Clearly, the debate is no longer over agricultural sustainability as a legitimate goal, but about how to fulfill that goal. Research is a vital factor contributing to the creation of a sustainable agriculture. Entrenched ideas about the way agricultural research is conducted have been challenged by farmers, environmentalists, food-safety advocates, rural activists, and others.William Lockeretz and Molly D. Anderson meet these challenges and chart a reasoned course through the fray. They analyze the potential and the limits of various research approaches associated with alternative...

Beginning as a small protest to the industrialization of agriculture in the 1920s, organic farming has become a significant force in agricultural policy, marketing, and research. No longer dismissed as unscientific and counterproductive, organic techniques are now taken seriously by farmers, consumers, scientists, food processors, marketers, and regulatory agencies in much of the world. Organic farming is both dynamic and forward-looking but is also rooted in tradition. It is these traditions that can provide valuable starting points in debates over how organic farming should meet new...