This paper discusses the effect of commercial alternative and conventional farming systems on soil quality and farm profitability in several countries. Soil quality and farm profitability are two of several indices that measure agricultural sustainability. These studies indicated that the organic and biodynamic farming systems have soils of higher biological, physical, and in many cases chemica...

N A T H A N P E L L E T I E R , † , * P E T E R T Y E D M E R S , † U L F S O N E S S O N , ‡ A S T R I D S C H O L Z , § F R I E D E R I K E Z I E G L E R , ‡ A N N A F L Y S J O , ‡ S A R A H K R U S E , § B E A T R I Z C A N C I N O , ⊥ A N D H O W A R D S I L V E R M A N § School for Resource and Environmental Studies, Dalhousie University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Sustainable Food Production,...

The degree to which the spread of farming into Europe was accompanied by demographic shifts is subject to intense debate. Genetic evidence from Europe's first farmers and their hunter-gatherer counterparts now suggests an important role for the immigration of farmers.