SOUTHERN JOURNAL OF AGRICULTURAL ECONOMICS JULY 1991 APPLYING LISA CONCEPTS ON SOUTHERN FARMS OR CHANGING FARM PHILOSOPHIES: DISCUSSION

The LISA concept has generated tremendous fric- Webster defined sustainability as the ability to tion between segments within agriculture as well as keep in existence, maintain or prolong, while Pearce among consumer, environmental, and agricultural maintains that sustainability is about being fair to the groups. At the root of this friction is poor communi- future, leaving the next generation a similar, or bet-cation and numerous misconceptions held by nearly ter, resource endowment than that which we inher-all factions in the debate. John Ikerd's paper is rep- ited. From a broader perspective, Pearce and Turner resentative of the state of information available argue that a sustainable system must follow four about LISA, providing an excellent overview of basic rules: what LISA is, but unfortunately stopping far short of (1) Use renewable resources at a rate less than the explaining how it might be applied to southern agri- natural rate of generation. culture. (2) Maintain wastes from production at a level In defining what LISA is, Ikerd points out that "the below the assimilative capacity of the environ-low input perspective is that farmers must reduce ment. their use of commercial chemical inputs as a means (3) Ensure that the reduction of stock resources is of reducing environmental and ecological risks as- compensated for by increases in renewable re