Sustainability and land-use dynamics

The concept of sustainable agriculture has become an increasingly mainstream issue during recent years. Despite controversy over the definition and scope of sustainability, there is some agreement that, at a minimum, sustainable agriculture consists of a system of plant and animal production practices which do not undermine our future capacity to successfully practice agriculture and which maintain or enhance the resource base necessary for agricultural production (Chen). Additional economic and social criteria are often included in the definition as well ( Journal of Soil and Water Conservation ). Intertwined with the concept of sustainable agriculture are land use changes that occur in response to local, national and global market forces. The use and quality of the nation's rural land base has important implications for sustainability through soil erosion and soil quality, water quality, wetland loss, and urbanization. Statistics about cropland, pasture, rangeland and forestland acreage changes, however, mask the fact that a decline in total acres in a given category simply reflects that additions to that category were less than …