There is hereby established in the Department of Agriculture a program to be known as the "Sustainable Agriculture Program". The purposes of the program are as follows:
(1) To identify agricultural practices that maintain productivity and minimize environmental degradation.(2) To relate overland runoff, sediment transport, streamflow quantity and quality, and ground water quantity (recharge) and quality to specific agricultural practices.(3) To integrate and coordinate experiment field and on-farm research and educational efforts of cooperating individuals, agencies, institutions, and organizations.(4) To test and refine alternative approaches to organizing and conducting on-farm research and demonstration projects.(5) To test the organizational approach of joint farmer/specialist development of a computerized decision support system (expert system) as an approach to fostering sustainable agriculture.(6) To develop an expert system embodying the expertise of experienced farmers and agency, institutional, and agribusiness specialists to help answer the question of what tillage and crop management system should be used in a particular field in a particular year.(7) To test the usefulness of the existing conservation tillage knowledge base in making tillage system selection, implementation, and management decisions.(8) To identify the most critical needs for research and educational programs related to sustainable agriculture.