Whether you’re a beginning farmer, or an experienced agricultural producer interested in transitioning to more sustainable practices, you may want to start by learning more about the principles of sustainable agriculture and some of the “systems” approaches associated with it. The publications in this section introduce and discuss key concepts and provide a general overview of planning and managing a more sustainable farm operation.
NOTE: Some of the following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Acrobat Reader.
Agroecology: Principles and Strategies for Designing Sustainable Farming Systems by Miguel Altieri |
Definition of the term “Sustainable Agriculture” Ecological Agriculture Projects, Macdonald College of McGill University |
Issues in Sustainable Agriculture University of California-Santa Cruz |
Sustainable Agriculture: Balancing Profits and Human and Natural Resources Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, University of Wisconsin |
Sustainable Agriculture: Definitions and Terms Alternative Farming Systems Information Center |
Sustainable Agriculture Principles and Concept Overview Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education |
Towards a Sustainable Agriculture article by Steve Diver |
Tracing the Evolution of Organic/Sustainable Agriculture Alternative Farming Systems Information Center |
What is Sustainable Agriculture? University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program |
What Is Sustainable Agriculture? Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education |