Madhu Khanna
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Expansion of agricultural production is critical to meet the needs for food and feed and more recently for bioenergy for a growing global population. Agricultural production also has the potential to have both positive and negative impacts on the environment. It can adversely impact soil and water quality while also providing positive environmental benefits through soil carbon sequestration, open spaces and feedstocks for renewable energy. The non-point nature of the environmental impacts of agriculture adds significant complexity to efforts at controlling them. Technological development and policies that induce the adoption of technologies that can increase productivity and reduce environmental impacts are important to achieve sustainable agricultural development. This presentation will discuss strategies for sustainable agricultural development that require multi-disciplinary approaches to design innovative technologies and policy instruments. Assessment of these strategies requires understanding the potential trade-offs between the various dimensions of sustainable development. The emerging bio-economy offers unique opportunities and challenges for sustainable development.