Basic terms

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
AND
FARMING SYSTEM

SS RANA
SR SCIENTIST

Basic terms
 Agro-ecology
2

Agro-ecology is a scientific discipline/sub-discipline

of Agronomy that uses ecological theory to study,
design, manage and evaluate agricultural systems
that are productive and resource conserving.

Basic terms
 Alternative Farming/Alternative
Agriculture
3

Environmentally-friendly practices and enterprises,

different from prevailing or conventional agricultural
activities. "They include:

nontraditional crops, livestock, and other farm products;

service, recreation, tourism, food processing,
forest/woodlot, and other enterprises based on farm and
natural resources (ancillary enterprises);

unconventional production systems such as organic
farming or aquaculture; or

direct marketing and other entrepreneurial marketing
strategies

Basic terms
 Best Management Practices (BMPs)
4

BMPs are established practices that also provide

quality benefits. They include such practices as cover
crops, green manure crops, and strip cropping to
control erosion; and soil testing and targeting and
timing of chemical applications (similar to IPM) to
prevent the loss of nutrients and pesticides.

Basic terms
 Biodiversity:
5

“biodiversity is the sum total of all the plants,

animals, fungi and microorganisms in the world, or
in a particular area; all of their individual variation;
and all the interactions between them."

Basic terms
 Agrobiodiversity
6

"Agrobiodiversity includes not only a wide variety of

species, but also the many ways in which farmers can
exploit biological diversity to produce and manage
crops, land, water, insects, and biota."

Basic terms
 Biodynamic Agriculture/Biodynamic
Farming
7

Method of farming that aims to treat the farm as a living

system which interacts the environment, to build healthy,
living soil and to produce food that nourishes and vitalizes
and helps to develop man kind. The methods are derived from
the teachings of Rudolf Stainer and subsequent practitioners.
The underlying principle of biodynamics is making life-giving
compost out of dead material.Use of preparations is a
common feature of biodynamic agriculture. So far 9
biodynamic preparations have been developed, named as
formulation 500 to 508. Out of these, formulation-500 (cow
horn compost) and formulation501 (horn-silica) are popular
Formulations-502 to 507 are compost enrichers and
promoters, while formulation 508 is of prophylactic and
control fungal diseases.

Basic terms
Biointensive Gardening/Mini-farming
8

John Jeavons and Ecology Action have refined a

production system that makes it possible for one person
to grow all of his or her family's food using truly
sustainable methods that maintain the fertility of the soil
without relying on nonrenewable resources like
petrochemicals or imported organic matter. The concepts
and practices of biointensive gardening were synthesized
and introduced to the U.S. by the English master
horticulturalist, Alan Chadwick. Important components
include double-dug, raised beds; intensive planting;
composting; companion planting; and whole system
synergy.

Basic terms
 Biological Farming/Ecological Farming
9

Biological and Ecological Farming are terms commonly used

in Europe and developing countries. Although sometimes
strictly defined, e.g., "Biological farming is a system of crop
production in which the producer tries to minimize the use of
'chemicals' for control of crop pests,". Both biological farming
and ecological farming are terms used in the broader sense,
encompassing various and more specific practices and
techniques of farming sustainability, e.g., organic,
biodynamic, holistic, natural.

Norman et al. point to some differentiation between the two
terms: "In Europe (e.g., the Netherlands), the term biological
often refers to organic farming, whereas the term ecological
refers to organic plus environmental considerations such as
on-farm wildlife management (i.e., the relationships between
parts of the agroecosystem."

Basic terms
 Biotechnology
10

Although farmers have been practicing biotechnology in the broadest sense (i.e. plant and
animal breeding to achieve certain traits) for thousands of years, it is the recent breaking
of the genetic code that has pushed this science into a new era altogether. Genetic
engineering differs significantly from traditional biotechnological techniques in that
DNA from different species can be combined to create completely new organisms
(Genetically Modified Organisms - GMOs). Whether this technology is compatible with
sustainable agriculture, and if so, in what ways, provokes much controversy among
sustainable agriculture advocates. Products such as plants engineered for herbicide
tolerance or insect resistance, and bacteria engineered to produce drugs for livestock may
point to reduced chemical use and other sustainable applications. But what are the risks?

