On the Problem of the Development of ‘Sustainable’ Agriculture in Modern Economic Realities

Sustainability of agriculture is one of the main directions of development of the industry, which today has a high relevance due to the fact that the industry itself, on the one hand, uses land as the main resource, on the other hand, there is a significant amount of waste in the production of agricultural products, which worsen the environment. Accordingly, the relevance of the topic under consideration is determined by the need to solve the problem of finding a balance between the need to intensify the level of agricultural production and the preservation of environmental well-being. The purpose of the work is to consider the problematic aspects of the development of “sustainable” agriculture in modern economic realities and identify ways to solve certain problems. In the course of the research, the works of various specialists in the field under consideration were analyzed, on the basis of which a review of the author’s positions regarding the problem under consideration was conducted. According to the results of the study, the following conclusion was made: the direction analysis of the sustainable agriculture development showed that in modern conditions it is necessary to focus on a set of indicators that will assess the level of decline in environmental well-being in a particular region and determine the directions of reducing the harmful impact of agriculture on the environment. However, taking into account the complex nature of agricultural systems and multidimensional sustainability issues, a single change in agriculture (for example, the introduction of a new technology or a new policy) can lead to multiple cascading impacts on three aspects of sustainability, and therefore some of the performance indicators may improve and others may worsen. Thus, understanding the compromises and synergies between indicators is crucial for policy makers when developing strategies aimed at ensuring sustainability.