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American agriculture uses fewer resources to produce more food, but as farmers scramble to meet growing global demand in coming years, agriculture could take a greater toll on waterways, soil and climate, according to a report released Monday.

The report, called "Field to Market," is part of an initiative to provide food producers with a better way to measure their impact on natural resources. It was put together by the Keystone Center, a Colorado-based not-for-profit that tries to come up with policy solutions for global problems.

Several organizations, from big agribusiness to conservation groups, contributed to the effort. Overall, they concluded that the production of corn, soybeans, cotton and wheat in the United States was becoming less harmful to the environment. Fertilizer, land, energy and water use has slowed from 1987 to 2007, while production increased, largely because of the emergence of new technologies, the report stated.

To prepare the report, the Keystone Center called on a diverse group of stakeholders — from food industry giants, such as Coca-Cola and Cargill, to conservation groups, such as The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund. Monsanto and the National Corn Growers Association, both based in the St. Louis area, were among the members.

The group first got together about two years ago to address a looming global challenge. In order to feed itself, the world’s agriculture production will need to double by 2050. At the same time, food production will need to mitigate its environmental impact, including climate change.

"Agriculture is the dominant land use on Earth. An estimate in 2005 said that crop- and pastureland takes up a quarter of the Earth’s surface," said Michael Reuter of The Nature Conservancy. "We have to look at this very complex situation from a lot of perspectives."

The report issued Monday was described as a first step toward addressing the challenge of agricultural sustainability to evaluate productivity versus resource use fast payday loan no faxing. The authors studied government data and came up with measurements. The next step, they say, will be to look at the impact American agriculture has on water quality and biodiversity — a much more complicated task.

Ultimately, the group’s goal is to develop a "Sustainability Index" that will help food producers along the food chain measure sustainability and trends over time.

"We’re starting to develop tools that a farm can use to see how their efficiencies compare to other farmers," said Michael Doane of Monsanto, a member of the Keystone group. "We believe the comparisons will make them want to make changes."

Proponents of a more diversified approach to sustainable agriculture say the group has overemphasized the role technology has played in improving the sustainability of the American farm.

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Ferd Hoefner, policy director of the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, said the report’s emphasis on four commodities and on technology skews the picture.

"They’re looking at the technological fixes that have improved some resource indicators, rather than the revolution of a system that we need to farm in concert with the environment," Hoefner said.

Hoefner also noted that his group was not part of the report. "They don’t have the voice of the farmer represented," he said. "At least not the sustainable agriculture farmer we present."

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