ABSTRACT
The concept of sustainable development was defined for the first time in the Bruntland’s report of the United Nations (UN, 1987) as ‘meeting the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs’. This simple, yet extremely powerful, definition may serve as a guiding principle to the development of any ‘system’ one wishes to study, be it economic, biological, social, local or global. Similarly, sustainable agriculture had not been defined until fairly recently. In the United States sustainable agriculture refers to ‘an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term: (a) satisfy human food and fibre needs, (b) enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon with the agricultural economy depends, (c) make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls, (d) sustain the economic viability of farm operations, and (e) enhance the quality of life of farmers and society as a whole’ (USDA, 2016).
