Sustainable Agriculture

Being in this group project has not only opened my eyes about the different careers in Agriculture but it has also expanded my knowledge specifically in plant science.

To conclude, our current way of agricultural life is not sustainable. The article “What’s for supper” has made me realize that if I hope for a better future for generations to come I should support a locally sourced lifestyle. This article is an eye opener to me and proved to me the importance of supporting locally grown produce. Locally grown produce supports the environment as well as jobs for people in the community. The current system takes a toll on every species on the planet. Humans are overproducing on a massive scale and are wasting close to half of our supplies and

Now, for a hydroponics there are three ways you could do it; water culture, multi flow, and ebb and flow. Water culture is a low cost and easy one and all you need is a styrofoam platform, water, and plants; Multi flow is a medium cost and is kinda hard to build and all it relies on is gravity flood plant trays with water and nutrients, a timer, float switch to control water levels, and plants; and finally Ebb and flow and that’s an easy system too and all it takes a plant tray, tubing, water pump, nutrients, water, and plants. Yet, for all of these you need a container or a fish tank to put them

The new idea of organic food involved many farmers in agricultural practices to learn about grow better products and livestock, farmers were making conclusions and trying to learn the most possible for be part of the new success. “Their goals were to grow the most nutritious food possible, while protecting the soil for future generations,”

Tomorrow’s Table suggests that organic farming as well as genetic engineering of plants can help solve some of today’s food problems. At the end of the article, it was said that growing conditions heavily affect the ways chilies turn out. The hotness of the chilies can change drastically depending on growing conditions. Therefore, we can apply organic farming and genetic engineering on the Naga King Peppers to make them mild. This way, the Naga King Chilies will appeal to more consumers than just chiliheads. Similarly, the same methods can be used on other extremely hot chilies to make them more tolerable to the average human being. By doing so, it opens up

Even though we are only conducting a small scale sustainable agriculture on campus, we wish to achieve the goals for sustainable farming. We want to be sufficiently productive, while using resources efficiently and minimize undesired and unnecessary waste. Moreover, we want to be resilient and adaptable to any changing conditions such as weather, water shortage, and labor availability. Therefore, the main goal of our project is to maximize production with limited resources and

My understanding of plants on a global scale is that most fruits and vegetables are produce and shipped out for trade. Living here in Maryland I have seen a lot of signs that local farms are marketing locally grown crops to consumers. I believe that they can do that here since residents have access to large areas of land. There is a higher demand for trees than the time that they can regrow, while sustaining an ecological balance. Bamboo is a tree that is known to grow fast and I have seen it used in flooring and various household

Local sustainable farming has many attributes, but one of the most important is to preserve the quality of the environment. Even though farming is not a new concept, many people do not know what it is or how it works, yet most of them think that food just comes from supermarkets. The current industrial agriculture system have improved the yields of production by growing monocrops such as corn and soy, which in turn is leading the land to erosion. It has also implemented the use of new technologies, mechanization, chemical products, and government policies (Ingels, Campbell 1.) However, it has had significant costs. Land deterioration, water contamination, and human health problems related to diet are some of them. As the industrial farms, sustainable farms also have high yield of production. As shown in “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” Polyface, a local sustainable farm located in virginia, produces in a season: 30,000 dozen eggs, 10,000 broilers, 800 stewing hens, 25,000 Lbs of beef, 25,000 lbs of pork, 1,000 turkeys, and 500 rabbits (14). Opposite to Industrial farming, local sustainable agriculture is helping the land recover thanks to the implementation of multicropping and the use of

For the past year or so, my fellow colleagues have asked and recommended me to watch this documentary – Cowspiracy: The Sustainability Secret, but I never had the time to watch it. I am glad that this assignment presented me with this opportunity to watch the documentary. The documentary definitely opened my eyes on how I think about both the environment and environmental activist/ organizations/ lobbies/ interest groups/ special interest groups and the list goes to whose whom advocate for our environment. Out of all the things that stood out to me the outstanding logical point that I took from this film is that the issue(s) around the animal agriculture sector is all interconnected with

