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4 Responses to What is sustainable Agriculture?

1. One example of sustainable agriculture is organic agriculture. The crops are grown without any use of chemical fertilizers or pesticides. They don’t receive any growth hormones and so it’s less damaging to the environment. You can find any cereals, vegetables or fruits grown organically. As for clothes, you can find organic cotton. The products might be a little bit more expensive.

   

   Vsteph
   March 18, 2012 at 5:07 am
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2. Sustainable agriculture is the production of food in a manner that ensures the long-term productivity of the land, by protecting the health of soil, water, air and biodiversity. This can apply locally (in avoiding runoff to a nearby waterbody), or globally (in controlling nitrogen emissions into the atmosphere).

   You could argue that the purest form of sustainable agriculture is one which results in produce being consumed pretty much at source, or at least very locally. Eating local food limits food miles, where produce is grown further away, and non-renewable resources such as oil for transportation and plastics for packaging are used. To be more sustainable, as the previous answerer mentioned, an organic, less intensive approach would retain the health of the air, water, biodiversity and to some extent – soil (I’ll explain why only to some extent later) for future generations.

   One drawback of organic farming is the practice of tillage – ploughing after harvest to get rid of any residual plant roots and any pests and diseases that might be hiding in them (!) If you live in an area with severe soil erosion problem, you may want to go with a zero- or no-till approach and till right before seeding, otherwise you may not be protecting your soil. Then of course, you’d need pest control of some kind, but perhaps in future there will be huge developments in pest-resistant crops (though genetic engineering also questionable, depending on your viewpoint) or bio-pest control using beneficial insects – actually this is already underway. (http://www.thebeneficialinsectco.com/)

   But I digress. Ideally, a sustainable agriculture would be a system of locally grown crops, grown in rotation (using a legume such as alfalfa to ‘fix’ the nitrogen) on relatively small fields, with conservation features such as buffer strips, shelterbelts or hedges. There would probably be a small ratio of livestock to fruit, vegetables and crops, with the livestock feeding primarily on bi-products. The manure from the livestock would be used to fertilize crops in the main part (with care taken to either spread by hand or with a specially adapted spreader (low ramp or, even better, trailing hoses and shallow incorporation). Energy would be provided, or at least supplemented by solar, wind, geothermal (depending on location).

   There would also be consideration of local wildlife in retaining wetland and mature woodlots, and retaining a wide field buffer strip that can serve as habitat and as green corridors, connecting wild areas.

   To read up on sustainable agriculture, you could try the following sources:

   http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/concept.htm
   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sustainable_agriculture

   you can also search conservation farming, which will tell you about ways producers are trying to reduce their ecological footprints through green farming initiatives (including Beneficial Management Practices – BMPs) such as fencing off cattle from riparian areas, testing soils prior to apply fertilizer to ensure only the minimum amount is applied, the trailing hoses described above for spreading manure, buffer zones, strip cropping, zero-till and others. See below.

   http://www.agr.gc.ca/pfra/land/practices_e.htm
   http://www.agr.gc.ca/pfra/water/practices_e.htm
   http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/arei/eib16/Chapter4/4.2/

   

   knowetal
   March 18, 2012 at 5:47 am
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3. how can a new idea contain proof of sustainability
   one needs at least a few hundred years to know for sure the idea is in fact sustainable.

   SUSTAINABLE FARMING

   Sustainable means that the agriculture does not diminish the quality of the soil or water with time ,

   But rather improves these resources ,with water harvesting and soil building ,and using organic methods such as composting and mulching ,

   Not using chemicals that contaminate the soil,but rather rely on organic pest control, and minimize exhausting the soil with bio-diversity.

   Conventional Farming relies on chemicals and then become addicted to them as well as irrigation with out harvesting water ,and a contaminated desert can only be the end result.

   Sustainable farming can go on indefinitely ,and the only proven examples come from the past ,since time is necessary to demonstrate sustainability.
   so no Modern examples of sustainable agriculture exist .

   The Mexican Chinampas and the Inca terraced gardens are productive after 800 to a thousand years ,using design,the edge effect ,organic methods like mulching ,bio diversity, water harvesting and composting.
   these are examples of sustainability.
   today we copy these methos with Organic Farming and especially Permaculture

   ORGANIC FARMING

   The only real organic farming you can be sure of is if you do it yourself or personally know the people.

   .The label Organic sells for more ,and some farmers will adopt the label to make more money.

   Some think that not to use chemicals means

   organic farming.

