Because of concerns over pesticides and nitrates in ground-water, soil erosion, pesticide residues in food, pest resistance to pesticides, and the rising costs of purchased inputs needed for conventional agriculture, many farmers have begun to adopt alternative practices with the goals of reducing input costs, preserving the resource base, and protecting human health. This is called sustainable agriculture.

Many of the components of sustainable agriculture are derived from conventional agronomic practices and livestock husbandry. Sustainable systems more deliberately integrate and take advantage of naturally occurring beneficial interactions. Sustainable systems emphasize management, biological relationships such as those between the pest and predator, and natural processes such as nitrogen fixation instead of chemically intensive methods. The objective is to sustain and enhance, rather than reduce and simplify, the biological interactions on which production agriculture depends, thereby reducing the harmful off-farm effects of production practices.

Examples of practices and...