ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service
P.O. Box 3657
Fayetteville, AR 72702

What is Sustainable Agriculture?

Organic crop production illustration. Whether you're a beginning farmer, or an experienced agricultural producer interested in transitioning to more sustainable practices, you may want to start by learning more about the principles of sustainable agriculture and some of the "systems" approaches associated with it. The publications in this series introduce and discuss concepts, and provide a general overview of planning and managing a more sustainable farm operation.

ATTRA Publications

NOTE: Some of the following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Acrobat Reader.

Sustainable Agriculture: An Introduction	[Summary] [HTML] [PDF / 699K ]
Applying the Principles of Sustainable Farming	[Summary] [HTML] [PDF / 476K ]
Organic Crop Production Overview	[Summary] [HTML] [PDF / 954K]
Holistic Management: A Whole-Farm Decision Making Framework	[Summary] [HTML] [PDF / 336K]
Agriculture, Climate Change and Carbon Sequestration	[Summary] [HTML] [PDF / 947K]
Overview of Cover Crops and Green Manures	[Summary] [HTML] [PDF / 484K]
Manures for Organic Crop Production	[Summary] [HTML] [PDF / 385K]
Biointensive Integrated Pest Management (IPM)	[Summary] [HTML] [PDF / 865K]
Farmscaping to Enhance Biological Control	[Summary] [HTML] [PDF / 1.4M ]
Introduction to Permaculture: Concepts and Resources	[Summary] [HTML]
Local Food Directories	[Summary] [HTML]

Links to Other Introductory Sustainable Agriculture & Agroecology Information

What is Sustainable Agriculture? University of California Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program

Exploring Sustainability in Agriculture, Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education

Defining and Implementing Sustainable Agriculture, Kansas State University Extension

Towards a Sustainable Agriculture, article by Steve Diver

Future Horizons: Recent Literature in Sustainable Agriculture

Tracing the Evolution of Organic/Sustainable Agriculture, Alternative Farming Systems Information Center

Sustainable Agriculture: Definitions and Terms, Alternative Farming Systems Information Center

Definition of the term "Sustainable Agriculture", Ecological Agriculture Projects, Macdonald College of McGill University

Sustainable Agriculture: Balancing Profits and Human and Natural Resources, Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems, University of Wisconsin

Principles of Agricultural Sustainability, by John Gerber

Sustainable Agriculture Case Studies, NRCS (PDF / 277K)

Principles of Agroecology and Sustainability, University of California-Santa Cruz

Agroecology: Principles and Strategies for Designing Sustainable Farming Systems, by Miguel Altieri

Farms as Ecosystems, Dalhousie University

Last Updated February 24, 2009

ATTRA - National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service is managed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) and is funded under a grant from the United States Department of Agriculture's Rural Business-Cooperative Service. Visit the NCAT Web site for more information on our sustainable agriculture projects.

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