Integrating agricultural and environmental sustainability across generations: the never-ending quest for the golden fleece

Abstract

Dynamic agricultural sustainability strongly depends on a reliable energy resource that is capable of maintaining order in an open (agro-eco-) system at the expense of the order of the environment. In this article, the integrative and complex challenges of combining efficient farming with environmental upgrading are analysed. Farming should be practiced within an appropriate, though moving agro-climax, the impact of which has become more important than that of the remaining natural ecosystems. Efficient use of resources and energy is not only important during the concentration phase of farming, but even more important during the dilution phase. The best way of improving the eco-capacity of farming systems is to increase the vitality of the agrosphere i.e. assimilation capacity of abiotic inputs necessary for crop intensification. This will require hands-on guidelines for the farmer amongst which integrated plant nutrition and the integration of organic and inorganic fertilisation will allow both sustainable and intensive production systems. The intergenerational adoption of the latter will be proof of their sustainable character.

World agriculture faces new challenges today, among which are:

1) a growing population that needs to be fed,
2) a decrease in the availability of prime agricultural land,
3) competition for key resources such as labour, water, and land with other economic sectors such as cities and mining,
4) competing uses for agricultural products, for example fuel,
5) growing awareness of the general public regarding sustainability of agriculture production and hence,
6) necessary improvements to the biodiversity and ecosystem functions in agriculture.