Sustainable agriculture is defined as “any of a number of environmentally friendly farming methods that preserve an ecological balance by avoiding depletion of natural resources” by Dictionary.com. “is farming in sustainable ways based on an understanding of ecosystem services, the study of relationships between organisms and their environment.” As defined by Freedictionary.com.
Sustainable Farm Practices that are used around the world
Sustainable Agriculture has many different practices to help the environment and the future of agriculture. One example of these practices is, rotating crops. Rotating crops is the practice of planting a different crop in a field than the year before. It helps prevent pests, control nutrient levels and broaden plant diversity. Another practice that is really gaining popularity is the planting of cover crops. Planting cover crops is known to reduce weeds, increase soil health, and can provide area for the grazing of livestock during times of the year when pastures might have run out of grass. A way to help prevent pastures running out of grass is the use of rotational grazing. Rotational grazing is used in all sizes of pasture. To use this practice, you would section of parts of a pasture and regularly rotate the livestock between the sections, this will help manage grass and keep the grass from being over grazed. No-till is another way to practice sustainable agriculture. No-till is when you plant the seeds directly into the undisturbed soil, without any tillage. This practice reduces soil erosion and helps conserve water for the growing season. This practice does have a downside as well, since you do not till up the ground before planting it allows weeds to grow which in turn causes farmers to use more herbicides which can have a negative impact on environmental health. Waterways and terraces are another practice to help achieve sustainable agriculture. Waterways give water a direct path to flow which helps reduce erosion. Terraces allow farmers to farm on intense slopes and prevent surface runoff and washouts, which reduces erosion. Organic farming is one of the most controversial practices of sustainable agriculture. Organic farming is farming without the use of modern chemicals and other treatments. Global Positioning Systems are another way many farmers practice sustainable agriculture. Global positioning system is better known as GPS, this is used to help farmers more accurately do all forms of field work, which in turn allows farmers to do more work in less time. Prescription farming is a fairly modern way to manage a farm in order to make fertilizer treatments more accurate by physically testing the ground so you can determine the best treatments for the soil. A different approach to gain the same information is remote sensing which gains the data without any physical work which can make it a cheaper option for farmers. All three of the practices I just mentioned all fall under one big sustainable agriculture practice called precision agriculture. Precision agriculture is used to help farmers take a closer look at their practices to help increase yields. Integrated pest management helps farmers save money and help the environment by only killing pests to the economic level.
Examples of Sustainable Farms in the World
An individual farmer in Waverly, Iowa, Mark Mueller, has uses no-till and cover crops to help keep his soil healthy in the long run. He believes these sustainable practices will provide an immediate return that year but will help him make the most money per acre down the stretch. He believes he was right since his yields on corn were up 3% and soybeans up 5% after using no-till and cover crop practices. He also says that the year after the drought year of 2012 he experienced larger yields of 6% on corn and 11.4% on soybeans compared to other farmers in his surrounding area. Studies show that the biggest reasons for the large increases in yields are due to increased biological components in the soil, possible deeper penetration of roots in the soil. The roots may have been allowed to penetrate the soil faster and deeper because the cover crops’ roots already breaking up the soil. He said the biggest surprise was that he didn’t use any more herbicide than past years without no-till and cover crops, because the cover crops decreased the amount of sunlight, space, and water that the weeds needed to grow. He said he always thought that no till planting required more herbicide since you didn’t plow up the weeds from the start. For him this was a very large pull factor that made him switch for good.
Seth Lawrence and his family farm in Brook, Indiana. They had the option to rent 1,300 acres of farmland, the price that the landowners wanted to rent it for didn’t pencil out for the Lawrence’s operation. Seth decided to take a deeper look into acre by acre data which let him know were in the specific piece of land was slightly sandy or didn’t drain well. He then plugged this information into Iowa State University’s rent calculator. He came up with a price that he could make a profit from and that would make the landowners happy. He also used the information to determine what parts of the land needed certain treatments such as tile or different fertilizers. He now uses several other programs to help him make better and more informed decisions. One example is Harvest Profit, which he can enter his expenses and yields into and it then takes the quantity of his harvest and plugs it into the real time markets to determine his best marketing strategy.
Rudi Roselein is a self-made man that started as an engineer but turned his focus to renewable energy in agriculture. He researched how livestock manure produces methane gas. He began to design a way to harvest this gas and turn it into usable gas. He came up with a tarp over a lagoon, trapping the gas. They then take that methane gas and turn it into natural gas. The natural gas is now usable for a variety of uses. It also helps keep methane which is bad for the environment, under control and the air cleaner. Rudi thinks that he can make this practice more common which will lower energy costs and help the environment.
Sources: Progressive Farmer Magazine
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