Union of Concerned Scientists

Some ways of producing food protect the "life support systems" that we depend on – from healthy soil to clean groundwater – while other methods damage them. "Sustainable" food production means using approaches that do not degrade these essential systems, but protect and enhance them so that food production can be sustained over the long run.

The industrial agriculture approaches that have come to dominate American agriculture have been advanced by ill-considered government policies and subsidies. Such approaches involve massive use of chemical pesticides and fertilizers and are not sustainable, since they contaminate soil, deplete groundwater, pollute rivers, and cause other problems.

UCS promotes a more practical and scientific approach to agriculture—one that treats the farm as an integrated system composed of soil, water, plants, animals, insects, and microscopic organisms whose interaction can be adjusted and enriched to solve problems and maximize yields. This kind of agriculture is highly productive, takes advantage of natural systems and processes rather than ignoring or fighting against them, and is sustainable far into the future.

UCS is working to put U.S. agriculture on a wiser track, by transforming government policies so that they support smart, sustainable farming practices instead of damaging industrial methods.