), respectively. It is suggested that rural farmers have a major and crucial task as
agricultural authorities and decision makers to promote knowledge, develop attitude and improve
the agricultural practices of farmers. Poincelot et al. (2006) explored the evolving role of
extension over the past century and the impact of sustainable agriculture research and education
(SARE) programmes on the directions and projects in extension. With the emergence of a new
paradigm in agriculture that emphasizes environmental and social impacts in tandem with
production and economics, extension's role needs to change to adjust to changing demands.
Rokonuzzaman et al. (2006) reported the total of 100 farmers were randomly selected as the
sample of the study, from a population of 519 farmers. Data were collected from the farmers
using a personal interview schedule. Out of twelve selected characteristics of the farmers, age
was negatively correlated with their perception of sustainable agriculture, while level of
education, farm size, annual family income, training exposure, knowledge of environment-
friendly farming, farming experience, experience on environment-friendly farming practice,
extension media exposure, cosmopoliteness, and organizational participation were positively
correlated with their perception of sustainable agriculture.
Boone et al. (2007) reported the level of knowledge and attitudes that extension
educators possess concerning the numerous dimensions of sustainable agriculture. A descriptive
research design was used to collect data from extension agents (n=121) in Ohio, Pennsylvania,
Virginia, and West Virginia. Extension agents were familiar with and associated terms such as
environmental protection, small-scale agriculture, profitability, low chemical input, productivity,
and organic farming with sustainable agriculture. Extension agents also expressed a need for
training in a number of areas related to sustainable agriculture and its practices.

Edao and Zamora (2007) determined the factors considered by farmers in the
conversion process from conventional to sustainable agriculture (SA) and their SA practices in
Barangay Tapi, Kabankalan, Negros Occidental. Respondents were pre-selected after
consultation with the leaders of the Bugana Federation of people's organizations; selection was
based on the length of membership of their local organization to the Federation, and number of
years of SA application in their farm. Reasons for conversion, nutrient management, pest
management and utilization of resources were gathered through interview using a semi-
structured questionnaire and focused group discussion. The main reasons found for the farmers'
conversion to sustainable agriculture were mostly economic and environmental concerns.
Economic benefits from SA could be realized with the reduction in cost of production, ensured
household food security and maximization of internal resources. The dominant practices of the
respondents related to sustainable agriculture were diversified farming with crops and animals as
part of nutrient and pest management, crop residue recycling and crop rotation. To minimize
risks, the respondents employed the strategy of gradual process of conversion with input
substitution in small parcels of land that were later expanded. Nutrient and pest management
were correlated with the number of years the farmers had been practicing sustainable agriculture.
Respondents practicing SA for longer periods had several more combinations of nutrient and
pest management practices than those who were just starting to convert to sustainable
agriculture. Crop rotation is one of the very first steps in the farmers' conversion to SA.

Fami et al. (2007) evaluated the progress toward achieving objectives of
sustainable agriculture. Since extension plays a major role in agricultural development, its
policies should be consistent with and supportive to sustainable agriculture. In the agricultural
extension system of Iran, extension officials working at the headquarter level are the most
responsible actors towards formulation of extension policies. Though they are familiar with the
challenges and potentials of the agricultural sector in the country, they need to understand the
concepts of sustainable agriculture and integrate it into the national extension policy framework.
Taking this into consideration, the present study was conducted to identify main components of
sustainable agriculture policies which should be included into national extension policy
framework. Applying stratified random sampling technique, 98 extension officials were selected
and interviewed. Principal component analysis was used as main statistical technique to analyze
the data. The findings revealed that five factors/components containing 42 variables determined
about 66 percent of variations in policy framework for sustainable agriculture: Environmental
conservation and appropriate use of basic resources (17.72% of variance), Enhancing people
participation and use of indigenous and internal resources (17.26% of variance), Government
intervention to establish socio-economic and technical infrastructures (14.2 percent of variance),
Institutional development and pluralism (13.65% of variance) and Gender considerations in
agricultural planning and policy-making (3.22% of variance).

