Understanding Sustainable Agricultural Systems
Exploring how farming practices, technology, environmental conditions, and human decisions shape productive, resilient, and sustainable agricultural landscapes.
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.
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.
Sustainable Farming Practices
Examining agricultural practices that support productivity while maintaining soil health, water quality, biodiversity, and long-term environmental resilience.
Agricultural Technology
Understanding how farmers adopt and use new technologies, tools, and practices and how these decisions influence agricultural systems.
Soil & Water Management
Investigating approaches to soil conservation, water management, and resource efficiency within agricultural landscapes.
Agriculture & Ecosystem Services
Exploring how agricultural landscapes provide ecosystem services and how farming practices can influence ecological functions and benefits to communities.
Resilient Agricultural Landscapes
Examining how agricultural systems respond to environmental change, economic pressures, resource constraints, and other challenges.
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
What can agricultural systems tell us?
How are agricultural practices changing across landscapes?
Identifying changes in farming practices, agricultural land use, and resource-management strategies across different regions and agricultural contexts.
What factors influence agricultural technology adoption?
Examining the social, economic, environmental, and institutional factors that influence farmers’ decisions to adopt new technologies and management practices.
How do agricultural practices affect ecosystems and ecosystem services?
Exploring relationships between agricultural management, soil and water resources, biodiversity, ecosystem functions, and the benefits provided to communities.
How can agricultural systems become more resilient?
Investigating strategies that can help agricultural communities and landscapes respond to environmental change, economic pressures, and resource challenges.