International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability

Participatory integrated assessment (PIA) is a structured process conducted with stakeholders to assess the environmental, economic and social dimensions of a complex issue and the impacts of policy choices. PIA may result in social learning - a convergence...

This paper presents the development of a participatory multi-criteria analysis (MCA) process for the evaluation of irrigation management alternatives in the Caia irrigation district, Portugal. The focus is on the design, evaluation and comparison of...

Managers of agro-ecosystems trade off food production and livelihood strategies against environmental services. They need tools to prospect a wide range of external conditions. Integrated simulation models allow stakeholders to discuss the plausible...

Decision support systems (DSSs) are one of the ways in which agricultural scientists have attempted to make agricultural systems science more accessible to farmers and to foster innovation. Recently, there has been a shift towards more participatory...

In 2006, the United Nations marked the first year in which more than 50 per cent of humanity is living in cities and towns. Given the short time scale in which urbanization has occurred, it is not an exaggeration to say that this is arguably the most...

This paper calls attention to the critical role of greenspaces in cities, while it overviews the many functions they provide. From a theoretical perspective, the utility function of urban greenspaces concerns multiple dimensions. Temporal, spatial and...

The promotion and support of urban agriculture (UA) has the potential to contribute to efforts to address pressing challenges of poverty, under nutrition and sustainability among vulnerable populations in the growing cities of sub- Saharan Africa (SSA)....

Across the world the phenomenon of urban agriculture (UA) is defining itself after emerging from a mainly grass-roots response, evidenced in the Sydney Metropolitan Region by the Hawkesbury Harvest phenomenon and the Sydney Food Fairness Alliance, to...

Urban and peri-urban agriculture (UA) provide a significant contribution to the total food requirements of cities, especially in southern cities of the developing world. Increasing food production in UA is therefore a necessity for increasing the food...

In the Greater Vancouver region (Canada) tensions exist where urbanization encroaches onto agricultural land. A recently issued white paper proffered ideas to stimulate discussion on land-use plans and public policies to encourage and enhance agriculture...

Vulnerability and limited assets both constrain the options of poor people, especially smallholder farmers. But the poor often also possess a range of potentially valuable natural, physical, financial, human and social-capital assets. Development interventions...

Traceability systems that track both physical entities and their less tangible attributes are increasingly widely used in contemporary food supply to meet a range of regulatory and commercial objectives, including a growing number of ethical concerns....

Conservation Agriculture (CA) has been practised for three decades and has spread widely. We estimate that there are now some 106 million ha of arable and permanent crops grown without tillage in CA systems, corresponding to an annual rate of increase...

Sustainable Rural Systems: Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Communities Guy M. Robinson (ed.) Ashgate (2008). 226 pp. 978-0-75464-715-7 (hbk)Reviewed by Sarah E. LloydGuy M. Robinson's edited volume Sustainable Rural Systems: Sustainable Agriculture...

Rising concerns about food security are underpinning calls for more productive agriculture that minimizes negative environmental impacts. Instead, we should call for research that seeks to maximize both agricultural production and ecosystem services....

Commonly used pesticides and handling practices which might expose farmers and their environment to chemical hazards were investigated in the Irepodun/Ifelodun local government area of Ekiti State, Nigeria. Direct field observations and answers to a...

Ten dairy farms participated in an EU project that aimed to improve nitrogen use and assist with the adoption of more environmentally friendly farming practices. Nitrogen use and management decisions were monitored during 2003, 2004 and 2005. Nine farms...

Biofuels have elicited extensive debate about their role in climate change, particularly in the EU where climate mitigation has been used as the primary rationale for targets and incentives. But there has also been widespread criticism of the impact...

Worldwide organic agriculture (OA) is seen by many as a promising alternative for the present 'unsustainable' farming systems. The conversion to 'organic' is often accompanied by the introduction of universal principles and standards that allow for certification....

Understanding how to stimulate innovation among farmers and processors is crucial for attaining sustainable agriculture. To explore how farmer-to-farmer learning videos and training workshops changed women's rice processing practices, we interviewed...

Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations David R. Montgomery University of California Press (2007 hbk). 295 pp. 0520248708 (2008 pbk)Reviewed by Cornelia Butler FloraDavid Montgomery, a geomorphologist, was awarded a MacArthur Foundation 2008 award, in part...

A life cycle assessment (LCA) of dairy systems in Nova Scotia was conducted to compare environmental impacts of typical pasture and confinement operations. Data on material and energy inputs and outputs of these systems were obtained from local researchers...

Biodiversity: Integrating Conservation and Production. Case Studies from Australian Farms, Forests and Fisheries. Ted Lefroy, Kay Bailey, Greg Unwin and Tony Norton (eds) CSIRO Publishing (2008). 259 pp. 9780643094581 (pbk) Reviewed by Howard LeeConsideration...

Students in agricultural universities follow a rather conventional and structured sequence of courses in specific discipline subjects. Here, a BSc programme in agroecology is proposed that will build on the unique competencies and prior experiences of...

Farmers' lack of access to technical information constitutes a major obstacle to improving cocoa productivity in West and Central Africa. Recent debates on cocoa extension pay little attention to the potentially important role of printed extension materials...

The No-Nonsense Guide to World Food Wayne Roberts New Internationalist Publications, Oxford, UK (2008). 192 pp. ISBN 978-1-90445-696-4; £7.99Reviewed by Sarah PilgrimThis engaging and insightful read achieves exactly what it says on the tin, providing...

Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals Michael Pollan Penguin Press, New York, USA (2006). 451 pp. ISBN 1-59420-082-3, US $26.95.In this well-researched and lively treatise on contrasting origins and types of foods, journalist Michael Pollan...

Horticulture in the Netherlands is an economically strong sector. However, current organic horticulture does not comply with the standards for sustainability, because of its contribution to environmental pollution and exhaustion of natural resources....

Understanding the objectives, strategies and actions of the different actors that play a role in the implementation of rural development programmes is a key to explaining the latter's success and sustainability. Based on in-depth anthropological fieldwork...

Sustainable Agriculture, Parts I and IIChris Pollock, Jules Pretty, Ian Crute, Chris Leaver, Howard Dalton (eds) (2008)Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 363 (1491), 443-680Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B. 363 (1492),...

Loss of trees has contributed to soil erosion and depletion of soil organic matter and nutrient status across sub-Saharan Africa, enhanced by a period of dependence on subsidized inorganic fertilizer. This paper is based on an eight-year study with farmers...

Genetic resources for food and agriculture are the biological basis of world food and nutrition security; and they directly or indirectly support the livelihoods of over 2.5 billion people. Genetic diversity gives a species or a population the ability...

There is much debate about the 'exportability' of theories developed in advanced economies to developing countries. This issue is assuming particular importance for debates on the exportability of the notion of 'multifunctional' agriculture. By focusing...

This review describes the establishment in 1997 of an agricultural sustainability initiative by the foods, home and personal care company, Unilever. It analyses the development and testing of a system of indicators used over several years on the company's...

Livestock play a key role in the lives of poor, rural people in developing countries, providing a major proportion of their cash income, capital assets, draught power, fuel and fertilizer. Rapid growth in demand for meat and dairy products in Asia presents...