Fotyma and Krasowicz (2007) examined that the development of agriculture in
Europe, with special reference to Poland in light of 'third wave' Toffler's theory. The paper was
inspired by the 20
th
anniversary of publishing the Toffler's book in Poland. For a long time,
practically to the end of the Second World War, agriculture in Europe have developed slowly. In
the techno-sphere, agriculture was dependent on both man and animal power, the level of
production was extremely low, farmers or peasants of many-generation families were mostly
self-sufficient and had very low access to the information. This type of agriculture was
sustainable at the cost of low food production and heavy disparity of peasant's income. The
industrialization of agriculture (second wave) in Western Europe has started after the War within
the scope of CAP. Agriculture through heavy subsidy was provided with fuel, technical and
chemical production means, and the necessary agricultural information. The number of farmers
diminished dramatically and one farmer could produce food for several tenth of non-farmers'
population. The production of food increased dramatically which led to the heavy surplus of
several food products and industrialization processes exerted negative impact on the
environment. This type of agriculture could hardly be called sustainable. From the beginning of
21 century, the third wave is flooding over agriculture, which under the pressure of new CAP
regulation is going to be more environment and socially oriented, e.g. more sustainable. The
development of agriculture in Poland followed an almost similar way to that of a socialist
system. The first wave (agrarian system) persisted in Poland much longer then in Western
Europe, which burdened this sector with the task of industry development and country
restoration after the devastating War. Only in early 1960s that industries started to pay its tribute
to agriculture, which began its raise on the second wave. This process of industrialization runs
for several decades practically until today. However, it was broken due to economical
transformation in the years 1989-90 when several hundred thousands of double employed
peasant-workers lost jobs and were forced to come back to their very small farm holdings. The
former state-farms workers went through the difficult time losing jobs as well and being left
without any support. The new era for agriculture has started after joining the UE and with
implementation of CAP to Poland. This sped up again the industrialization of agriculture and
simultaneously superimposed it to the processes characteristic for the third wave of civilization
development. Further, it is expected that in few years Polish agriculture will follow the path of
sustainable development like agriculture in other EU countries.

Rokonuzzaman et al. (2005) determined farmers' perception of sustainable
agriculture in the study conducted in six unions. One hundred (100) farmers were randomly
selected as the sample of the study from a population of 519 farmers. Data were collected from
the farmers using personal interview schedule during the 12 February to 11 March 2004.
Sustainable agriculture was considered into two dimensions namely farm profitability and
environment stewardship. Incase of farm profitability of sustainable agriculture, highest
proportion (54 percent) of the respondents had medium perception of farm profitability while 2
percent had low perception and 44 percent high perception. On the other hand, for environment
stewardship of sustainable agriculture, highest proportion (64 percent) of the respondents had
medium perception of environmental stewardship of sustainable agriculture compared to 10
percent low perception and 26 percent high perception. However, for overall perception of
sustainable agriculture, majority (55 percent) farmers of the study area had medium perception
compared to 43 percent and 2 percent had high and low perception of sustainable agriculture
respectively. Data also revealed that more than two-fourth (57 percent) of the farmers faced
medium problem while only 6 percent and 37 percent faced low and high problem respectively
in practicing sustainable agriculture.

