Welcome to my other blog, this time, less political :-) compared to my other 2 blogs,
First, about "sustainable agriculture". It's closely related to the general concept of"sustainable development", broadly defined as "ensuring that futuredevelopment and needs are not imperilled by current developmentalgrowth and needs" Now, "sustainable agriculture" does not automatically mean "organic agriculture". In some or many instances when the threat of total cropfailure (pests, insects, fungi, animal attacks, etc.) is clear, one has to use limited amount of chemical pesticides, insecticides, fungicides, fertilizers, and other inorganic materials to avoid large crop failure. Thus, "sus agri" does not rule out limited or controlled use ofchemical fertilizers and insecticides, does not rule out use of genetic modification (GM), does not rule out use of hybrid and modernseeds, so long as the broader goal of ensuring that future harvestsare not imperilled by current harvests.
Of course, some scientists and advocates disagree with some points above, especially on the issue of GM, but from among our speakers and lecturers in Sweden on "Sustainable Agriculture in an Environmental Perspective" last September-October 2003, majority of them (especially among scientists) assert what I discussed above.