Sustainability Thinking In Agriculture: Review of the Last Four Decades

For a long time, human beings did not worry about the consequences of their actions on the environment. However, post the Industrial Revolution, rampant rise in production and consumerism have stressed the earth’s natural resources to such an extent that humans are now making a conscious effort to “go green”. Sustainability has become the new buzzword among academicians, practitioners, scientists, industrialists and students. This paper traces the evolution of the concept in the last forty years in the field of agriculture, following its emergence as a concept, its operationalization, its drivers and barriers and the frameworks that were developed to monitor and measure it. It attempts to provide a comprehensive definition of sustainable agriculture and identify points of divergence and commonalities in the measurement and monitoring frameworks. It highlights the interdisciplinary approach of the concept and the need for convergence of ideas for universal acceptance. Address for correspondence: D. Krishnaveni Research Scholar PSG Institute of Management, PSG College of Technology, Coimbatore 641 004, Tamil Nadu Phone: (+91) 99400 40246 E-mail: krishnaveni.damodaran@gmail.com INTRODUCTION Man has come a long way since the early days of agriculture where the reliance was on primitive tools, family/community labour, monsoons and conditions such as natural soil fertility and availability of water. Initially, gradual advances were made in production and storage techniques for centuries leading to small improvements which ultimately resulted in large scale commercial agriculture. The Industrial Revolution and developments in production techniques thereafter heralded an era of increased economic activity and consumerism. While it led to further production increases, the next big advance was the manipulation of genetics to create high yielding and pest resistant varieties of crops. These advances eventually translated into development of industrial agriculture and intensive farming techniques characterised by monoculture, use of large sized farms, genetic manipulation of seeds and livestock, reliance on chemical fertilisers and pesticides and breaking away from natural cycles and ecological interdependencies. As the emphasis moved towards “better, cheaper and faster” production techniques, traditional processes and practices were side-lined. With the passage of time however, observed adverse effects on soil, water, organic content, genetic diversity losses and related factors have compelled some farmers and scientists to question the long-term viability of such practices leading to focus on the concept of Sustainable Agriculture.