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Sustainable agriculture practice.
In accordance to Charles (2010) the term sustainable agriculture means “any system of food and fiber production that follows the following goals: (a) Reduction of the use of off-farm inputs that have a great potential to harm the health of farmers and consumers or the environment, (b) production of biological and genetic potential of plant and animal species, (c) profitable and efficient production with emphasis on improvements of farm management and conservation of soil, water, energy, and biological resources, (d) incorporation of the natural processes, including fixation of nitrogen, nutrients cycling, and pest-predator relationships into the agricultural production processes, and (e) improvements of the match between cropping patterns and the productive potential and physical limitations of agricultural lands to ensure long term sustainability of current production levels”.
It therefore allows farmers to produce food that is healthy without compromising the future generation to also do the same. Due to the factors that cause the decline in agricultural productivity and the aim of minimising them through operating sustainable there has been some ongoing researches on this term. These researches have found out that the arable land in the developed countries, developing countries,
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In the food and agriculture organisation it is defined as the careful consideration of all available pest control techniques that best discourage the development of pest populations. This method does not in any ways harm the health and the environment. It encourages the growth of healthy crops with the least possible disruption to agro-ecosystems, it also encourage the control of pest that is natural (--). As mentioned above, integrated pest management has lest risk, has high benefits and it reduce the costs. It is also best in sustaining
Curtis's model for sustainable farming is particularly compelling in that it offers an alternative to the usual suggestion that we return to small locally-own...
Tilman, David, Kenneth G. Cassman, Pamela A. Matson, Rosamond Naylor, and Stephen Polasky. "Agricultural Sustainability and Intensive Production Practices : Article : Nature." Nature 418 (2002). Nature Publishing Group : Science Journals, Jobs, and Information. Web. 31 Nov. 2011.
Agriculture plays an enormous part in having a functioning society. The farming fields in the
Take, for example, that livestock agriculture and the plant-based agriculture specifically used for feeding that livestock utilizes 30 percent of land on Earth. With crops in high demand to feed the many animals that are slaughtered or otherwise used by humans, it's been found that the soil has lost a great deal of its nutritional value and has eroded to the point that, in the United States, nearly 33 percent of topsoil is diminished.
PEST Analysis involves identifying the political, economic, social and technological influences on an organization. It is increasingly useful to relate such influences to growing trends towards globalizations-of possible futures, to consider the extent to which strategies might need to change.
...not have to be this way. For natural agriculture to become a possibility, we must change the system. Changing the system involves change at the policy level. Rather than subsidizing the industrial farmers, government should subsidize the natural agriculturalists. Subsidizing local farmers would not only guarantee local farms remaining in the system but would guarantee land preservation and healthy foods at cheaper costs, allowing everyone the opportunity to join the system. However, “acting alone, secular environmentalists,” such as Polyface and Yokna Bottoms Farms, do not have the strength to fight the necessary political battle (Wilson 3). Working together and building the agriculture network from the bottom up will be the only way to ensure that our food system will work for the earth, not against it. Until then, I see no realistic future for natural agriculture.
For years organic farmers and conventional farmers have feuded over which is superior. Organic farmers argue that their product is more eco-friendly because they do not use the synthetic chemicals and fertilizers conventional farmer’s use. Conventional farmers argue that their product is healthier and yields more. People tend to have stereotypes regarding the two types of farmers. Organic farmers are usually thought of as liberal, hippy, tree-huggers while conventional farmers are usually thought of as right-wing, industrialists. Obviously, some do adhere to this stereotype, but a majority of these farmers are normal, hardworking people. Although these farmers, both believe in their methods, one is no better than the other. There are advantages and disadvantages to both, but there is no true superior method of crop farming.
Instead of using pesticides in farming a better alternative would be biological control. This is when a natural predator is released into the crop growing area as a result the number of pests can be reduced.
