2017 Volume 22 Pages 5-24
The modernization of agriculture in pursuit of higher efficiency and productivity has caused an increase in the scale of farms and a heavy use of chemicals. As a result, the practice of farming, that was once a way of life that maintained families and communities over generations, has become just another industry in pursuit of maximum profit with no real concern for sustainability.
The organic agriculture movement began with scientists and other pioneers who observed a problem with the direction agriculture was taking at the end of the 19th and beginning of the 20th centuries and saw a need for radical change. The farming techniques pursued by the organic pioneers at that time were informed by a criticism of the industrial system of agriculture and an endorsement of the key concept of ‘permanence.’
This paper proposes the phrase ‘truly sustainable agriculture’ for the agriculture farmers aspired to at the dawn of the organic agriculture movement in Western Europe and the USA, and defines it as agriculture which adhered to a holistic paradigm of naturally treating soil, plants and animals with the aim of sustaining life on earth. The principles of the farming techniques in ‘truly sustainable agriculture’ are now basically considered to be the same as those underlying the techniques of the organic agriculture movement.
Furthermore this paper considers the historical and international development of the organic agriculture movement, which led to ‘truly sustainable agriculture,’ from the following viewpoints ; the way in which the concept of ‘truly sustainable agriculture’ has been taken up over the last 100 years ; how the changes in farming techniques proceeded and were disseminated ; and finally, best practice, the future direction, potential problems and feasibility of ‘truly sustainable agriculture.’
