Overview to Four Volumes: Sustainable Agriculture and Food xlviiand adapt their farm systems for sustainable outcomes. Sustainable agriculture is
not a concretely defined set of technologies, nor is it a simple model or package to
be widely applied or fixed with time. It needs to be conceived of as a process for
social learning. Lack of information on agroecology and necessary skills to manage
complex farms is a major barrier to the adoption of sustainable agriculture.
A problem is that we know much less about these resource-conserving tech-
nologies than we do about the use of external inputs in modernized systems. So it
is clear that the process by which farmers learn about technology alternatives is
crucial. If they are enforced or coerced, then they may only be adopted for a lim-
ited period. But if the process is participatory and enhances farmers’ ecological
literacy of their farms and resources, then the foundation for redesign and con-
tinuous innovation is laid.
The idea of agricultural sustainability, therefore, raises important policy ques-
tions. In particular, should farmers receive public support for the public benefits
they produce in addition to food? Should those that pollute have to pay for restor-
ing the environment and human health? These two principles are called ‘the pro-
vider gets’ and ‘the polluter pays’, and they are important to both industrialized
and developing countries. Three categories of policy instruments are available:
advisory and institutional measures, regulatory and legal measures and economic
instruments. In practice, effective pollution control and supply of desired public
goods requires a mix of all three approaches, together with integration across sec-
tors (MEA, 2005).
Advisory and institutional measures have long formed the backbone of policies
to internalize costs and so prevent agricultural pollution. These rely on the volun-
tary actions of farmers, and are favoured by policy makers because they are cheap
and adaptable. Advice is commonly given in the form of codes of good agricultural
practice, such as recommended rates of application of pesticides and fertilizer, or
measures for soil erosion control. Most governments still employ extension agents
to work with farmers on technology development and transfer. A variety of insti-
tutional mechanisms can also help to increase social capital and the uptake of more
sustainable practices, including encouraging farmers to work together in study
groups, investing in extension and advisory services to encourage greater interac-
tion between farmers and extensionists, and encouraging new partnerships between
farmers and other rural stakeholders, as regular exchanges and reciprocity increase
trust and confidence, and lubricate cooperation.
Regulatory and legal measures are also used to internalize external costs. This
can be done either by setting emissions standards for the discharge of a pollutant,
or by establishing quality standards for the environment receiving the pollutant.
Polluters who exceed standards are then subject to penalties. There are many types
of standards, such as operating standards to protect workers, production standards
to limit levels of contaminants of residues in foods, emissions standards to limit
releases or discharges, such as silage effluents, and environmental quality standards
for undesirable pollutants in vulnerable environments, such as pesticides in
water. But the problem with such regulations is that most agricultural pollutants