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Sustainable Agriculture

Exploring how farming practices, technology, environmental conditions, and human decisions shape productive, resilient, and sustainable agricultural landscapes.

Understanding Sustainable Agricultural Systems

Agriculture connects people, landscapes, and ecosystems.

Agricultural systems are shaped by interactions between environmental conditions, farming practices, economic forces, technology, institutions, and community decisions. At the IHED Lab, sustainable agriculture research examines these connections through an integrative perspective that considers both human and environmental systems. This work includes examining agricultural practices, technology adoption, land management, ecosystem services, and the resilience of farming communities and landscapes.

Explore our research focus →

Agricultural decisions can influence soil health, water resources, biodiversity, ecosystem services, and the long-term resilience of rural communities.

Studying agriculture from farming practices to broader landscape systems.

Our sustainable agriculture research connects agricultural practices with the ecological, social, and economic processes that shape agricultural landscapes.
01 · AGRICULTURAL SYSTEMS

Sustainable Farming Practices

Examining agricultural practices that support productivity while maintaining soil health, water quality, biodiversity, and long-term environmental resilience.
02 · TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION

Agricultural Technology

Understanding how farmers adopt and use new technologies, tools, and practices and how these decisions influence agricultural systems.
03 · SOIL & WATER

Soil & Water Management

Investigating approaches to soil conservation, water management, and resource efficiency within agricultural landscapes.
04 · ECOSYSTEM SERVICES

Agriculture & Ecosystem Services

Exploring how agricultural landscapes provide ecosystem services and how farming practices can influence ecological functions and benefits to communities.
05 · RESILIENCE

Resilient Agricultural Landscapes

Examining how agricultural systems respond to environmental change, economic pressures, resource constraints, and other challenges.
06 · HUMAN DIMENSIONS

People & Agricultural Decisions

Considering the social, economic, institutional, and behavioral factors that influence agricultural decision-making and land-management practices.

Connecting agricultural practices with environmental and social systems.

Understanding sustainable agriculture requires more than evaluating individual farming practices. It also requires examining how agricultural decisions interact with soils, water, ecosystems, economies, institutions, and communities. The lab’s research draws on interdisciplinary approaches to understand agricultural systems and identify pathways toward more sustainable and resilient landscapes.
Agricultural and land-use analysis Geographic Information Systems and spatial analysis Remote sensing and landscape monitoring Agricultural technology adoption research Soil and water resource assessment Ecosystem services analysis Field-based environmental research Integration of social and natural science perspectives
Research Questions

What can agricultural systems tell us?

Identifying changes in farming practices, agricultural land use, and resource-management strategies across different regions and agricultural contexts.
Examining the social, economic, environmental, and institutional factors that influence farmers’ decisions to adopt new technologies and management practices.
Exploring relationships between agricultural management, soil and water resources, biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and the benefits provided to communities.
Investigating strategies that can help agricultural communities and landscapes respond to environmental change, economic pressures, and resource challenges.

Selected Research

Sustainable agriculture research in practice.

Examples of research and presentations connected to agricultural systems, technology adoption, ecosystem services, and sustainable resource management.

Agricultural Landscapes

Technology Adoption & Farming Practices

Research examining how farmers respond to changing agricultural technologies, management practices, and resource conditions, providing insight into the human dimensions of agricultural sustainability.
Human Dimensions · Agricultural Technology · Sustainability

Rural Communities

Agriculture & Community Resilience

Research exploring the relationships between agricultural systems, community conditions, resource management, and the capacity of rural communities to adapt to changing environmental and economic conditions.
Community Resilience · Rural Landscapes

Agricultural Systems

Soil, Water & Resource Management

Research examining agricultural land management and its connections to soil conservation, water resources, ecosystem functions, and long-term landscape sustainability.
Soil · Water · Ecosystem Services

Regional Landscapes

Agriculture & Environmental Change

Related research examines how agricultural systems interact with broader land-use and environmental changes, including landscape transformation, resource availability, and changing ecological conditions.
Land Use · Environmental Change · Sustainability