Alternative/Sustainable Agriculture (A/SA) - an often used term, but what exactly is it? Here we will try to give some definitions, and some links to places you can go for more information.

Alternative agriculture has grown over the last 25 years as primarily that - an alternative to the so-called Green Revolution style of farming which international agencies such as the World Bank, the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations), and CGIAR (Consolidated Group for International Agricultural Research) promoted and funded beginning in the early 1960s (for more on the history of the Green Revolution, see the SAAN essay The Problem is Plantations, on this site in the Monocultures section.) The Green Revolution may have produced more crops, when measured in a certain way (i.e. total output of wheat, as opposed to total output of the ecosystem), but that total was arrived at through high use of external inputs - HYV (High Yield Variety) seed, chemical fertilizers, pesticides, heavy machinery and irrigation. Following several years of this type of farming, it became clear to farmers all over the world that it was essentially an unsustainable system - the cost of the inputs was so high that only large agribusinesses could afford it, the resulting price of the food was geared toward export markets in the west, resulting in food shortages where these export crops were grown in developing countries, millions of small farmers were being driven off of their land all over the world, and the environmental degradation caused by these methods was far outweighing any benefit from the increased food supply - which itself was requiring ever higher inputs to sustain it.

So slowly the movement to find alternatives to the Green Revolution farming system took root through small farming communities all around the world, including the AA (Alternative Agriculture) movement in Thailand, which was formally organised in 1989, following many years of work by local organisations.

As an introduction, a lengthy but thorough and very interesting essay from the Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP) people at the University of California - called, appropriately enough, What is Sustainable Agriculture?

If you're in a bit of a hurry, The Sustainable Approach to Agriculture is a much shorter version, produced by the Union of Concerned Scientists in the US, which gives the basic ideas behind A/SA in something you can read with your morning coffee. Or whatever. Browsing back to their page gives a lot of other interesting info as well.

A very useful article on How To Make the Transition to Sustainable Farming, a problem with many small farmers in Thailand, from ATTRA, the Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas association.

An example from Thailand - actions speak louder than words. This from the Isan (Northeast Thailand) - the story of Wibul Khemchalerm, who combines a return to traditional farming with agroforestry.

Farmers of the Future Tucked away in the remote mountainous province of Nan, local villagers have banded together to turn the tide on the environmental degradation that was threatening their lifestyle and livelihood. (From the Bangkok Post, June 18 1996, Outlook Section)

And a couple of more SA Home Pages for your further information:

• Sustainable Agriculture Network - primarily a US temperate susag page, but excellent ideas and examples.