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Sustainable
agriculture defined |
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Key principles
for sustainable farming and food
- Produce
safe, healthy products in response to market demands, and
ensure that all consumers have access to nutritious food,
and to accurate information about food products.
- Support
the viability and diversity of rural and urban economies and
communities.
- Enable
viable livelihoods to be made from sustainable land management,
both through the market and through payments for public benefits.
- Respect
and operate within the biological limits of natural resources
(especially soil, water and biodiversity).
- Achieve
consistently high standards of environmental performance by
reducing energy consumption and by minimising resource inputs,
and use renewable energy wherever possible.
- Ensure
a safe and hygienic working environment and high social welfare
and training for all employees involved in the food chain.
- Achieve
consistently high standards of animal health and welfare.
- Sustain
the resource available for growing food and supplying other
public benefits over time, except where alternative land uses
are essential to meet other needs of society.
This
definition is taken from
'The Strategy for Sustainable Farming and Food: Facing the Future',
published by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs
in December 2002.
(The full document is available from the DEFRA
website)
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