Economic and Social Issues : Sustainability in Agriculture : Alternative Farming Systems Information Center

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Economic and social concerns present significant challenges to sustainable agriculture. Specific issues include farm profitability, economic comparisons among conventional and non-conventional farming components, viability of rural communities, fair trade and agricultural labor.

Natural Resources and Environment
USDA. Economic Research Service.
Research and reports on economic factors that affect resource use (land, water and biological resources) and the costs and benefits to farmers, consumers and the government of meeting conservation and environmental goals.

Economic Analysis of Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems
Michigan State University.
Explores techniques for analyzing "the economic viability of sustainable agricultural and food systems."

Sustainable Agriculture: Making Money, Making Sense (PDF|693 KB)
Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy. Fires of Hope Initiative.
This document reviews research literature, 1981-2001, including studies comparing conventional and sustainable systems; studies examining practices of soil building and fertility management; and studies examining systems of small farms, organic farming, and sustainable livestock production.

Economics of Sequestering Carbon in the U.S. Agricultural Sector (PDF|1,804 KB)
USDA. Economic Research Service
2004 report analyzes the performance of alternative incentive designs and payment levels if farmers were paid to adopt land uses and management practices that raise soil carbon levels.

John E. Ikerd: Recent Papers
University of Missouri.
Speeches and papers from an agricultural economist who focuses on the viability of small farms and sustainable farming. Site includes presentations from the Sustaining People through Agriculture Series.

Farm Business and Household Survey Data: Crop Production Practices
USDA. Economic Research Service.
A part of the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), this survey annually collects field-level information on chemicals and seeds, equipment, previous crops, highly erodible land, irrigation, and pest, nutrient, and crop residue management practices. Customized reports provide data summaries for selected commodities and states for production years beginning in 1996.

Farm Business and Household Survey Data: Farm Structure and Finance
USDA. Economic Research Service.
A part of the Agricultural Resource Management Survey (ARMS), this survey annually collects information about the structure and financial status and performance of U.S. farm operators, their households, and farm businesses. Customized reports provide economic and demographic data for various classifications of farms for production years beginning in 1996.

Briefing Room: Rural Labor and Education: Farm Labor
USDA. Economic Research Service.
ERS data and analysis on numbers and demographics for hired farmworkers in the U.S. employed in both metro and nonmetro areas. See also ERS data on all Farm and Farm-Related Employment by region and state, 1981-2002.

Immigration and U.S. Agriculture
American Agricultural Economics Association.
Immigrant workers are important to U.S. agriculture. The four articles in this set explore the impacts of immigrant workers, legal or illegal, on various aspects of U.S. agriculture, along with rural labor markets. (Choices: The Magazine of Food, Farm and Resource Issues, 1st Quarter 2007)

Social Justice
International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements (IFOAM).
IFOAM has developed several tools related to social justice in the agricultural sector including a Code of Ethics for Organic Trade (PDF | 51 KB).

Farmworkers in Organic Agriculture: Toward a Broader Notion of Sustainability
University of California. Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.
Article reports on research exploring links between social justice, organic/sustainable agriculture and farmworker conditions in California. (Sustainable Agriculture SAREP newsletter, 2005).

Agricultural Justice Project: Social Stewardship Standards for Organic and Sustainable Agriculture (PDF|318 KB)
Agricultural Justice Project.
Standards developed through a collaborative/participatory process with the goal of defining and implementing a social justice label claim on agricultural products.

Last Modified: Feb 25, 2009


			Definitions and History of Sustainable Agriculture


			Environmental Laws and Policy


			Economic and Social Issues


			Food Security and Food Quality

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