© The Ecological Society of America www.frontiersinecology.org D some improvement in environmental outcomes, conventional agriculture continues to contribute to biodiversity loss, climate change, and the degradation of terrestrial and freshwater systems (Foley et al. 2011 ). A major global challenge is to develop sustainable, “climatesmart” agricultural systems that feed growing populations and...

In this paper, we describe the development of a set of guiding principles for the evaluation of breeding techniques by the organic sector over time. The worldwide standards of organic agriculture (OA) do not allow genetic engineering (GE) or any products derived from genetic engineering. The standards in OA are an expression of the underlying principles of health, ecology, fairness and care. Th...

One of the most remarkable features of China’s development path is its large-scale and fast-paced urbanization. As cities already accommodate more than half of China’s population, new challenges to urban food systems have emerged concurrently. Concerns over environmental degradation and food safety have provoked growing dissatisfaction with China’s food regime. Amidst these concerns, the aim of...

Introduction :By ever-increasing of population, shortage of water resources and the necessity of wastewater treatment, huge volumes of sludge that is a byproduct of wastewater treatment, requires to be disposed in environmentally secure ways. The target of specifying strategic preferences of reuse of sludge has been to find the correct way of disposal or beneficial use of sludge. Material and ...

Introduction Much of the early development and diffusion of sustainable agriculture information has occurred outside of traditional avenues for agricultural information exchange. Studies have shown that farmers engaged in sustainable agriculture obtain most of their information on sustainable practices predominately from other farmers, followed by private non-profits, other educational organiza...