Generally, sustainable agriculture favors (and often requires) the use of organic natural substances, including organic seed (seed not treated with pesticides or other chemicals), organic soil amendments, such as compost or bat guano (bat feces), and organic pesticides, such as neem.
- crop rotation: alternating several different kinds of crops in fields helps plants build or retain resistance to disease, and can help restore essential nutrients and microorganisms to the soil.
- integrated pest management: integrated pest management uses low- impact methods that emphasize strategic planting, the use of beneficial insects, organic pest control compounds, and other methods. Integrated pest management has better long-term impact on the environment than extensive use of chemical pesticides.
- organic soil amendments, such as compost and manure.
- independence (financial and otherwise): sustainable agriculture relies on nature's own substances and processes. The farm attempts to produce everything it needs and to find productive uses for its own waste products and byproducts (such as compost and manure).
While sustainable agriculture has been proven to provide safe, reliable crops in a way that has a minimum negative impact on land and people, gains in productivity have not kept up with the gains made with scientific methods. Critics of sustainable agriculture argue that without the intervention of science, outputs will not be able to keep up with anticipated increases in demand, and that crops grown with sustainable methods are simply too expensive to benefit the general public.