Allahyari (2008b) reported that sustainable agriculture, as a managerial
philosophy has risen to meet environmental, economic and social complications. Agricultural
extension as a source of information plays an important role for the achievement of sustainable
forms of agriculture. In fact, conventional extension system cannot accomplish sustainability in
agriculture. The objective of the study was to identify the most appropriate mechanism to
support dimensions and policies of sustainable agriculture that used a descriptive-correlative
design. The population of this study consisted of faculty members of agricultural extension
education, extension head in provinces and extension specialists of deputy of agricultural
extension and farming system in the Ministry of Agriculture in Iran. A sample consisting 87
respondents was selected through simple random sampling. The instrument used to achieve
objectives of the study was a questionnaire by reliability 0.86. Findings indicate that Iran's
sustainable agricultural extension mechanisms are not favorable and the extension system does
not pay enough attention to them. These conditions necessitate rethinking of extension
mechanisms to accomplish sustainable agriculture. When examining the results of the Canonical
correlation analysis, it reveals that the Wilks Lambda test was significant at 0.01 level. It
indicates that the first squared Canonical correlation (R2 C (1)) was statistically significant.
Based on the Canonical correlation analysis, on the predicator variables set, "assets of
sustainable agriculture development", "supportive extension organizations toward sustainability",
"content of sustainable agriculture extension" and "professionals of sustainable agriculture
extension", loaded highest on Canonical function one and had the most impact upon policies and
dimensions of sustainable agriculture.




Jordan and Constance (2008) explored the barriers and opportunities to
transforming agriculture based on sustainable principles. The issue consists of ten papers that
address sustainable agriculture and quality of life issues from social science viewpoints. The
introductory paper begins with a brief description of the Sustainable Agriculture Research and
Education (SARE) Programme, including its funding patterns, its relationship to quality of life
issues, and recent initiatives by the Southern SARE program to encourage social science research
on quality of life issues. The second paper examines the role of S-SARE in enhancing the quality
of life in rural communities. The second section of the issue includes four papers that examine
various aspects of local food systems, from farmers market to community supported agriculture
(CSAs). The third paper combines a community capitals framework with convention theory to
examine the community characteristics that can create successful farmers' markets. The fourth
paper uses a case study of a rural Midwestern farming community to examine how direct
marketing strategies such as CSAs may offer a "slow food" alternative to the "fast foods"
resulting from the conventional agricultural system. The fifth paper examines the CSA
movement from a community attachment and social capital perspective. The sixth and final
paper examines the CSA issue from the perspective of low-income and food insecure
households. The next set of papers more explicitly explores the policy arena. The seventh paper
focusing on minority and limited resource farmers, explores policies that expand access to
agricultural markets and create incentives for sustainable production. Food safety regulation in
the specialty red meat sector is the focus of the eighth paper. The eighth paper looks at certified
and non-certified organic farming in Texas. It determines whether organic producers in Texas
have taken on the characteristics of mainstream industrial agriculture and have adopted a dual
structure of small and large producers. The ninth and final paper in this issue provides an overall
theoretical context to all the papers presented. Each paper in this issue in some manner use
Goldschmidt's findings on the dilemma of scale. This final paper extends this discussion to civic
agriculture. Using conservation as an indicator of quality of life, the paper examines the
relationships among the structural and social variables of farm size, enterprise type and
intergenerational farm success to determine their influence on land tenure.

Singh and Varaprasad (2008) reported that the need for the identification and
value assessment of agro-biodiversity heritage sites in the context of recent Acts has been
highlighted to facilitate conservation and evolution of sustainable agriculture. Six indices
reflecting agriculture providing livelihood support; custodianship of irreplaceable natural
resources; continued co-evolution and development of new agro-biodiversity responding to
changing scenario; intangible religious, artistic and cultural association; locals' ingenuity
responding to changing scenario and ability to adapt external inputs are proposed for the
identification of National Agro-biodiversity Heritage/Hotspot Sites (NAHS). Value assessment
for conservation and use is being suggested, based on biophysical and landscape, social and
cultural, and economic values. An action plan need to be developed for use of products, practices
and knowledge from NAHS, ensuring empowerment and benefit sharing to locals within the
framework of national legislation, such as the Biological Diversity Act and the Protection of
Plant Varieties and Farmers' Rights Act.





