Sustainability of Agricultural Systems in Transition

NACTA Journal, Sep 2003 by Francis, Charles

Sustainability of Agricultural Systems in Transition W.A. Payne, D.R. Keeney, and S.C. Rao, editors. Amer. Soc. Agron. Spec. Publ. 64, ASA, Madison, Wisconsin, 2001. 272 pages. paperback, $48.00

Sustainable agriculture research and its practical application in the real world are central themes in this useful collection of papers from two symposia held in 1998. A number of the world's top researchers in sustainable technologies and systems who have sincere concerns about the impacts of their research are represented here. The emphasis throughout is on system and context complexity, and the authors are clear that one size does not fit all. Since all agricultural systems are in some degree of continual transition, it is useful to explore how the goals of sustainable agriculture economic, environmental, and social contribute to the transition process.

Perhaps the most valuable chapter in this collection is the introductory overview by Richard Harwood who lists our most pressing problems in five categories: food security, alleviating poverty, solving competition for land and water, placing priorities on agriculture as our most critical industry, and creating a receptive climate for social and policy change. His analysis of the driving forces, supplemental forces, corrective forces, and sustaining forces that describe the dynamics leading to a transformed world in the new century is especially useful. The combination of these forces must be directed to sustaining our soil and water resources, as well as preserving land in agriculture, to have any hope of creating an acceptable level of food for tomorrow's global population. Harwood goes beyond outlining the challenges and providing insight on useful steps to solve them. His chapter provides a comprehensive and compelling overview that dwarfs the remaining case studies and project descriptions.

There is useful historical perspective on watershed management in Europe in the chapter by Parvaz Koohafkin, who interprets those early political decisions on land use in today's mantra of economic, environmental, and social factors. The descriptions of different types of development research and intervention by public and private sector organizations in the field provide an interesting window into the goals of different types of groups that have unique sources of monetary and political support. The contribution of NGOs to bridging the often large gaps between research centers and farmers in the field in remote areas deserves special mention. Most development groups through the 1980s and 1990s have fully embraced the process of participatory research, a way of involving stakeholders in the definition of problems and the search for solutions.

There are valuable and practical segments in a number of the chapters that really represent case studies in research and application, often with rather narrow goals determined by the type of organization and its mandate. There are examples from universities, national agricultural research programs, international centers, and funding groups such as World Bank.

The final section with papers from a symposium on Indian agriculture has some current statistics on the challenges found in this developing country with a huge and growing population and extremely limited resources. The critiques of Rattan Lal of the current research system and its potential to resolve the critical issues in Indian food production raise serious doubts about the likelihood that the right research can be done and policy changes made in time to avert serious food problems in the future. Other authors recognize the challenges, but are more optimistic.

As with any collection of papers, there is uneven coverage of the topics and limited connection from one chapter to another. Some chapters are well referenced papers, while others are more like updates or project reports from involved agencies. The final section on India includes a particularly broad and unconnected collection of presentations. In spite of this inconsistency, the book is a useful transcript of the symposia that is useful to have in university libraries. The chapter by Harwood could be a valuable teaching reference in courses on sustainable agricultural development.

Charles Francis

University of Nebraska, Lincoln