Sustainable Agrifood Systems, Effect on Environment

A sustainable agrifood system is one that fosters long-term productivity by supporting associated livelihoods, advancing community vitality and well-being, and engaging in environmentally beneficial or benign practices. An agrifood system encompasses all processes and networks involved in providing a community food source. These processes include the production of upstream inputs (e.g., pesticides), growing, harvesting, processing, [Page 1339]packaging, transporting, retailing, consuming, and disposing. The prevailing food system is both globalized and industrialized, and there are innumerable detrimental economic, social, and environmental effects that result. Because of this, there are genuine fears as to the viability of continued and sufficient food production, particularly in the face of worldwide exponential population growth. This entry concentrates on efforts to improve agrifood system sustainability and, specifically, the environmental effects of ...