The Union of Concerned Scientists' list of potential risks related to GMOs include those to
human health--new allergens in the food supply, antibiotic resistance, production of new
toxins, concentration of toxic metals, enhancement of the environment for toxic fungi;
and those to the environment--gene transfer to wild or weedy relatives and increased
weediness, change in herbicide use patterns, squandering of valuable pest susceptibility
genes, poisoned wildlife, creation of new or worse viruses, and other, so far, unknown
harms.

In addition, "The issue of who will be served by this technology and who will set the
research agenda of the experts becomes intensely important when so few people control
the tools and language of the trade."
Basic terms
 Carrying Capacity
11

Carrying capacity is the theoretical equilibrium

population size at which a particular population in a
particular environment will stabilize when its supply
of resources remains constant. It can also be
considered to be the maximum sustainable
population size; the maximum size that can be
supported indefinitely into the future without
degrading the environment for future generations.

Basic terms
 Conservation Buffer Strips:
12

Conservation Buffer Strips are areas or strips of land

maintained in permanent vegetation, designed to
intercept pollutants and erosion. Placed around
fields, they can enhance wildlife habitat, improve
water quality, and enrich aesthetics on farmlands.
Various types of buffers include Contour Buffer
Strips, Filter Strips, Riparian Forest Buffers,
Field Borders, Windbreaks/Shelterbelts,
Hedgerows, Grassed Waterways, and Alley
Cropping.

Basic terms
 Conservation Tillage:
13

Conservation Tillage is a term that covers a broad

range of soil tillage systems that leave residue cover
on the soil surface, substantially reducing the effects
of soil erosion from wind and water.

Some specific types of conservation tillage are
Minimum Tillage, Zone Tillage, No-till, Ridge-
till, Mulch-till, Reduced-till, Strip-till,
Rotational Tillage and Crop Residue
Management.

Basic terms
 Ecosystem
14

Any collection of organisms that interact or have the

potential to interact along with the physical environment
in which they live, form an ecological system or
ecosystem.

Ecosystems are composed of elements and processes.
(These are usually referred to as ecosystem structures
and functions or the patterns and processes of an
ecosystem). As an example, the elements of a forest
ecosystem might include trees, shrubs, herbs, birds, and
insects, while the processes might include growth,
mortality, decomposition, and disturbances.

Basic terms
 Environmental Indicators
15

There are diverse interpretations as to what constitute

environmental indicators and how they should be used. In any
system, however, the "goal of environmental indicators is to
communicate information about the environment--and about
human activities that affect it--in ways that highlight emerging
problems and draw attention to the effectiveness of current
policies... an indicator must reflect changes over a period of time
keyed to the problem, it must be reliable and reproducible, and,
whenever possible, it should be calibrated to the same terms as the
policy goals or targets linked to it."

An agri-environmental indicator measures change either in the
state of environmental resources used or affected by agriculture, or
in farming activities that affect the state of these resources.
Examples of sustainable agriculture processes monitored by such
indicators are soil quality, water quality, agroecosystem
biodiversity, climatic change, farm resource management, and
production efficiency.

Basic terms
 Farmland Preservation/Protection
16

"The irreplaceable land that produces our food and provides us with
scenic open space, wildlife habitat and clean water is increasingly at
risk from urban sprawl and rural subdivisions... According to a 1997
American Farmland Trust study, every state in the nation is
sacrificing irreplaceable agricultural resources to urban sprawl. We
are converting a total of 1 million acres a year, and while the
quantity of top-quality agricultural land being lost varies from state
to state, the process of conversion increases the pressures on
agriculture even beyond the acres that are actually taken out of
production."

Actions to reverse this trend are being taken on many levels. Tactics
include focusing on policies related to property tax relief and
protection from nuisance lawsuits for farmers, purchase of
agricultural conservation easement (PACE) programs, special
agricultural districts where commercial agriculture is encouraged
and protected, comprehensive land use planning, and farm-friendly
zoning ordinances.

