"Conventional agriculture is the system of production developed in advanced industrial countries and promoted by researchers and outreach workers at agricultural colleges and universities and by government personnel affiliated with ministries and departments of agriculture. It represents the accumulated knowledge and wisdom about the most widely accepted procedures and techniques to grow crops and raise livestock and poultry . Today, conventional agriculture is increasingly incorporating practices and techniques associated with genetic engineering.

Conventional agriculture is grounded on the belief that the primary objectives of farming should be to produce as much food and fiber as possible for the least cost. It is driven by the twin goals of productivity and efficiency. More particularly, the organizational underpinnings of conventional agriculture rest within both experimental biology and neoclassical economics.

Sustainable agriculture is a term that has been used to denote a more environmentally sound and socially responsible system of agricultural production than has traditionally existed in most western societies. Although there are literally hundreds of definitions of sustainable agriculture, one of the more widely accepted definitions, developed by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), is `an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long-term: satisfy human food and fiber needs; enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends; make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls; sustain the economic viability of farm operations; and enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.

With respect to agriculture and food, advanced biotechnologies have the potential to revolutionize virtually all aspects of society, from how, where, when and by whom food is produced, processed and consumed to how dietary changes might be used to treat illness and disease. The consequences of genomics for agriculture and food production and for human and animal health that are only now coming into view in both the advanced industrial and the developing world are likely to be profound in social, economic, political and demographic terms.