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Developing and Extending Sustainable Agriculture: A New Social Contract explores the challenges faced by today’s farmers and ranchers to provide practical strategies to develop a twenty-first century system of sustainable agriculture that is economically sound, environmentally compatible, and socially acceptable. This comprehensive look at the current state of farming and ranching presents leading authorities discussing concepts and approaches in sustainable agriculture such as crop rotations, integrated pest management, alternative sources of nutrients to maintain productivity, and rotational grazing systems.

Presently there is a trend toward a more industrial agriculture and a global food system that will bring long-term negative impacts. If farmers look thoughtfully toward the future, alternatives are now available to help solve these problems to provide agricultural sustainability for generations to come. Developing and Extending Sustainable Agriculture: A New Social Contract provides a model for integrated research and outreach to everyone interested in sustainable development. A sensible framework of practical short-term strategies are combined with visionary long-term plans to provide viable approaches to sustain agriculture, secure our food system, and develop a more equitable society for the future. The text includes several tables and figures, extensive references, and comprehensive bibliographies.

Topics in Developing and Extending Sustainable Agriculture: A New Social Contract include:



the evolution of the concept of equitable and sustainable development

on-farm research

farmer to farmer education

IPM (integrated pest management)

soil management

managed grazing

whole-farm planning, including economic analysis

training for sustainable agriculture

motivation theory and research to foster positive sustainable development

organic farming productivity

the future of sustainable agriculture

much, much more



Developing and Extending Sustainable Agriculture: A New Social Contract is enlightening, horizon-expanding reading perfect for educators, students, government decision makers, cooperative extension educators, specialists, administrators, citizen members of county extension boards, and administrators in land grant universities.