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Journal of Sustainable Agriculture

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Editorial: A Framework for the

Conversion to Food System Sustainability
Steve Gliessman
Published online: 07 Jan 2009.

To cite this article: Steve Gliessman (2009): Editorial: A Framework for the Conversion to Food
System Sustainability, Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 33:1, 1-2
To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/10440040802587249

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Journal of Sustainable Agriculture, 33:12, 2009

Copyright Taylor & Francis Group, LLC
ISSN: 1044-0046 print/1540-7578 online
DOI: 10.1080/10440040802587249

1540-7578
1044-0046
WJSA
Journal
of Sustainable Agriculture,
Agriculture Vol. 33, No. 1, Nov 2008: pp. 00

EDITORIAL

Downloaded by [University of California Santa Cruz] at 15:19 01 May 2013

A Framework for the Conversion to Food

System Sustainability
With this issue the Journal of Sustainable Agriculture embarks on some new
directions. As you can see, we have reformatted the layout of the journal and
changed the cover to reflect the broader focus on food system sustainability.
The larger page format will allow us to include more articles in the same number of pages. But as can also be seen in the inside cover, we are also redefining our directions and goals as a Journal. We are looking beyond the common
focus in agriculture of concentration primarily on yields, and instead, critically
analyzing the multiple and complex issues that are needed to ensure that all
components of the food system reflect and contribute to sustainability.
As the Journal moves into this expanded focus, we will be looking for
contributions that emphasize the steps needed to transition our food
systems to sustainability. We can think of these steps as a series of levels.
The first level is where our agricultural research has excelled for a long
timesearching for ways to improve yields through the development and
refinement of current technologies and practices that increase the efficiency
of conventional practices in order to reduce the use and consumption of
costly, scarce, or environmentally damaging inputs. Although these kinds of
efforts reduce the negative impacts of conventional agriculture, they do not
help break its dependence on external human inputs.
The second level substitutes conventional inputs and practices with
alternative practices. The goal at this level of conversion is to replace resourceintensive and environmentally degrading products and practices with those
that are more environmentally benign. Organic and biological agriculture
are examples of this level. The basic agroecosystem structure is not greatly
altered at this level, hence many of the same problems encountered in conventional systems continue to be problems with input substitution.
At the third level, overall system design eliminates the root causes of
many of the problems that will still exist at levels 1 and 2. The focus at this
level is the redesign of the agroecosystem so that it functions on the basis of
a new set of ecological processes.
Problems are recognized and thereby prevented by internal site- and
time-specific design and management strategies, instead of by the application of external inputs.
Editorial

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Editorial

Finally, at what can be considered to be the fourth level of conversion,

we recognize that any transition takes place within a cultural and economic
context, and that context must support conversion to more sustainable
practices. There is the reestablishment of the more direct connections that
used to occur between those who grow the food and those who consume
it, and out of the relationships that are formed through these connections,
we can move towards building a new culture and economy of sustainability.
I invite contributors to the Journal of Sustainable Agriculture to consider
where their research lies along this series of levels of change. When you submit manuscripts to the Journal, think about how you can locate your own
work along this continuum, and consider the importance of moving your
work to the highest level in the conversion process as you can. There is an
urgent need to carry out the type of research that will help us find answers
to larger, more complex questions, such as what food system sustainability
really is and how we will know we have achieved it. I welcome all of you
to this important task.
Steve Gliessman,
Editor