Basic terms
 Holistic Management (HM):
17

"Holistic Management is a decision-making process that enables

people to make decisions that satisfy immediate needs without
jeopardizing their future well-being, or the well-being of future
generations. This decision-making process helps people identify
their most deeply held values which helps to create clarity in vision
and commitment in action. Using that vision to help them create a
long-term picture toward which they will progress, people can then
use a simple testing process to ensure that the decisions they make
will be economically, environmentally, and socially sustainable."

Holistic Management originated in a personal quest by Zimbabwean
biologist Allan Savory to solve the riddle of desertification. The
decision-making process that is now at the heart of Holistic
Management (originally called Holistic Resource Management
- HRM) arose from discoveries made earlier by Savory and others
on the relationships between land, animals, and humans.

Basic terms
 Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
18

IPM is an ecologically based approach to pest (animal

and weed) control that utilizes a multi-disciplinary
knowledge of crop/pest relationships, establishment of
acceptable economic thresholds for pest populations and
constant field monitoring for potential problems.
Management may include such practices as "the use of
resistant varieties; crop rotation; cultural practices;
optimal use of biological control organisms; certified
seed; protective seed treatments; disease-free transplants
or rootstock; timeliness of crop cultivation; improved
timing of pesticide applications; and removal or 'plow
down' of infested plant material."

Basic terms
 19

The term Biointensive IPM emphasizes a "range

of preventive tactics and biological controls to keep
pest population within acceptable limits. Reduced
risk pesticides are used if other tactics have not been
adequately effective, as a last resort and with care to
minimalize risks."

Basic terms
 20

Biological Control/Bio-control: "Biological

control is, generally, man's use of a specially chosen
living organism to control a particular pest. This
chosen organism might be a predator, parasite, or
disease which will attack the harmful insect. It is a
form of manipulating nature to increase a desired
effect. A complete Biological Control program may
range from choosing a pesticide which will be least
harmful to beneficial insects, to raising and releasing
one insect to have it attack another, almost like a
'living insecticide.'"

Basic terms
Intensive/Controlled Grazing Systems
21

"The term 'intensive grazing' is meant to describe livestock and grass

management practices that focus on increased levels of manager’s
involvement, leading to increased productivity and the sustainability of the
land. Managers practicing intensive grazing closely follow the interactions
between plant, animal, soil and water. They determine where, when and
what livestock graze and control animal distribution and movement."

"Controlled grazing is a flexible management method that balances plant
and animal requirements. Controlled grazing relies on management, not
technology. It uses variable rest periods, short graze periods, high stock
densities, and a minimal number of relatively large herds. lt requires
changing the stocking rate to match annual and seasonal changes in
carrying capacity."

Other terms, related to both dairy and meat production, that fall under the
category of Intensive/Controlled Grazing are: Rotational Grazing,
Management Intensive Grazing (MIG), High-Intensity Low-
Frequency Grazing (HILF), Time-Controlled Grazing (TCG),
Holistic Range Management, Grassfarming, Pasture-Based
Farming, and Voisin Management Grazing.

Basic terms
 Local/Community Food System
22

A community food system, also known as a local food

system, "is a collaborative effort to integrate agricultural
production with food distribution to enhance the
economic, environmental, and social well-being of a
particular place (i.e. a neighborhood, city, county or
region)."

"One of the primary assumptions underlying the
sustainable diet concept is that foods are produced,
processed, and distributed as locally as possible. This
approach supports a food system that preserves local
farmland and fosters community economic viability,
requires less energy for transportation, and offers
consumers the freshest foods."

Basic terms
 Low Input Agriculture
23

Low input farming systems "seek to optimize the management and

use of internal production inputs (i.e. on-farm resources)... and to
minimize the use of production inputs (i.e. off-farm resources), such
as purchased fertilizers and pesticides, wherever and whenever
feasible and practicable, to lower production costs, to avoid
pollution of surface and groundwater, to reduce pesticide residues
in food, to reduce a farmer's overall risk, and to increase both short-
and long-term farm profitability."

