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Unit 3: Systems in Action

ORGANIC AGRICULTURE

(Photo by Dwight Sipler, CC BY 2.0)

Organic farmers have been at the forefront of the sustainable agriculture movement in the U.S. Early on, they embraced the concept of the farm as an ecosystem and have been amazingly skilled and creative at applying ecological principles in managing their farms and ranches. In this section we briefly cover some historical background, revisit the discussion of ecological principles, and learn about the general requirements that define organic agriculture in today’s economy. We provide an overview of these topics and then direct you to a number of resources where you can delve into greater detail.