Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable agriculture grows food in ways that protect soil, water and biodiversity for the future.
▶ Interact
Play with the controls to see the idea in action.
📘 Learn
Sustainable agriculture grows food in ways that protect soil, water and biodiversity for the future.
- Crop rotation keeps soil healthy
- Organic farming avoids chemicals
- Agroforestry combines trees and crops
🧠 Quick quiz
Three questions. Score 2 or more to complete the topic.
What is Sustainable Agriculture?
Within Earth & Environmental Science, which covers our planet, its resources and ecosystems, and how people can protect the environment, this topic explains Sustainable Agriculture. Earth and environment topics show how the planet’s systems shape landscapes, climate and life, with models that make these processes visible.
Check that you can explain Sustainable Agriculture in your own words and give one example from everyday life. If you can do that, you have understood the core idea.
Understanding Sustainable Agriculture helps you explain the environment around you and weigh up how people can protect it.
Sustainable Agriculture in detail
Sustainable agriculture produces food while protecting the environment, public health and communities, and being viable for the long term. Practices include crop rotation, cover crops, mixed farming, organic methods, integrated pest management, reduced tillage, agroforestry, efficient irrigation and using natural fertilisers such as compost.
These maintain soil fertility, reduce chemical use and pollution, protect biodiversity and conserve water. Challenges include yields and costs, and the need for a growing population to be fed. Reducing food waste and changing diets also help. Technology such as precision farming uses data to apply water and fertiliser only where needed.
How the interactive helps you understand Sustainable Agriculture
Watch the cycle in the interactive. Use any sliders or buttons it offers to change the values and see how the cycle responds.
Before you change anything, predict the result. Then change one value at a time and check whether your prediction was right. This is a quick way to build a correct mental model of Sustainable Agriculture.
Real-life uses and examples
- Link Sustainable Agriculture to a real environmental problem and a possible solution.
- Use a diagram of Sustainable Agriculture to describe the steps of a process in order.
- Discuss how human activity changes Sustainable Agriculture, using a named example.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Presenting one cause as the only cause of an environmental change.
- Describing a process without the timescale it works over.
- Learning the definition without testing it. Use the quiz and the interactive to check that you can apply the idea.
Frequently asked questions about Sustainable Agriculture
What is Sustainable Agriculture?
Sustainable agriculture grows food in ways that protect soil, water and biodiversity for the future.
What are the most important points about Sustainable Agriculture?
The main points are: Crop rotation keeps soil healthy; Organic farming avoids chemicals; Agroforestry combines trees and crops.
Why is Sustainable Agriculture useful?
Understanding Sustainable Agriculture helps you explain the environment around you and weigh up how people can protect it.
How can I practise Sustainable Agriculture?
Open the interactive at the top of this page and change the controls one at a time. Predict the result before each change, then take the three-question quiz. A score of two or more marks the topic as complete on this device.
Which topics are related to Sustainable Agriculture?
Related topics in Earth & Environmental Science include Urbanisation and the Environment, Floods and Flood Management, Environmental Laws and Agreements.