A landscape perspective on sustainability of agricultural systems

Agricultural sustainability considers the effects of farm activities on social, economic, and environmental conditions at local and regional scales. Adoption of more sustainable agricultural practices entails defining sustainability, developing easily measured indicators of sustainability, moving to...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Landscape ecology 2013-07, Vol.28 (6), p.1111-1123
Main Authors: Dale, Virginia H., Kline, Keith L., Kaffka, Stephen R., Langeveld, J. W. A. (Hans)
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Agricultural economics
Agricultural management
Agricultural practices
Biomedical and Life Sciences
Context
Ecology
Economics
Environmental conditions
Environmental Management
Farm
Farming systems
Heterogeneity
Incentives
Indicators
Land use
Landscape
Landscape Ecology
Landscape/Regional and Urban Planning
Life Sciences
Nature Conservation
Research Article
Scale
Social conditions
Spatial heterogeneity
Sustainability
Sustainable agriculture
Sustainable Development
Sustainable practices
Systems
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Summary:Agricultural sustainability considers the effects of farm activities on social, economic, and environmental conditions at local and regional scales. Adoption of more sustainable agricultural practices entails defining sustainability, developing easily measured indicators of sustainability, moving toward integrated agricultural systems, and offering incentives or imposing regulations to affect farmer behavior. Landscape ecology is an informative discipline in considering sustainability because it provides theory and methods for dealing with spatial heterogeneity, scaling, integration, and complexity. To move toward more sustainable agriculture, we propose adopting a systems perspective, recognizing spatial heterogeneity, integrating landscape-design principles and addressing the influences of context, such as the particular products and their distribution, policy background, stakeholder values, location, temporal influences, spatial scale, and baseline conditions. Topics that need further attention at local and regional scales include (1) protocols for quantifying material and energy flows; (2) standard specifications for management practices and corresponding effects; (3) incentives and disincentives for enhancing economic, environmental, and social conditions (including financial, regulatory and other behavioral motivations); (4) integrated landscape planning and management; (5) monitoring and assessment; (6) effects of societal demand; and (7) integrative policies for promoting agricultural sustainability.
ISSN:0921-2973
1572-9761
DOI:10.1007/s10980-012-9814-4