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Section
A: What makes agriculture "sustainable"?
Projected
Outcomes
After this segment, students will:
- Be able to define the term “sustainable”
- Distinguish between the goals and the practices
used to achieve the goals of sustainable agriculture
and food systems.
- Demonstrate awareness of economic, environmental,
and community impacts of agriculture.
Terms
Sustainable agriculture:
an approach which is profitable, environmentally
sound, and beneficial to family and community
interaction
Goal: a desired end
Practice: an action to achieve
a goal
Organic: a set of production
practices that rely on minimal use of off-farm
inputs and aim to restore, maintain, or enhance
the ecological systems that can benefit agriculture
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Background/Lessons
Introduction:
What is Sustainable Agriculture?
In the words of one Iowa farmer, sustainable
agriculture is a journey rather than a destination.
The word “sustainable” comes from the word “sustain”
which means to maintain, support, or to endure.
People involved in sustainable agriculture are
trying to identify and solve the problems in
our current agricultural system in order to
provide
food and fiber in a healthy environment for
people over the long term. At least for now,
no
one has developed a fully sustainable agriculture,
and for the foreseeable future there will always
be room for improvement.
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The
Three Legs of Sustainability Imagine
a 3-legged stool . What happens
if one of the legs breaks, or one leg is missing
entirely? The whole stool falls over. The 3-legged
stool has become a metaphor for the need to
consider
the economic, environmental, and social impacts
of agriculture (or any of our actions). If
our agricultural system has
unacceptable impacts in any one of these spheres,
it can't support producers and contribute to
the
community over the long term.
In order to be sustainable, three areas must
be addressed by our agriculture, food, and natural
resource systems. These three areas are economics,
environment, and community .
A sustainable agriculture must provide a fair
and reasonably secure living for farm families.
It should minimize harm to the natural environment.
It should maintain basic natural resources such
as healthy soil, clean water, and clean air. And
it should support viable rural communities and
fair treatment of all people involved in the food
system, from farm workers to consumers.
The 1990 Farm Bill defines sustainable agriculture
as:
“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 on-farm resources and integrate,
where appropriate, natural biological cycles
and controls
- sustain the economic viability of farm operations
- enhance the quality of life for farmers and
society as a whole.”
Let's take a look at each individual “leg” of
the sustainability stool.
Sustainable agriculture is “economically
sustainable.” Agriculture should provide
a secure living to farm families and others employed
in food production and processing. An economically
sustainable approach also provides access to good
food for all people.
Sustainable agriculture is “environmentally
sound.” It preserves the quality of basic
natural resources that the farms, businesses and
the surrounding environment rely on, including
soil, water, and air. Agriculture affects natural
resources. Cooperating with natural resource systems
instead of trying to overpower them can offer
benefits to food production as well as the natural
environment .
Sustainable agriculture is “good for families
and communities.” It promotes opportunities
and cooperative relationships for family and community
members. For example, a local food marketing system
called community supported agriculture (CSA) offers
opportunities for people to get into farming without
major capital investment; provides work for family
members, including children, on the farm; and
creates direct partnerships with consumers in
the community.
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Goals
versus Practices
Profitable economics, healthy environment, and
vital communities are all goals. They
are what we are trying to achieve. Practices
are actions we take to achieve those goals.
Why don't we define sustainable agriculture in
terms of practices? There are two important reasons:
First, we expect that our knowledge will increase
in the future, so practices used now may not be
considered the best practices ten years from now.
Second, the effect of a practice can vary enormously
depending on how and where it is performed. For
example, plowing on a steep hillside is unsustainable
because it causes too much soil erosion. However,
occasional plowing on level ground
can be a sustainable tool for some cropping systems.
In order to attain our goals, we need to take
certain actions, that is, follow certain practices.
So one of the things we'll explore in the next
few days are examples of sustainable practices,
such as crop rotation, riparian buffer strips,
rotational grazing, and direct marketing. Keep
in mind, though, that these are not all the possible
practices and if they don't help us achieve our
goals, they are not sustainable, no matter what
the practice.
Activity 1:
Understanding Goals and Practices
Activity 2:
Thinking positively, thinking critically
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The Organic
Example For many people, sustainable
agriculture is closely identified with organic
agriculture. Unlike sustainable agriculture, though,
organic agriculture is officially defined by practices
rather than goals .
In the United States , the practices that are
required and the practices that
are prohibited in organic agriculture
have been set forth in federal law since 2001.
Anyone can use these practices in their garden
or field, but for products to be labeled and sold
as “organic” they must be certified by an independent
third-party certifier. In a nutshell, organic
farmers must:
• rotate crops to maintain soil
quality and manage pests,
• keep records of their operation
that will be examined by the certifier,
• minimize use of off-farm inputs,
• refrain from using synthetic fertilizers
or pesticides, and
• refrain from using genetically
modified organisms.
An organic processor must:
- keep organic products separate from non-certified
products, and
- keep synthetic pesticides, preservatives,
and other unapproved substances away from organic
products.
Visit the US
organic standards to get a sense of some
of the complexity of the requirements and
the questions
surrounding this relatively new program. For
additional information, see the National
Organic Program's web page.
Is organic agriculture sustainable?
Many farmers and consumers feel that organic
agriculture is sustainable. On the whole, organic
practices do a good job of protecting the natural
environment and may be better for the health of
both producers and consumers. Farmers also like
the fact that organic products often bring higher
prices in the marketplace, which means they contribute
to economic sustainability.
Other farmers and consumers note that organic
agriculture does not really address economic and
social sustainability. When most organic producers
and processers were small-scale idealists, organic
agriculture may also have addressed social and
economic needs in rural communities. However,
as the organic market has grown, the organic food
system has come to look more like the conventional
food system, with large-scale producers and processors
and shrinking margins for farmers.
Suggested discussion or essay question: Which
is better – a general goal-oriented definition
like that for sustainable agriculture or a more
specific practice-based definition like that for
organic agriculture? What are the advantages and
disadvantages of each? Provide specific examples.
Homework Activity:
Looking at change in agriculture, food systems,
and the environment
(preparation for Section B)
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