Drivers towards sustainability:: why change?

Meeting the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs' is the most frequently used definition of sustainability. Sustainability contains three elements: society, environment, and economy. Current agriculture is not considered to be sustainable. Environment, nature and Landscape are affected, natural resources are depleted, and food security is insufficiently assured. In this paper we discuss reasons why agricultural production systems should be sustainable. Informal and format types of drivers towards sustainability are distinguished. Producers and consumers generally feet that production should be sustainable. This awareness is an informal driver towards sustainability and is partly reflected in format drivers. The latter comprise legislation, regulations, treaties, and voluntary schemes. Research at the experimental dairy farm De Marke in the Netherlands and the Baltic Agricultural Run-Off Action Programme (BAAP) are examples of research aiming at sustainable N management. At De Marke, measures were taken to reduce the groundwater NO3- concentration from 200 to ca. 50 mg NO3- l(-1). The objective of BAAP is to improve the water quality of the Baltic Sea and of local surface and groundwater bodies by reducing nutrient run-off from agricultural sources.