The author particularly and uniquely writes through the eyes of the plants and, in doing so, lets us see from a different perspective. This book is written with a very personal touch and passion for nature. The wisdom of gardening explains why we grow certain types of apples, tulips, use marijuana, and why we doubt eating genetically-engineered potatoes, yet, within the context of human-plant relationship, it brings the uniqueness out of this book. One main theme from the book is that humans have manipulated plants in agriculture and cultivation throughout history. Humans

The agriculture field is one of the biggest employers, employing over 155 million people in the United States. What do you think about when you hear the word “agriculture?” Many people would say farming, but this is not the most common occupation in this field. Farmers make up a fraction of the agricultural jobs at 900,000, but over 2.1 million people own, rent, and claim farming as a primary source of income. The average farm size has dropped from 460 acres in 1990 to 418 acres in 2007, while the average age of this occupation rose to 57, making this one of the older workforces in the United States.

Hydroponics is one of the most innovative inventions of all time. It allows us to grow crops more quickly, more simply, and the crops are of a higher quality. This invention not only affected Ancient Mesopotamians, but it still impacts people today.

Bees buzzing, animals prancing around the gardens eating bugs and scraps, and luscious ripe fruits hanging from the trees- this is what permaculture is all about, right? Through this project, we will question if permaculture, in its entirety, is a viable/economically justifiable method of farming. The reality is that for the past one hundred years farming has grown towards primarily annual crops and monoculture practices. With the mindset of “producing as much food as possible” us agriculturists start to deprive the land. We have come to forget, or simply ignore, the consequences poor farming practices can bring to the table. Reckless modern agriculture has burdened the land with poor crop diversity, introduction of pesticide use, and limited nutrient cycling. Permaculture might have the answers to helping us set back the clock on the damage we have thus far brought to the land.

Aquaponics and hydroponics will change the way the world produces food. By 2050 the world population is expected to exceed 9 Billion people. With an increasing population and decreasing farm land, the world is beginning to face a serious problem in food production. Not only is the quantity of food produced in jeopardy, the quality and variety are declining as well. Four types of plants provide more than half the plant based calories – wheat, maize, rice, and potatoes. Additionally, 90% of the animal based protein consumed comes from only a dozen different species. What is the answer to producing quality food at a quantity to sustain the world? Biodiversity. Biodiversity, the interaction between different eco systems, has been shown to produce more and healthier food. Traditionally the answer to feeding a quickly growing world has been to over fertilize, use genetic modification, and ban the production of crops for use as biofuel. Unfortunately, there has been very little priority placed on developing biodiversity as a means of sustainability. The research that has been done on biodiversity, such as aquaponics and hydroponics, has shown that high quality food can be produced quicker and with less resources than traditional growing.

The “busts” occur because, by forcing a plant to have the highest yield it cause most of the energy to go into growing and not natural defense. To counteract the lower defenses, farmers heavily utilize pesticides. The Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources dubs heavy pesticide use as the “kill ‘em dead” approach which does kill non resistant pests however, pesticide usage selects the resistant strains (Board on Agriculture and Natural Resources). By using pesticides a feedback loop comes to fruition as pesticides increase resistance among pests while farmers find different pesticides in the hopes of staying one foot ahead. Trap cropping has been shown as a solution to the pesticide usage problem. While working towards a PhD in horticulture Jude Boucher, from the Tolland County Extension Office at the University of Connecticut, he experimented with trap cropping (SARE). Boucher set up a system where hot cherry pepper plants were planted around a crop of sweet bell peppers creating a “poisoned fence” protecting the bell pepper crop. By using trap cropping Boucher could use small and well-timed applications of pesticides resulting in a 90% decrease in pesticide use (SARE). Other farmers have also used trap cropping and have found an 18% increase in vine crop yields, a 96% decrease in pesticide use,