Agriculture has experienced a drastic evolution since the middle of the last century. Historically, food production before ~1945 was limited to organic practices. After World War II new technologies and mechanization allow for the increase of food production (Evenson & Gollin 2003). This rise in productivity is known as the “Green Revolution” or commonly identified as conventional agriculture (Ward 1995). Continue advances in science over the last decades, especially in genetics, have shifted food production from organic agriculture to the gene revolution (Gepts 2002). A brief view of these models may show that green and genetic revolutions have successfully increased the food production, but a holistic picture shows that these systems are far from efficient and that they are depleting our natural resources. For these reasons, this paper analyzes the current situation of agriculture and why it is important to find alternatives to our present system of food production.

      Nowadays the negative impacts of agriculture in the environment are more obvious and each day problems like erosion, water pollution, and global warming are more evident. These problems clearly suggest the need for environmentally friendly alternatives like sustainable agriculture. The sustainable model follows the principle of producing for food demands of the current generation without compromising the resources of future generations. Ideally, sustainable agriculture should be a system that produces enough food without polluting or exhausting earth’s resources (Earles 2005). Consequently, sustainable agriculture should be our goal and a model and pathway for our future food production systems. However, the big question here is which agricultural model is closer to being sustainable and capable of feeding our current and future population. In order to answer this question, the next sections will analyze in more depth the organic and conventional systems showing the boundaries and issues of each system.