2004 Volume 20 Issue 2 Pages 116-124
Sustainable agriculture has been widely discussed as key elements to determine the future of food and environment in both developed and developing countries, while sustainable agriculture is defined as the alternation of agricultural system from the conventional agriculture with high-inputs to the one of ecologically sound, economically feasible and socially acceptable. Since the 1970s, agriculture in most of the developed countries such as EU, the USA and Japan has changed to a more intensive type with greater chemical inputs per unit of farmland. As a result, agriculture has caused various negative impacts on natural environments and those on food safety for human beings. Food safety issues are also considered closely related to the deterioration of agricultural resources such as soil and water. Paddy rice farming in Japan, under the Asian monsoon climatic conditions, has been continued and sustained for many centuries without jeopardizing natural resources. In other words, paddy rice farming in Japan has been extremely sustainable, which has maintained the high yield level of rice production for a long time. In recent decades, however, Japanese agriculture in general has also changed drastically to affect various negative impacts on natural resource conditions, due mainly to sharply increased use of chemical inputs or highly intensive nature of livestock operations. In order to improve these negative impacts from agriculture, the government of Japan has started to implement sustainable agricultural policies since 1993 by assisting farmers to adopt environmentally friendly technologies. Soil and water conservation and recycling of organic materials have also been encouraged with the partnership of general citizens (NPOs) and local industries.
