ABSTRACT
Sustainability is an issue that has inspired policy makers, teachers, and scientists. The description of sustainability in farming accommodates various realistic types of land use. Land use is in a state of sustainable development if the managers involved permanently strive for equilibrium between what they apply to and what they remove from their land. The aim of farming—control of conditions for the production of top levels of biomass—is that of striving for minimal disturbance of production conditions in soil, crops, and animals. The chapter addresses the relation between biodiversity and the type of soil use; the relation between biodiversity and the development of a farm as an agroecosystem; and the relation between biodiversity and the possibilities for self-restoration inside agroecosystems. Integrated management of land use systems strives for that equilibrium by trying to produce the same with decreasing amounts of external inputs involved.