Lithourgidis et al. (2009) reported that conservation tillage has
been widely implemented in the last decades in several parts of the world as an attractive
alternative to conventional tillage due to its potential to protect soils from erosion and
compaction, to conserve soil moisture, and to reduce production costs. Significant savings in
fuel, labor, and machinery costs are realized with conservation tillage, mainly because fewer
trips over the field are required during seedbed preparation. Conservation tillage in Greece has
been tested on a limited scale by a minority of farmers on an empirical basis or on an
experimental basis by research institutes. Research thus far has shown that, despite some
disadvantages in certain cases, conservation tillage can be attractive to farmers because it can
provide equal or even greater yields than conventional tillage and also because of its potential for
reduced production costs. From this view point, conservation tillage should receive more
attention among Greek producers, becoming a viable alternative to conventional tillage and
gaining wide acceptance because of its multiple benefits for both the farmer and the
environment. Education, technical assistance, and financial assistance to farmers will play a
dominant role in this effort.


Parra-Lpez et al. (2009) integrated methodological framework for ex-ante
evaluation and planning of public policies for sustainable agriculture at agro-landscape level.
The components of the framework are to: (1) determine the private, i.e. farmers', and public
benefits associated to agro-landscapes, consisting of an agricultural land-use system, according
to its performance for several market and non-market functions. Market forces determine the
market benefits and preferences of society the non-market benefits; (2) explore and select
potential sustainable agro-landscapes based on the private and public benefits associated with
possible land-use alternatives; (3) define efficient public policy mechanisms for improving social
net benefit of agro-landscapes. The framework is illustrated with a case study in a small dairy
farming dominated agro-landscape in The Netherlands, with gross margin, landscape quality,
nature value and environmental health as the analysed ecosystem functions. Alternative
landscapes consisting of hedgerow configurations and grassland management practices were
explored, yielding a set of alternatives representing the solution space in terms of change in
private and public benefits. Policy mechanisms were defined to move from the current to a
desired landscape based on changes in social net benefits. Moreover, the necessity of a
modification in the current agri-environmental support was analysed for each landscape. The
analysis considered all farmers in the agro-landscape jointly. The results for the case study
showed potential prototypes of landscapes and their performance compared to the current
landscape. Extension was the most efficient policy mechanism to promote the change to the
socially optimum landscape alternative.

Rodriguez et al. (2009) studied that conventional agriculture systems of
production often lead to environmental degradation, economic problems and even social conflict.
The efficacy of agriculture systems conducive to the economic, environmental and social
sustainability of farming operations has been demonstrated, yet the adoption of sustainable
agricultural practices is not widespread. This qualitative study is based on a web-based survey
instrument designed to elicit the barriers to adoption of sustainable agriculture practices (SAP)
perceived by a positional and network sample of 269 change agents working with farmers in the
US South. The analysis examines the general proposition that reluctance to change to SAP is an
overused rationale of change agents that tends to mask real barriers that we endeavor to elicit in
the survey. It was found that despite having support from technical assistance providers, farmers
are rarely adopting SAP. Change agents often are not well prepared to attend to farmers' needs
regarding SAP, particularly the needs of specific farming situations. Thus, farmers often struggle
to obtain accurate information about the benefits of SAP. Government support programs often
fail to encourage adoption due to lack of funding, inappropriate design and ineffective targeting
of incentives. Reluctance to change is frequently mentioned by change agents, but more as a way
of blaming farmers for nonadoption than explaining the often tangible reasons for their
behaviors. Social barriers, land tenure, infrastructure and incompatibility are other significant
impediments to adoption. Strategies such as improved management of the existing information,
careful design of economic support programs and extension efforts addressed to change agents
themselves could help overcome some of the barriers identified by change agents.

Sinha (2009) studied that the impending threat of chemical agriculture to human
health and the environment, this paper introduces the concept of 'sustainable agriculture' and
highlights the need to embark on a 'second green revolution' through vermiculture-based organic
farming. It is pointed out that vermiculture can promote organic farming and sustainable
agriculture.