Sustainable agriculture should be operational-site specific. Maybe it is becoming clearer now that sustainable agriculture fits an operational definition but may also include social responsibility, economic viability, and sound ecology. Farms and forests are not just producers of food and fiber but also producers of clean water, oxygen, green space, and functional soil as a filter, sink, or detoxifier. Human beings are a part of agriculture, and every individual needs to determine where he or she fits in a definition of sustainable agriculture. This includes determining what agricultural jobs are sustainable and what are the sustainable characteristics of a field, farmstead, farm, community, watershed, or basin.
Sustainable agriculture needs to be a balance of the social, economic, and environmental parts.
Sustainable Agriculture Today Sustainable agriculture means a farming operation stays economically viable. One hundred years later only 4.6 million people, less than 2 percent of the total U.S. population, live on farms. Also, those living on farms today earn half of their income from non-farm sources. Dr. John Ikerd, University of Missouri agricultural economist, says farm profits of the future must come from widening the margins between input costs and market prices. Most farmers gain nothing from technologies that raise input cost, increase production, and thus reduce market prices.