Executive Summary
Chartered by the President's Council on Sustainable Development in 1994,
the Task Force on Sustainable Agriculture was charged with articulating
the key social, economic, and environmental challenges to be met in
achieving a sustainable U.S. agriculture. The Task Force's mission was to
identify and examine relevant issues and to make recommendations to the
council for policy actions to be implemented by the public and private
sectors.
To carry out its mission, the Task Force focused first on gathering
information about barriers to and positive examples of sustainable
agriculture-production practices and systems. At public roundtables in
Chicago, Chattanooga, San Francisco, and Washington DC, and during field
trips to farming operations, agricultural research facilities, and
sustainable-farming demonstration sites, Task Force members sought
comment from farmers, agricultural researchers, agricultural development
and policy consultants, academics, natural resource specialists,
agricultural extension personnel, agribusiness, state and federal
agricultural agencies, and agricultural trade associations. The Task
Force also sought assistance from an advisory panel, which was made up of
experts from agriculturally related disciplines, backgrounds, and sectors.
The Task Force synthesized input from these sources into a set of four
goals and nine policy recommendations. The first five recommendations are
aimed at achieving environmentally sound and economically viable
agricultural production; the sixth recommendation at revitalizing rural
farming communities; the seventh recommendation at producing a safe and
high-quality food supply; the eighth recommendation at encouraging
research on integrating productivity, profitability, and environmental
stewardship into the U.S. agricultural system; and the ninth
recommendation at achieving international harmonization of intellectual
property rights. These recommendations are designed to help achieve a
sustainable U.S. agriculture.
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