An Integrated Sustainable Vegetable Production System

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture means many things to many people. To environmentalists the term may mean protection and/or renewal of agricultural-natural resources. To growers and consumers of organic food products, the term means producing foodstuffs without chemical inputs. Other terms-regenerative, low-input, alternative, renewable, organic-have been used synonymously for sustainable. This illustrates existing confusion. Whether conventional or sustainable, profit remains an integral part of the picture for agricultural industry to survive. Opinions vary greatly in defining what sustainable agriculture is, as each division of agriculture has its own definition. It has been called organic farming, which is a system of production that largely avoids the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides, and plant growth regulators (U.S. Dept. Agriculture, 1980). Whenever feasible, sustainable agriculture relies upon crop rotations, crop residues, animal manures, offfarm organic wastes, mechanical cultivation, mineral-bearing rocks, and aspects of biological pest control to maintain the soil and its tillage, to supply plant nutrients, and to control insects and weeds (Oelhaf, 1978; U.S. Dept. Agriculture, 1980). MacRae et al. (1989) defined sustainable agriculture as a philosophy and system of farming based on a set of values that involve benign designs and management procedures that work with natural processes to conserve all resources, minimize waste and environmental impact, prevent problems, and promote agroecosystem resilience, self-regulation, evolution, and sustained production for the nourishment and fulfillment of all.