Toward Sustainable Agricultural Production System: Major Issues and Needs in Research

Current agricultural sciences are expected to contribute to find new values and functions of agriculture by taking environmental issues into account in addition to increased productivity. Modern agriculture has started harming environments, which include not only those surrounding the human life but also those that ensure sustainability of agricultural production. Development and progress in one aspect impose load on resources and threaten sustainability. Thus, we need to continue to find ways for sound coexistence between nature, environment and human activities. Long-term research is needed to understand the trade-off relationship between sustainability and productivity, which incorporates not only different disciplines of science but also includes social, cultural and economical components.