Sustainable Agriculture: ATTRA An Introduction A Publication of ATTRA, the National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service • 1-800-346-9140 • www.attra.ncat.org By Richard Earles; revised by Paul Williams, NCAT Program Specialist © NCAT 2005 Contents What is Sustainable Agriculture? ...................... 1 How Do We Achieve Sustainability? ................. 2 Know Your Markets, Protect Your Profits, and Add Value to Your Products ............................ 3 Build Soil Structure and Fertility ............................... 3 Protect Water Quality on and Beyond the Farm .................................... 4 Photo courtesy USDA NRCS Manage Pests Ecologi- cally; Use Minimal food security, its midwives were not gov- Pesticides .......................... 4 What is Sustainable Agriculture? ernment policy makers but small farmers, Maximize Biodiversity on environmentalists, and a persistent cadre of the Farm ............................. 5 Sustainable agriculture is one that produces agricultural scientists. These people saw the How Can I Learn More abundant food without depleting the earth’s About Sustainable devastation that late 20th-Century farming Agriculture? ...................... 6 resources or polluting its environment. It was causing to the very means of agricul- is agriculture that follows the principles of tural production—the water and soil—and so nature to develop systems for raising crops began a search for better ways to farm, an and livestock that are, like nature, self-sus- exploration that continues to this day. taining. Sustainable agriculture is also the agriculture of social values, one whose suc- Conventional 20th-Century agriculture took cess is indistinguishable from vibrant rural industrial production as its model, and verti- communities, rich lives for families on the cally-integrated agri-business was the result. farms, and wholesome food for everyone. But The industrial approach, coupled with sub- ATTRA is the national sustain- stantial government subsidies, made food able agriculture information in the first decade of the 21st Century, sus- service operated by the National tainable agriculture, as a set of commonly abundant and cheap in the United States. But Center for Appropriate Technol- farms are biological systems, not mechani- ogy, through a grant from the accepted practices or a model farm economy, Rural Business-Cooperative Ser- cal ones, and they exist in a social context is still in its infancy—more than an idea, but vice, U.S. Department of Agricul- in ways that manufacturing plants do not. ture. These organizations do not only just. recommend or endorse prod- Through its emphasis on high production, the ucts, companies, or individu- als. NCAT has offices Although sustainability in agriculture is tied industrial model has degraded soil and water, in Fayetteville, Arkansas, to broader issues of the global economy, de- reduced the biodiversity that is a key element Butte, Montana, and Davis, California. ���� clining petroleum reserves, and domestic to food security, increased our dependence on imported oil, and driven more and more one field, one family at a time—sustainable acres into the hands of fewer and fewer farming is taking root. “farmers,” crippling rural communities. Off the farm, consumers and grassroots activ- In recent decades, sustainable farmers and ists are working to create local markets and researchers around the world have responded farm policies that support sustainable prac- to the extractive industrial model with ecol- tices. They are working to raise consumers’ ogy-based approaches, variously called natu- awareness about how their food is grown and ral, organic, low-input, alternative, regenera- processed—how plants, animals, the soil, and tive, holistic, Biodynamic, biointensive, and the water are treated. And they are working biological farming systems. All of them, rep- to forge stronger bonds between producers resenting thousands of farms, have contrib- and consumers that will, in time, cement the uted to our understanding of what sustain- foundations of locally and regionally self- able systems are, and each of them shares sufficient food systems. In contrast to mono- a vision of “farming with nature,” an agro- cropped industrial megafarms that ship ecology that promotes biodiversity, recycles plant nutrients, protects soil from erosion, Jam processed on-farm is one example of a value- conserves and protects water, uses mini- added product. Photo by Nathalie Dulex. ittle by mum tillage, and integrates crop and live- little—one stock enterprises on the farm. crop, one L But no matter how elegant the system or how field, one family at accomplished the farmer, no agriculture is a time—sustain- sustainable if it’s not also profitable, able to able farming