Implications and Approaches to Establishing Sustainable

A sustainable agricultural system refers to a combination of various components undertaken at the production, distribution and consumption stages, operating in conjunction with technological, institutional, economic and environmental factors, interconnected so as to achieve the harmonization of agriculture and the environment. It signifies the transition from “an agricultural system with a large environmental load.” to “an agricultural system with a small environmental load”. In practice, a sustainable agricultural system can be established in various forms including precision agriculture, low-input farming, organic farming and environment-friendly agriculture, depending on the local environmental characteristics (the self-purification process, environmental management capacity, etc.) and the interest of farmers. Once the system is established, the proportion of farmers who practice the environment-friendly agriculture, including organic farming, will increase.

Even so, sustainable agriculture operating in harmony with the environment cannot ignore productivity and/or the profitability of the industry and so must ensure both the marketability and safety of its agricultural products. Therefore, in order to reliably develop sustainable agriculture, modern agricultural technologies and management techniques should be incorporated into the system.

In order to build sustainable agricultural systems, a variety of ways and means can be mobilized <Table 2-2>. Methods suggested by the USDA are the following: ① reduce the costs and risk of the entire system operation by making the most of internal resources and the agro-ecosystem within the farm, allowing for a reduction in the use of purchased materials, ②pursue automation, production efficiency, cost reductions, precision management (to prevent natural resources being adversely affected), whilst developing decision-making support technology, ③diversify income sources and improve the self-sufficiency of the farm’s energy supply, ④pursue avenues to increase profits by expanding marketing opportunities, proactively responding to market changes and establishing a system that can provide information about consumer

preferences, supply networks and economic trends.⑤ provide policymakers with scientific knowledge and detailed analysis, and ⑥ take advantage of academic-industrial partnerships in order to identify and solve problems, spread the resultant research conclusions and facilitate the introduction of the new technologies developed (USDA ARS, 2013).

While suggesting that a holistic perspective is required to examine whether sustainable agricultural systems can benefit the society as a whole, the US National Research Council (US NRC) presents both incremental and transformational approaches while also emphasizing the need for parallel and overlapping approaches.

Table 2-2. Methods to Improve the Agricultural Sustainability

Methods to Improve Sustainability

Production methods

• Conservation tillage

• Crop covering

• Crop diversity (crop rotation, intercropping, use of genetic diversity)

• Traditional plant breeding, modern genetic engineering

• Efficient water utilization, water reuse, Best Management Practices

• Soil and plan tissue tests, nutrient management planning, precision farming techniques

• Use of by-products, compost, and green manure use

• Integrated pest control

• Improvement of livestock genes Business and

marketing strategies

• Diversification of farm management

• Niche market and direct transactions

Community well-being promotion methods

• Diversification of farm systems and landscapes

• Use of farming methods that improve water-quality

• Direct transactions between producers and consumers

• Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

• Farm-school bridge program

• Rural village tour Source: USDA ARS (2013).

The US National Research Council’s incremental approach takes the view that all farms, regardless of their scale and type, will expand and improve their efforts for technological development so as to improve their sustainability. The objectives of this approach are to develop and promote the introduction of farming technologies that improve certain aspects of sustainability, including water resource conservation, pest management and new marketing strategies for increasing farm income<Table 2-3>. For example, in order to improve the quality of soil and hence its productivity, conservation agriculture techniques, such as reduced tillage combined with appropriate crop rotation techniques, can be applied. In order to improve sustainability using the incremental approach, a variety of tasks are proposed in the fields of productivity and environment research, socio-economic research, and policy study.

Table 2-3. Examples of Research to Improve Sustainability using the Incremental Approach

Research

Field Methods to Improve Sustainability

Productivity and environment

research

• Evaluation of the impacts of cover crops on ecosystem services

• Evaluation of the impacts that water reuse systems, irrigation systems, and livestock by-product management systems have on marsh effect improvement, water-quality improvement, water conservation and greenhouse gas reduction

• Comparative studies on nutrient balance and greenhouse gas emissions according to farm management methods

• Research on ecosystem benefits according to farming methods

Socio-economic

research

• Evaluation of the production methods that affect food characteristics

• Evaluation and comparison of costs associated with each production method under various policy and market conditions

• Analytic study of the economic sustainability of direct marketing

• Analysis of labor benefits in the agricultural sector and study of its impacts on the farm profitability

Policy study ^• Study of farm, food and environmental policies with regard to the impact of sustainable farming methods

Source: NRC (2010).

The US National Research Council’s transformative approach takes into account the integration of various research fields in order to design an agricultural system capable of maintaining a balance among conflicting goals<Table 2-4>. It strives to develop production methods in relation to a complex ecosystem and the socio-economic/bio-physical system, and make it possible to bring together the characteristics of synergy, efficiency and resilience. It requires an entirely newline of thinking on the agricultural system, the natural environment, the food market and the community, out with the current mainstream of the agricultural production. It also requires as a prerequisite “multidisciplinary research” to develop the future policies and technologies need to establish a new agricultural system. It is possible to have a certain level of insight as to system transformation by examining the differences among the existing farm types and technologies. For example, by comparing the organic farming method and the conventional farming method under different environments and market conditions, it is possible to obtain the information about efficiency, resilience or elasticity, as well as the socio-economic influences of the technologies used by each farming method.

Table 2-4. Main Content of the Transformative Approach to Sustainable Agriculture

Main Content

Approaches in each field

• Collaborative efforts of the academic professionals and the community to establish a common unified vision

• Encourage and promote the development of new markets and legal system to implement and pursue the common vision of future sustainable agriculture.

• Conduct and expand multidisciplinary research with regard to the goal of agricultural sustainability.

• Research system characteristics to enhance system resilience and adaptability in response to changing conditions.

• Research major local issues such as excessive water use and environmental pollution.

Multidisciplinary research

• Research sustainability in terms of productivity and also from environmental, economic and social aspects, to build a highly resilient system, as well as comprehensive research on agro-ecology

Table 2-4. Main Content of the Transformative Approach to Sustainable Agriculture (continued)

Main Content

• Evaluation of the socio-environmental impacts that the performance and balance of individual systems have on the efficiency and resilience of the entire system, by comparing the existing organic, conventional, and innovative agricultural systems.

• Analyze production efficiency, food safety, environmental impacts, risks, animal welfare, and labor conditions, by comparing the capacities of limited protected farming and the other alternatives.

• Establish policies and legal systems to provide proper pricing systems and incentives, in order to enhance system resilience and adaptability.

Transformative land scale researches

• Develop system types and technologies for the landscape diversity such that economic outcomes can be maintained under the circumstances of reduced water availability.

• Develop systems and the related technologies to reduce the flow of nitrogen, phosphoric acid and pesticide into of rivers.

• Develop a multi-purpose system model for economic, aesthetic and environmental impacts.

• Develop policies and legal systems that encourage the cooperative waterside landscaping and groundwater management among farms.

• Prepare plans to build landscapes that increase resilience and adaptability to changing conditions.

Core motives of change

• As their determination and efforts are influenced by a number of external factors such as the market, public policies, the value of agricultural produce, natural resources and land rent, an in-depth review of these factors is needed.

• Facilitation of the introduction of a new technology or system to enhance the agricultural sustainability requires in-depth understanding of how the new technology or system can achieve certain goals and objectives of various farmers.

Source: Summary of the key contents presented by NRC. (2010).

3. Setting the Management Standards for