Resource information
The potential to meet global food demand fully exists through globaldevelopment of the high-technology (HT), high-intensity type of agriculture andfood processing system prevailing in developed countries. This systemunfortunately is also responsible for much natural resource degradation,environmental damage and ecological imbalance. Meantime the Earth's humanpopulation continues to grow, placing ever-increasing demand on global naturalresources, not only for food but also for living and recreational space. A moresustainable agri-food system must evolve.Sustainability is complex, and ought to be approached from a multidisciplinaryperspective and compromise sought in resolving the obvious conflictsamongst biological, environmental, ecological, socio-economic, and otherindividual disciplines and competing philosophies. These form the basis forcomparing three different agricultural production systems: high technology (HT);reduced input (RI), and organic (ORG). The three systems are compared empirically using primary data from farms in each group in southern Ontario, Canada.HT systems prevalent in Canada is highly productive, but its sustainabilityis questionable. It was concluded that the HT system should not be the model forthe future. The ORG system is the least inimical to the environment, ecology, andhuman operators. It was concluded that the ORG system is sustainable except forits requirement for extensive use of land. The RI system causes minimalenvironmental and ecological damage. It is most profitable and is supportive ofrural farm community viability. It was concluded that the RI system holds thebest potential for meeting overall sustainability for the global agri-food system.
