A sustainable agriculture that provides nourishing food, protects those who work the land, helps stabilize the earth's climate, and safeguards soil and water depends on our ability to meet a number of challenges. We must address those challenges without delay.

Seven Challenges

·    Promote and sustain healthy rural communities.
Healthy rural communities are attractive and equitable for farmers, farm workers, and their families. The continuation of traditional values and farming wisdom depends on a stable, multi-generational population. Absentee or corporate land ownership and the ever-increasing size of farms diminish rural life.

·         Expand opportunities for new and existing farmers to prosper using sustainable systems.
We must devise ways to help people get started in sustainable farming. Reliable information on sustainable agriculture needs to be readily available to farmers, extension agents, bankers, and others. Training and apprenticeship programs should be provided for entry-level farmers and established conventional farmers interested in making the transition. Tax forgiveness and other incentives should be devised to ease the financial stress of new and transitional farmers.

·         Inspire the public to value safe and healthy food.
The biological quality of food is known to affect the health and well-being of those who eat it. Food quality is a key factor in disease prevention. Approaches which are striving to be sustainable- such as organic farming- avoid hazardous pesticide use and maintain nutrient balance. Consumers' understanding of these facts will increase their willingness to pay prices that reflect the true costs of production.

·         Foster an ethic of land stewardship and humanness in the treatment of farm animals
Sustainable agriculture recognizes that the gifts of nature upon which it depends- soil, water, plants, animals, both wild and domestic- are to be treated with loving care and humility. The greatest calling of the farmer is to leave those gifts in better condition than when they were received. Such a responsible agriculture can only be achieved when nature is both mentor and model, and when natural systems are the standard against which success is measured. Farm animals often contribute to ecologically sound agricultural systems and they deserve human care.

·         Expand knowledge access to information about sustainable agriculture.
American farmers are innovators. Given scientifically validated techniques, farmers will adopt sustainable agricultural practices. Seeing these practices in the field will speed adoption. We need demonstration farms, farmer-to-farmer field tours, and studies of alternative farms of all sizes. University teaching, research, and extension must be redirected toward understanding the whole farm ecology and away from chemical dependence in farm management.

·         Reform the relationship among government, industry, and agriculture.
Government must use resources such as subsidies, grants, and loans to convert significant portions of industrial agriculture to a sustainable system. Undue rewards to concentrated interests should be replaced with fair returns to farmers who sustainably provide food and fiber.

·         Redefine the role of U.S. agriculture in the global community.
The present global agriculture trade is placing unnecessary pressures on the sustainability of the earth's resource base. The United States has a unique opportunity to change that situation. The people of many other countries look to us for agricultural leadership. We can honor that respect by restricting our trade in dangerous substances. We can encourage the Agency for International Development, The World Bank, and international research institutions to convert to sustainable programs. The international programs of universities can become centers of sustainability training and research .