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Abstract
This paper first discusses how to use sustainability as a criterion by which to evaluate agricultural
research, then illustrates the difficulties inherent in applying the criterion and finally draws
implications for international agricultural research. Seven propositions relating to sustainability
are stated. Agricultural researchers are urged to (a) recognize the importance of the sustainability
of agricultural systems. (b) devise appropriate ways to measure sustainability, (c) empirically
examine the sustainability of some well-defined cropping or farming systems, (d) define the externalities
that exist in such systems, and (e) develop methods to measure those externalities.