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Date: June 29, 2010
Contacts: Jennifer Walsh, Media Relations Officer
Luwam Yeibio, Media Relations Assistant
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; e-mail <news@nas.edu>
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Although farming productivity has increased, nowadays farmers are being asked to do more than produce more food for a growing world population," said Julia Kornegay, chair of the committee that wrote the report, and professor and head of the department of horticultural science at North Carolina State University, Raleigh. "Many modern agricultural practices have unintended negative consequences, such as decreased water and air quality, and farmers have to consider these consequences while trying to increase production. If farmers are going to meet future demands, the
Farmers in the
Additionally, the committee found that farmers face other challenges, such as consumer concerns about the treatment of farm animals and food safety. Farmers' income is also not keeping up with rising production costs, primarily due to the higher prices of external inputs such as seeds, fuel, and synthetic fertilizer. More than half of
To help achieve a sustainable agriculture system that looks beyond the end goal of providing more goods, the committee identified four goals that should be considered simultaneously:
· satisfy human food, fiber, and feed requirements, and contribute to biofuels needs
· enhance environmental quality and the resource base
· maintain the economic viability of agriculture
· improve the quality of life for farmers, farm workers, and society as a whole
The committee emphasized that achieving a balance of the four goals, and creating systems that can adapt to fluctuating conditions, are hallmarks of greater sustainability. Achieving the goals will require long-term research, education, outreach, and experimentation by the public and private sectors in partnership with farmers. Moreover, two parallel and overlapping approaches -- one incremental and one transformative -- could help meet these goals, the committee proposed. The incremental approach would expand ongoing endeavors to create farming practices that improve sustainability, regardless of size or type of farming system. The transformative approach would bring together multiple disciplines of research to identify and design a vision for a balanced agricultural system.
Although the report lays out a framework toward attaining sustainable farming systems, the report stresses that farmers' decisions to employ new practices are influenced by external forces, such as science, markets, public policies, land tenure arrangements, and their own values, knowledge, skills, and resources. The committee said that efforts to promote widespread adoption of different farming practices and systems would require knowing how individual, household, farm, and regional characteristics affect farmers' response to incentives and disincentives.
The report was sponsored by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and W.K. Kellogg Foundation. The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering,
Copies of Toward Sustainable Agricultural Systems in the 21st Century are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above).
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[ This news release and report are available at http://national-academies.org ]
NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Division on Earth and Life Studies
Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources
Committee on 21st Century Systems Agriculture: An Update of the 1989 NRC Report “Alternative Agriculture”
Julia L. Kornegay (chair)
Professor and Head
Department of Horticultural Science
Richard R. Harwood (vice chair)
Chair for Sustainable Agriculture
Port Orchard,
Sandra S. Batie
Elton R. Smith Professor
Department of Agricultural Economics
Michigan State University
East Lansing
Dale Bucks
President
Bucks Natural Resources Management
Cornelia
Professor and Director
Extension Economist
Douglas Jackson-Smith
Associate Professor and Director
Sociology Graduate Program
Utah State University
Logan
William A. Jury*
Emeritus Distinguished Professor
Department of Environmental
Deanne Meyer
Livestock Waste Management Specialist
Department of Animal Science
John P. Reganold
Regents Professor
Department of Crop and Soil Sciences
Washington State University
Pullman
August Schumacher Jr.
Adviser
SJH and Co.
Henning Sehmsdorf
Adjunct Professor and Director
Carol Shennan
Professor and Director
Center for Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems
Department of Environmental Studies
Director of Sustainability
Fetzer Vineyards
Paul Willis
Manager
Niman Ranch Pork Co.
STAFF
Evonne P.Y. Tang
Study Director