Sustainable agriculture : a process to identify barriers to sustainable agriculture from an IEM perspective

Abstract

Environmental management is increasingly focused on sustainable outcomes and the agricultural industry is no exception to this. For at least the last decade, international concern has emerged about the effect of agricultural practices on the natural environment, people, and the future productive potential of land (OECD, 1993:3)

It is especially important that agricultural activities are managed sustainably because of the integral role of agriculture in our lives. Agriculture produces almost all of the food and fibre we consume (Pesek, 1994:1). For this reason the ability of the biophysical environment and farmers to sustain this production is a prerequisite for the lifestyle to which we have become accustomed. Despite this, present production techniques and their effects on the environment are increasingly unacceptable to wider society. Examples of this include: • degradation of surface waters as a result of siltation and chemical run off; • the use of technologies such as agricultural chemicals and genetically-engineered organisms causing public concern; • wide scale erosion from unsuitable management resulting in the loss of fertile soils; • contamination of land and groundwater as a result of use and disposal of agricultural chemicals; and • decreasing soil fertility and organic matter resulting from unsuitable management (see, for example, Reeve, 1990; OED, 1993; Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries 1993; Ministry for the Environment, 1996).

The effects of these types of problems extend 'beyond the farm gate', i.e. individuals beyond those directly involved in agricultural production are affected by these activities.

Achieving sustainable management of agriculture in New Zealand is a particularly important resource management issue because of the scale of its influence on our environment and economy. The agricultural sector is responsible for the management of over 50% of the land area, contributes 10% of GDP, employs 19% of the population and contributes 60% of export income (Ministry of Agriculture And Fisheries, 1993:1). Unsustainable management could therefore have significant impact on the quality of our natural environment and social well-being.