ABSTRACT
The concept of sustainable agriculture is a relatively recent response to the decline in the quality of the natural resource base associated with modem agriculture (Audirac, 1997). Today, agricultural production does not get evaluated in purely technical terms but also with regard to a more complex set of social, cultural, political and economic dimensions. Some of these latter issues are discussed in Chapter 4. The discussion here focuses on biophysical issues and dynamics, presenting agroecology as a concept and as a strategy.
