What is Sustainable Agriculture?
Sustainable Agriculture seeks to identify methods that will
help all producers continue to produce an adequate and safe
food supply that can thrive thorough the next millennium.
It integrates all elements of management--pesticides, fertilizers,
wastes, energy, economics, etc.
As defined by Congress, sustainable agriculture 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 agricultral economy depends;
- make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources
and on-farm 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."
In short Sustainable Agriculture is:
- Economically Viable...
If it is not profitable, it is not sustainable...
- Socially Supportive...
The Quality of Life of Farmers, Farm Families and Farm
Communities is important...
- Ecologically Sound...
We must preserve the resource base that sustains us all...
Sustainable agriculture has been defined in several ways.
For example, it has been defined as a system that can indefinitely
sustain itself without degrading the land, the environment,
or the people. It reflects our concern with the long-term
viability of agriculture.
Researchers at the University of Nebraska have defined it
as "a management strategy which helps the producer to
select hybrids and varieties, cultural practices, soil fertility
programs, and pest management approaches which reduce costs
of purchased inputs, minimize the impact of the system on
the immediate and off-farm environment, and provide a sustained
level of production and profit from farming."
Interest in sustainable agriculture reflects growing concern
with food safety, and the effects of food additives and chemical
fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. The contamination
of groundwater in some midwestern states by agricultural chemicals
has prompted efforts to reduce chemical and fertilizer applications.
However it is defined, sustainable agriculture will affect
how you farm.
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