The term is "somewhat misleading and indeed unfortunate. For
some it implied that farmers should starve their crops, let the weeds
choke them out, and let insects clean up what was left. In fact, the
term low-input referred to purchasing few off-farm inputs (usually
fertilizers and pesticides), while increasing on-farm inputs (i.e.
manures, cover crops, and especially management). Thus, a more
accurate term would be different input or low external input rather
than low-input."

Basic terms
 Natural Farming
24

Natural Farming reflects the experiences and

philosophy of Japanese farmer Masanobu Fukuoka.
His books The One-Straw Revolution: An
Introduction to Natural Farming describe what he
calls "do-nothing farming" and a lifetime of nature
study. "His farming method involves no tillage, no
fertilizer, no pesticides, no weeding, no pruning, and
remarkably little labour! He accomplishes all this
(and high yields) by careful timing of his seeding and
careful combinations of plants (polyculture). In
short, he has brought the practical art of working
with nature to a high level of refinement."
Basic terms
 Nature Farming
25

Nature farming grew out of the philosophy and methodology of

Japanese philosophist, Mokicho Okada in the mid-1940s. "The
theory of Nature Farming, as Okada expounded it, rests on a belief
in the universal life-giving powers that the elements of fire, water,
and earth confer on the soil. The planet's soil, created over a span of
eons, has acquired life-sustaining properties, in accordance with the
principle of the indivisibility of the spiritual and the physical realms,
which in turn provide the life-force that enables plants to grow. To
utilize the inherent power of the soil is the underlying principle of
Nature Farming." Practices focus on analyzing and building soil
through composting, green manuring, mulch, and various other soil
management techniques. Similar in many ways to organic farming,
nature farming is most commonly practiced in the Pacific Rim
countries of Asia and North America.

Basic terms
 Nutrient Management
26

Nutrient management is "managing the amount,

source, placement, form, and timing of the
application of nutrients and soil amendments to
ensure adequate soil fertility for plant production
and to minimize the potential for environmental
degradation, particularly water quality impairment."

Basic terms
 Organic Farming
27

a system of farm design and management to create

an eco system, which can achieve sustainable
productivity without the use of artificial external
inputs such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides

Basic terms
 Permaculture
28

A contraction of "permanent agriculture," the word

"permaculture" was coined by Australian Bill
Mollison in the late 1970s. One of the many
alternative agriculture systems described as
sustainable, permaculture is "unique in its emphasis
on design; that is, the location of each element in a
landscape, and the evolution of landscape over time.
The goal of permaculture is to produce an efficient,
low-maintenance integration of plants, animals,
people and structure... applied at the scale of a home
garden, all the way through to a large farm."

Basic terms
 Precision Farming/Agriculture
29

Precision agriculture is a "management strategy that employs

detailed, site-specific information to precisely manage production
inputs. This concept is sometimes called Precision Agriculture,
Prescription Farming, Site-specific Management. The idea is
to know the soil and crop characteristics unique to each part of the
field, and to optimize the production inputs within small portions of
the field. The philosophy behind precision agriculture is that
production inputs (seed, fertilizer, chemicals, etc.) should be
applied only as needed and where needed for the most economic
production." This system requires the utilization of sophisticated
technology including personal computers, telecommunications,
global positioning systems (GPS), geographic information systems
(GIS), variable rate controllers, and infield and remote sensing.
Chemical inputs are reduced in precision agriculture, but several
factors make it controversial in the sustainable agriculture
community, including the requirements of large capital outlay and
advanced technical expertise.

Basic terms
 Regenerative Agriculture
30

Robert Rodale coined this term, and it subsequently

was expanded to "regenerative/sustainable
agriculture" by the Rodale Institute and Rodale
Research Center. Two reasons given for the emphasis
on "regenerative" are (1) "enhanced regeneration of
renewable resources is essential to the achievement
of a sustainable form of agriculture," and (2) "the
concept of regeneration would be relevant to many
economic sectors and social concerns."

Basic terms
 Sustainable Development
31

During the past 20 years, considerable interest in

sustainability as applied to all areas of human activity has
emerged worldwide. Sustainable development must ... "meet
the needs of the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs."

