To some of you, agriculture may mean a hassle and a very inconvenient way of producing food and fiber. But in reality, it is actually quite different. Today I want to introduce what may very well be a brand new idea to some of you, sustainable agriculture. A very useful idea that I have really strived to learn more about in hopes of one day practicing myself. Webster’s define sustainability as: of, relating to, or being a method of harvesting or using a resource so that the resource is not depleted or permanently damaged. Sustainable agriculture is exactly that. In my own words, sustainable agriculture is the act of cultivating, producing, and raising food and fiber products without the use of extreme harmful chemicals and unnecessary harvesting techniques. This may also bring the word “organic” to mind. Organic and sustainable are very closely related terms. To have a sustainable agriculture operation is to have different commodities that rely on one another on one farm. Basically, this means directly using a commodity that you have produced on your farm to produce another. Think of it this way. You have a five acre grassy property that you want to use for a sustainable agriculture operation. This would be a very easy to do task with low investments and little land to use. You use half of your property to raise quality hay or some other type of grain. You use the other half for beef cattle. As you can probably piece together, what you would do is use the grain for harvesting hay as well as for whatever grain it be for consumption such as corn, wheat, or barley. You would use the excess of that grain to bale into hay to feed your cattle. Along with the grass your cattle are grazing, and the supplements of the hay, you do not have to use finances to feed those cows. In return, the waste of those animals can be used for all natural, or organic, fertilizer. My suggestion would be switch the halves of the land for the cows and crops every other year in order to produce the best yield to acre percentages. This here is sustainable agriculture.
Now, what does that mean for you as the consumer, or possibly even a sustainable agriculturalist? It is simple. As the consumer, if there were more local sustainable farms in our state, the economic and social benefits would perpetuate the local economy. If you had a farm practicing sustainability in your area, this would mean lower food costs due to local food production, higher property values, and the best thing of all is that there is very little to obsolete waste on these operations which would not harm the environment in any way. This you can tell would benefit across the board.
So for those of you who really are intrigued, and want to further your research by putting sustainable practices in to play, your opportunities are wide spread. By having a sustainable agriculture operation, you can have a very possibly easy second income on just a small piece of land. You can also receive many federal and state land grants and subsidies for doing this which would even lower your initial investments and costs. Also by having your very own sustainable agriculture operation, you can easily produce food and maybe fiber for your own family and know exactly where those products are coming from and being able to say that you made them right there locally which could also bring in other people and families who would want to buy such commodities from your farm.
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