Sustainable Agriculture and Organic Farming

Sustainable agriculture encompasses many different production methods, systems, and approaches that aim to meet the goals of profitability, stewardship, and quality of life. One of those approaches, but by no means the only one, is organic farming.

Organic agriculture is generally considered to be under the sustainable agriculture “umbrella.” But it is not exactly a subset, since organic practices may conflict with sustainability goals in certain situations. Opinions differ on the relative importance of organic agriculture to sustainable agriculture and on how much research, education, and extension efforts on sustainable agriculture should be directed to organic agriculture.

For more information on CSREES activities in organic farming, see the Organic Agriculture program page.

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