Editing Intensive farming (section)

===Sustainability===
{{further|Sustainable farming|Integrated Multi-Trophic Aquaculture|Zero waste agriculture|Organic farming}}

Intensive farming practices which are thought to be [[Sustainable farming|sustainable]]{{By whom|date=May 2024}} have been developed to slow the deterioration of agricultural land and even regenerate [[soil health]] and [[ecosystem services]].{{Citation needed|date=May 2024}} These developments may fall in the category of [[organic farming]], or the integration of organic and conventional agriculture.

Pasture cropping involves planting grain crops directly into grassland without first applying herbicides. The perennial grasses form a living mulch understory to the grain crop, eliminating the need to plant [[cover crop]]s after [[harvest]]. The pasture is intensively grazed both before and after grain production. This intensive system yields equivalent farmer profits (partly from increased livestock forage) while building new [[topsoil]] and [[Carbon sequestration|sequestering]] up to 33 tons of CO<sub>2</sub>/ha/year.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Leu|first1=Andre|title=Mitigating Climate Change With Soil Organic Matter in Organic Production Systems|url=http://unctad.org/en/PublicationsLibrary/ditcted2012d3_en.pdf|website=Trade and environment review 2013, Commentary V|pages=22–32|publisher=UNCTAD|access-date=28 September 2014|archive-date=9 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220509063021/https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/ditcted2012d3_en.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Bradley|first=Kirsten|title=Why Pasture Cropping is such a Big Deal|date=7 December 2010|url=http://milkwood.net/2010/12/07/why-pasture-cropping-is-such-a-big-deal/|publisher=Milkwood|access-date=10 January 2014|archive-date=10 January 2014|archive-url=https://archive.today/20140110182113/http://milkwood.net/2010/12/07/why-pasture-cropping-is-such-a-big-deal/|url-status=live}}</ref>

[[Biointensive]] agriculture focuses on maximizing efficiency such as per unit area, energy input and water input.

[[Agroforestry]] combines agriculture and orchard/forestry technologies to create more integrated, diverse, productive, profitable, healthy and sustainable land-use systems.

[[Intercropping]] can increase yields or reduce inputs and thus represents (potentially sustainable) agricultural intensification. However, while total yield per unit land area is often increased, yields of any single crop often decrease. There are also challenges to farmers who rely on farming equipment optimized for [[monoculture]], often resulting in increased labor inputs.

[[Vertical farming]] is intensive crop production on a large scale in urban centers, in multi-story, artificially-lit structures, for the production of low-calorie foods like herbs, [[microgreens]], and lettuce.

An integrated farming system is a progressive, [[sustainable agriculture]] system such as [[zero waste agriculture]] or [[integrated multi-trophic aquaculture]], which involves the interactions of multiple species. Elements of this integration can include:
* Intentionally introducing flowering plants into agricultural ecosystems to increase pollen-and nectar-resources required by natural enemies of insect pests<ref>[http://ifs.orst.edu/insect.html Oregon State University – Integrated Farming Systems – Insectary Plantings – Enhancing Biological Control with Beneficial Insectary Plants] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615043253/http://ifs.orst.edu/insect.html |date=2006-06-15 }}</ref>
* Using crop rotation and cover crops to suppress nematodes in potatoes<ref>[http://ifs.orst.edu/pubs/nscc.html Oregon State University – Integrated Farming Systems – Nematode Suppression by Cover Crops] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080905154352/http://ifs.orst.edu/pubs/nscc.html |date=2008-09-05 }}</ref>
* Integrated multi-trophic aquaculture is a practice in which the by-products (wastes) from one species are recycled to become inputs ([[fertilizer]]s, [[food]]) for another.