What is Sustainable Agriculture? - Resources - SARE
This SARE resource lays out a plain definition of sustainable agriculture and treats it as a “whole farm” approach—one that links day-to-day practices to long-term outcomes. It explains sustainability as meeting today’s food and fiber needs without limiting future generations’ ability to do the same, and it frames the idea around three shared goals: long-term profit, stewardship of land/air/water, and quality of life for people working in and around agriculture.
Readers who are new to the term, or who want a clearer sense of what counts as “sustainable” beyond buzzwords, will likely find it helpful. The piece emphasizes that farms and ranches are diverse, so there’s no single recipe; instead, it offers a “sampler” of practice areas and points to deeper resources. It also distinguishes sustainable agriculture from related terms like organic and regenerative, and briefly describes SARE’s focus on farmer-driven, on-farm research.
Key takeaways
- Defines sustainable agriculture as producing enough food and fiber now without compromising future generations’ ability to do the same.
- Names three common sustainability goals: long-term profitability, stewardship of land/air/water, and quality of life for farmers, workers, and communities.
- Describes sustainable management as an integrated systems approach that considers how farm parts interact and can include thinking “beyond the farm gate.”
- Lists practice areas tied to sustainability, including soil health (cover crops, reduced tillage, rotations), ecological pest management (IPM, scouting), biodiversity (habitat, buffers), and livestock health/husbandry.
- Differentiates organic (USDA-certified, rules-based) from regenerative (no standardized definition; often emphasizes biodiversity, soil health, and carbon sequestration) and explains SARE’s emphasis on producer-collaborative research on working farms.