Beyond sustainability: five shades of green for tomorrow’s farming and food

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingChapterAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture has evolved from an alternative approach to farming aimed at niche markets into a sine qua non for agricultural businesses and policies worldwide. This mainstreaming has brought its own challenges, not least the inflation of the term “sustainability,” and associated risks of greenwashing in its wake. In response, new, more specific approaches to sustainable agriculture have emerged that are vying for attention from farmers, consumers, businesses, and governmental institutes. Examples include circular agriculture, climate-smart agriculture, agroecology, regenerative agriculture, and organic farming. But how do each of these approaches relate to sustainability? Do they overlap or are they complementary? In this chapter, we review these five approaches to sustainability from the perspective of individual farms, because it is at the farm level where standards for sustainability need to be translated into daily and seasonal decision-making on management practices. We review the strengths and limitations of each of these five “shades of green,” as well as the generic lessons that can be extracted for context-specific transitions toward a more sustainable future for farming and food.
Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationFuture Food Systems
Subtitle of host publicationExploring Global Production, Processing, Distribution and Consumption
EditorsR.Y. Yada, R. Van Acker, M. Scanlon, D. Gray
PublisherElsevier
Chapter2
Pages17-30
ISBN (Print)9780443156908
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 14 Jun 2024

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