"The vision is of a life-sustaining Earth. We are committed to
the achievement of a dignified, peaceful and equitable
existence. A sustainable Nation will have a growing economy
that provides equitable opportunities for satisfying livelihoods
and safe, healthy, high quality of life for current and future
generations. Our nation will protect its environment, its
natural resource base, and the functions and viability of
natural systems on which all life depends."

Basic terms
 Whole Farm Planning:
32

Whole farm planning strategies share a conservation, family-

oriented approach to farm management, although specific
components may vary from farm to farm, and from
community to community. "Whole farm planning provides
farmers with the management tools they need to manage
biologically complex farming systems in a profitable manner.
As a management system, it draws on cutting-edge
management theory used by other businesses, industries and
even cities. It encourages farmers to set explicit goals for their
operation; carefully examine and assess all the resources --
cultural, financial, and natural -- available for meeting their
goals; develop short- and long-term plans to meet their goals;
make decisions on a daily basis that support their goals; and
monitor their progress toward meeting goals."

Basic terms
 Cropping System:
33

Cropping system is an important component of

farming system: It represents cropping pattern used
on a form and their interaction with resources, other
farm enterprises and available technology, which
determine their makeup.

Basic terms
 Cropping Pattern:
34

Cropping pattern means the proportion of area

under various at a point of time in a unit area. Or it
indicates the yearly sequences and spatial
arrangement of crops and fallow in an area.

Basic terms
 Crop Rotation:
35

Crop sequence and crop rotation are generally used

synonymously.

Crop rotation refers to recurrent succession of crops
are so chosen that soil health is not impaired.

Basic terms
 Cropping Scheme:
36

Cropping scheme is the plan according to which

crops are grown on individual plots of a farm with an
object of getting maximum return from each crop
without impairing the fertility of soil is known as
cropping scheme.

Basic terms
 Shifting Cultivation
37

It refers to farming system in north-eastern areas in

which land under natural vegetation (usually forests) is
cleared by slash and burn method, cropped with common
arable crops for a few years, and then left unattended
when natural vegetation regenerates. Traditionally the
fallow period is 10-20 years but in recent times it is
reduced to 2-5 years in many areas. Due to the increasing
population pressure, the fallow period is drastically
reduced and system has degenerated causing serious soil
erosion depleting soil fertility resulting to low
productivity. In north-eastern India many annual and
perennial crops with diverse growth habits are being
grown.

Basic terms
 Taungya Cultivation:
38

The Taungya system is like an organized and scientifically managed

shifting cultivation. The word is reported to have originated in
Myanmar (Burma) and tauang means hill, ya means cultivation i.e.
hill cultivation. It involves cultivation of crops in forests or forest
trees in crop-fields and was introduced to Chittagong and Bengal
areas in colonial India in

1890. Later it had spread throughout Asia, Africa and Latin
America. Essentially, the system consists of growing annual arable
crops along with the forestry species during early years of
establishment of the forest plantation. The land belongs to forest
department or their large scale leases, who allow the subsistence
farmers to raise their crops and in turn protect tree saplings. It is
not merely temporary use of a piece of land and a poverty level
wage, but is a chance to participate equitably in a diversified and
sustainable agroforestry economy.

Basic terms
 Zabo Cultivation
39

Zabo is an indigenous farming system practiced in north eastern hill

regions particularly in Nagaland. This system refers to combination
of forest, agriculture, livestock and fisheries with well-founded soil
and water conservation base. The rain water is collected from the
catchment of protected hill tops of above 100% slopes in a pond
with seepage control. Silt retention tanks are constructed at several
points before the runoff water enters in the pond. The cultivation
fully depends on the amount of water stored in the pond. The land is
primarily utilized for rice. This system is generally practiced in high
altitude hill areas, where it is not possible to construct terraces and
or irrigation channels across the slope. This is a unique farming
system for food production to make livelihood. Zabo means
impounding of water. The place of origin of zabofarming system is
thought to be the Kikruma village in Phek district of Nagaland.

Basic terms
 40

Basic terms