FARMING SYSTEMS OPTIONS FOR UNITED-STATES AGRICULTURE - AN AGROECOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE

Agricultural productivity gains since the 1950s have resulted from the development of farming systems that rely heavily on external inputs o f energy and chemicals to replace management and on-farm resources. Th e intensity to which the natural environment has been modified to atta in this productive capacity has directly resulted in degradation of th e natural resources, notably land and water, that sustain these system s. The search for solutions to increasingly complex and interrelated a gricultural problems including sustainable agriculture, environmental quality, food safety, and rural development requires a shift in both t he scientific method and scale in which agricultural research is organ ized and conducted. Farming systems research and extension (FSRE) and other systems-oriented approaches fitted to agriculture an viewed as e ssential approaches for addressing complex agricultural problems, and for developing more efficient and sustainable farming systems. This ar ticle provides a brief synthesis of research information from several technical reports that were presented at a special symposium held duri ng the American Society of Agronomy annual meetings in IM. The reports cover a wide range of topics including FSRE, agricultural systems, sy stems engineering, information systems, and sustainable development.