is provide a healthy family income and a good quality of life. Sustainable practices lend taking root. themselves to smaller, family-scale farms. These farms, in turn, tend to find their best niches in local markets, within local food sys- tems, often selling directly to consumers. As alternatives to industrial agriculture evolve, so must their markets and the farmers who serve them. Creating and serving new mar- kets remains one of the key challenges for sustainable agriculture. How Do We Achieve Sustainability? Farmers and other agricultural thinkers have throughout the world, the vision of sustain- established a strong set of guiding principles able agriculture’s futurists is small to mid- for sustainability, based on stewardship and size diversified farms supplying the majority economic justice. Producers and researchers of their region’s food. (No one in Idaho has are annually increasing the pace of improve- to give up orange juice, and there will still ments in agro-ecology systems, making them be cranberries in California for Thanksgiv- more efficient and profitable. More Coopera- ing.) tive Extension offices and colleges of agricul- Listed below are some of the key consider- ture are endorsing sustainable practices. And ations for making a farm more sustainable, every year more farmers are seeing the wis- along with relevant ATTRA publications in dom and rewards—both economic and per- those areas. Because each farm is differ- sonal—in these systems. (Organic products ent, there’s no single formula for sustainable are the fastest growing grocery segment in success, but these principles and publica- the United States.) Little by little—one crop, tions are good places to begin learning what Page 2 ATTRA Sustainable Agriculture: An Introduction it will take. And for a more detailed look at some of these same fundamentals, see the ATTRA publication Applying the Principles of Sustainable Agriculture. Know Your Markets, Protect Your Profits, and Add Value to Your Products • Diversify enterprises. • Market outside the commodity supply chains and corporate vertical integra- tors. • Emphasize direct marketing and pre- mium specialty markets. • Consider forming a cooperative with other farmers. • Add value through on-farm processing. 4 USDA-RBS Series on Cooperatives Fresh peaches at a 4 Holistic Management 4 Keys to Success in Value-added farmers market in Cali- 4 Evaluating a Rural Enterprise Agriculture fornia. Photo by Erik Moving Beyond Conventional Cash Dungan. 4 4 Adding Value to Farm Products: An Cropping Overview Entertainment Farming 4 4 Grain Processing and Agri-Tourism 4 Oilseed Processing for Small Producers 4 Agricultural Business Planning Templates 4 Food Dehydration Options Soyfoods: Adding Value to Soybeans 4 Enterprise Budgets and Production Costs 4 for Organic Production 4 Sorghum Syrup 4 Preparing for an Organic Inspection: 4 Value-added Dairy Options Steps and Checklists 4 Direct Marketing Build Soil Structure 4 Farmers’ Markets and Fertility 4 CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) • Reduce the use of synthetic fertilizers by 4 Bringing Local Food to Local Institutions increasing on-farm nutrient cycling. 4 Selling to Restaurants • Make fertilization decisions based on 4 Organic Certification and the National Organic Program soil tests. 4 Organic Marketing Resources • Minimize or eliminate tillage. 4 Alternative Meat Marketing • Think of the soil not only as a physical and chemical substrate but as a living entity; manage the soil organisms to pre- serve their healthy diversity. • Maintain ground cover year-round by using cover crops and mulches and by leaving crop residues in the field. 4 Sustainable Soil Management 4 Drought Resistant Soil 4 Nutrient Cycling in Pastures 4 Manures for Organic Crop Production No-till soybeans growing through wheat stubble in Kansas. Photo courtesy USDA NRCS. www.attra.ncat.org ATTRA Page 3 and sediment movement into lakes and streams. • Manage irrigation to enhance nutrient uptake and decrease nutrient leaching. • Produce livestock in pasture-based sys- tems. 4 Nutrient Cycling in Pastures 4 Protecting Water Quality on Organic Farms 4 Protecting Riparian Areas 4 Managed Grazing in Riparian Areas 4 Conservation Easements 4 Montana Irrigator’s Pocket Guide 4 Constructed Wetlands 4 Conservation Tillage 4 Sustainable Soil Management 4 Drought Resistant Soil 4 Sustainable Pasture Management Streams without conser- 4 Overview of Cover Crops and Green 4 Agroforestry Overview vation buffers run higher Manures risks of streambank 4 Overview of Organic Crop Production erosion, contamination Manage Pests Ecologically; 4 Farm-scale Composting Resource List with farm chemicals, Use Minimal Pesticides and sedimentation, as 4 Conservation Tillage well as offer no habitat 4 Pursuing