   Chemicals is cheaper ,because one works with kilos ,pick up trucks and less labor

   But real Organic signifies many tons of organic material ,compost ,mulch and so on..so bigger equipment is needed,tractors and trailers big trucks ,and more labor .

   In theory pure Organic means no Harmful Chemicals ,no Pesticides ,herbicides or fertilizers ,

   But when faced with a plague it is easy to reach for an emergency method ,

   And people that set out on Organic Farming face these problems especially in the beginning,

   Because Organic pest control,.
   takes time to set up and running,such as producing wasps to combat caterpillars ,breed Chooks ,Silkeys or Bantams(for running or hopping pests) get them living as a component within the concept ,with their shelters etc .
   or encouraging birds to eat caterpillars
   the potions made from tobacco ,Lavender ,Chili,etc are a lot quicker.

   The production of sufficient compost or to grow for mulch also takes time.

   All in all a 100 % Organic situation may take a few years before it is established .

   So instant Organic farming is not possible and the change over takes time .

   During which time even the best intended person can stoop to half truths.

   As to why Organic is better
   for the consumer it is of course much healthier.
   no nasty chemical to have sterile babies from and a whole range of possible health hazards

   For the soil it is much better because the soils gain in quality instead of tiring it out or polluting it

   But is is a lot more work . So it takes enthusiast ,a demanding Market and energy to make it happen .

   the Ancient agricultural methods were Organic because there was nothing else ,

   Modern farming is about cutting costs ,and with less and less labor ,and we are paying the price for that ,
   with desertification and a range of illnesses loss of land ,loss of water ,and loss of soil

   In Mexico are many examples of sustainable ancient farming ,but the modern Mexican farmer is very hard headed about taking advice from mere natives
   Their invading culture wiped all Native memories of the board including the agriculture

   And on top of that It has been and is the Government who is peddling the chemicals as well as high bred seeds to addict the farmer to these products and then control them and profit from them .

   in 100 years thousands of species of local seeds have been systematically destroyed .
   Everybody must start to produce their own seeds again and preserve indigenous ones that are still around ,because they are hardier and more disease resistant ,even though they may not look as pretty on the shelf –

   PERMACULTURE

   It is a collection of sustainable ideas from around the world coupled to present level of knowledge
   ideally suited for those who want to get back to the country and build a self suficient situation for themselves and the family or a community .

   People plant rather for the quality of life and to feed their families, than for the market ,so the motivation and the manner are totally different from ordinary agriculture .

   Although the basic concept of Permaculture also applies to Organic and sustainable farming,

   Utilizing soil management ,and mulching

   The utilization of space is more concentrated ,thinking in cubic and vertical terms instead or merely horizontal on the plain ,

   Having many principle to follow such as utilizing all resources and following and enhancing energy flows ,
   for example the ditch around the house catches the rain water and leads it through the chicken house where it cleans and picks up the manure to deposit it in the vegetable patch

   Permaculture means permanent agriculture
   a concept put forward by Bill Mollison in the 60`s

   Which offers practical solutions for energy systems ,infrastructure ,intelligent design in housing,
   animal shelter ,water systems and sustainable agricultural practices.
   With the world and it`s history as it`s source
   From the Chinampas of Mexico to the terraced gardens of the Andes.
   From the dessert wadis to the steppes of Russia.
   Covering all climatic conditions temporal, dessert, humid and dry tropics.
   with chapters on soil ,Water harvesting and land design,Bio diversity
   Earth working ,Spirals in nature,Trees and water ,utilising energy flows,
   Strategy for an alternative nation

   

   byderule
   March 18, 2012 at 6:27 am
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4. Sustainable means that the agriculture does not diminish the quality of the soil or water with time, but rather improves these resources, with water harvesting and soil building, and using organic methods such as composting and mulching.Not using chemicals that contaminate the soil,but rather rely on organic pest control, and minimize exhausting the soil with bio-diversity. Conventional Farming relies on chemicals and then become addicted to them as well as irrigation with out harvesting water, and a contaminated desert can only be the end result.Sustainable farming can go on indefinitely ,and the only proved examples come from the past, since time is necessary to demonstrate sustainability.Not very many people farm this way because the lose a lot of money. In my class we just recently did a survey on sustainable harvested seafood. there was not many places that sold sustainable harvested fish and if they did it it was a little higher priced than other places that did not have sustainably harvested seafood.

   

   painted_dasy
   March 18, 2012 at 7:12 am
   Reply