The Alternative Farming Systems Information Center (AFSIC) focuses on topics related to sustainable and alternative agricultural systems, crops and livestock. We work to implement the NAL mission of "advancing access to global information for agriculture."

AFSIC, founded in 1985, is an integral part of the National Agricultural Library (NAL) in Beltsville, Maryland. The Center was initiated by NAL librarian, Jayne MacLean, and funded, in part, by USDA's Low-input Sustainable Agriculture (LISA) Program. (The LISA program became the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program in the late 1980s.) AFSIC was one of the first USDA programs to focus on sustainable and organic agriculture and produced many ground-breaking bibliographies and related reference guides that enabled researchers, educators and producers to access previously difficult-to-find international research, literature and expertise.

AFSIC was an early participant in the Internet, presenting its services and publications on the NAL Bulletin Board (BBS); Gopher and World Wide Web. An oral history project was started in 1990; several videotaped interviews with sustainable agriculture pioneers were completed including ones with Robert Rodale and Garth Youngberg. AFSIC staff also worked, and continues to work, to provide the National Agricultural Library with one of the best collections of alternative and sustainable- agriculture-related research materials in the world.

The Center continues to receive support from the SARE program. It also works with a cooperative agreement with the University of Maryland's College of Agriculture and Natural Resources, College Park, MD. AFSIC and the National Agricultural Library are part of the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the USDA Agricultural Research Service (ARS).