Sustainable crop production is a way of growing or raising food in an ecologically and ethically responsible manner. FThis includes adhering to agricultural and food production practices that do not harm the environment, that provide fair treatment to workers, and that support and sustain local communities. FSustainable crop production is in contrast to industrial crop production, G which generally relies upon monocropping (growing only one crop in a large area of land), intensive application of commercial fertilizers, heavy use of pesticides, and other inputs that are damaging to the environment, to communities, and to farm workers. In addition, sustainable crop production practices can lead to higher yields over time, with less need
As agriculture has become more intensive, farmers have become capable of producing higher yields using less labour and less land. Growth of the agriculture has not, however, been an unmixed blessing. It, like every other thing, has its pros and cons. Topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, the decline of family farms, continued neglect of the living and working conditions for farm labourers, increasing costs of production, and the disintegration of economic and social conditions in rural communities. These are the cons of the new improved agriculture.
Agriculture is one of the most ancient forms of art and science that ties human development and well-being to natural resources and ecosystems. (Fritz J. Häni, 2007) Sustainable Agriculture is the production of food, fibre, plant and animal products using farming techniques that protect the environment, public health, human communities and animal welfare. (Sustainable Agriculture - The Basics, 2015) Sustainable agriculture is an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site – specific application that over the long term will:
How is the important of food production? That agriculture is one of the most essential means of producing food is realized easily when we think of the types of things that we eat. The rice or wheat that we eat comes from the land. Even potatoes and other roots or vegetables and even leaves such as tea, as well as the fruits that men eat are the products of the soil that covers the earth. In fact, everything that we eat, except meat, fish and other kinds of flesh comes from the land, and what grows on the land is part of agriculture. Even the sugar, oil, coffee and other beverages that we use are products of plants that grow on land. In the same way, many of the medicines that we use is made of plants that grow in various parts of the
Today agriculture is the livelihood of most poor underdeveloped nations. This communal life blood provides a majority of the population with a source of employment, nourishment and income. It is considered to be an invaluable skill, that is taught down from generation to generation along with a sense of respect for the environment. However as a nation begins to undergo development, so do their food production systems. The country's newfound development causes significant restructuring of their agricultural production practices. This restructuring leads to poor environmental practices, and adverse agriculture methods. Increased economic development/production negatively affects a country's environmental and agricultural health.
However, the opposing argument suggests that if farming was not only extensified, but also made sustainable, then the positive ecological gain would outweigh the loss of some natural habitats. Technology has provided few suggestions as to how intensive productivist agriculture could be replaced, and the protest against GM crops is narrowing down current alternatives. The impact of modern farming on the environment is certainly damaging, but it provides a tangible and potentially successful solution to the worlds hunger.
After almost a century of neglect, organic farming is now finding place in the mainstream of development and shows great promise commercially, socially and environmentally. While there is continuum of thought from earlier days to the present, the modern organic movement is radically different from its original form. It now has environmental sustainability and productivity at its core, in addition to the founders concerns for healthy soil, healthy food and healthy people. Based on the technique of organic farming, it utilizes organic wastes such as the remains of plants, animals as well as farm wastes and aquatic wastes; including other biological materials, mostly produced insitu along with beneficial microbes (biofertilizers) to release nutrients to crops, which connotes the ‘organic’ nature of organic farming. For clarity purposes, Organic Farming (OF) is different from Certified Organic Farming (COF). While OF employs the understanding and knowledge of naturally occurring process through the relationship with the environment, COF includes the checks and balances to maintain soil fertility and the control of insect, pest and diseases based on commercial quality control and marketing mechanism (NHM, 2015). Within the philosophy of organic farming, all aspects of farming system are interlinked with each other and rely on each other through organic management. This is obvious from the web relationship explained thus: A healthy biologically active soil is the source of crop nutrition, on-farm biodiversity controls pests, crop rotation and multiple cropping maintains the system’s health and on-farm resource management with integration of animal husbandry ensure