INTRODUCTION
Agriculture systems have a lot of responsibility in the conservation of natural
resources (waters and soils) and most of the responsibility in the food production. Its
development is very much related to the increase of production and the use of the more
aggressive technologies that may degrade the natural resources that represent a complex
linkage between farmers, agriculture technicians and the environment. A narrow
obsession with increasing productivity has obscured the fact that there has been a high
cost to pay for the agricultural progress through the degradation of rural environments,
both biophysical and sociocultural. Sustainability can be thought of as a bridging
concept between conservation and development, which have often been seen as
contradictory. The future well-being of humanity is inexorably linked to our
understanding of the natural world and to its sustainable management. The present
production systems and its interest for the economic benefits forget many times the need
to protect the different environmental compartments; in doing so we close many ways
of quality food production for future generations and we lessen their possibilities of
enjoying a safe environment.
Agriculture systems produce organic wastes and at the same time have the capacity
to assimilate them and as well as others wastes from different sources (Soliva, 1994),
(Soliva and Felipó, 2003). Their correct management through the soil could lead to
economical and environmental benefits which would contribute to sustainable
development. For that it is necessary to take into account aspects related to soil
conservation (especially important in a Mediterranean countries) and nutritional crops
needs. This is a very interesting item to consider because the natural resources and
carrying capacity of the earth are limited and we should avoid erosion of our natural
capital caused by using natural resources faster than the rate of replacement.
Sustainability means different things to different people; it can mean low-input
agriculture, or in an aspect more sociological it means the maintenance of stable, selfreliant rural communities. Another meaning can be the overall imbalance between the
use of renewable and non-renewable resources and the increasing degradation of the
physical environment. The reutilization of organic wastes (OW) can be consider in this
last case.
In the area of Agricultural Engineering it is necessary to incorporate changes focused
to apply the sustainability concept to agricultural production; a particular case could
incorporate the global study of wastes management because it has a direct relation with
the agriculture systems (Soliva, 1998).
Sustainable development and conservation issues cut across many of the traditional
disciplinary subjects including agricultural and social sciences and ecology. Also, it
requires a combination between academic approaches with collaborative processes of
governance and decision-making.
It is necessary to promote a multidimensional research to support the development of
farming systems that are sustainable and equitable, as well as stable and productive
(Conway 1985).
ENGINEERING AGRICULTURAL EDUCATION
Conventional approaches to agricultural education treat a lot of different aspects of
the vegetal and animal production systems; they need other subjects as biology,