Sustainable Agriculture Is The Way Of Producing Food Without An Environment Essay

One of the biggest issues accompanied with modern agriculture is land use. In the United States, for example, around 60 percent of land is used to grow produce and livestock. With such an extensive use of land

The article, “The Animals Place: Practicing Complexity”, by Michael Pollan discusses the benefits of natural farming and contrasts in industrial farming. According to Pollan, natural farming is the best way of agriculture. Pollan cites that not only does it provide organic supplies, but the taste of the products are more rich and tasty. Moreover, the article goes more in depth on his experience in an ecological farm called Polyface. I agree with author on the beliefs of farming and cultivating with an environmental method.

What is sustainable agriculture? Sustainable agriculture is an alternative for solving fundamental and applied issues related to food production in an ecological way. ‘‘Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals– environmental health, economic profitability, and social and economic equity” (Kaushik 92). Energy conservation is a huge controversy around the world. There is too much energy being wasted and people are not caring enough to fix this problem. To fix this problem we need to turn to renewable energy resources.

In food service it is important to realize and address hot button issues within the industry to begin to understand what the target market wants, increase revenue and decrease cost centers. In researching the increasingly pressing issue of food sustainability in global food service it was discovered that implementations are initially expensive and require large amounts of dedication but are ultimately huge factors in increasing brand loyalty and recognition and gaining popularity within the “green” market segment. It was the goal of this paper to outline specific concerns posed by the issue of food sustainability as well as methods of the industry’s participation in its solutions and to analyze the progress made to increase awareness of

The rising costs of land and the simultaneous costs of water make it so 30% of farm households have negative income. The cost of sustainability, such a new tilling methods and access to water, also strains farms. This often leads to farmers self-exploiting themselves to try to generate the most crops possible and cultivate their land to the fullest extent.

Since the time of when early settlers arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, farming has proven to be a reliable solution to many crises within the food industry. After all, learning how to farm from the Native Americans saved the colonies from famine during the 17th century. Fast-forward a couple centuries to the 1800s. During the 1840s, commercial farming became a new trend as farmers began seeing quicker production and a bigger profit. The inventions of irrigation and chemical fertilizers also happened during this time. Subsequently, these farming techniques have further influenced the ones today. However, the introduction of organic farming methods has created uproar within the agricultural industry due to its impressive success. Polyface farms have become the leading icon for how organic farming methods can and will be most successful in the journey towards revitalizing the United States’ food industry.

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

“The UN along with other agencies reported that not only did livestock play a major role in global warming, it is also the leading cause of resource consumption and environmental degradation destroying the planet today.” (Andersen & Kuhn, 2014). It is important, then, to consider the effects of animal agriculture on the environment. This essay will argue that animal agriculture is harmful to the environment in terms of greenhouse gas emissions, water- and land use, and that policies in the form of subsidizing plant foods, altering the Canada Food Guide, and creating plant based nutrition coaching and support groups should be enacted to solve these problems. The first section of this paper will outline scholarly literature on the effects of animal agriculture on the environment. This paper will then discuss why a plant based diet is also suitable for optimal health. Finally, this essay will conclude with an overview of the various social policies that must be executed to solve these environmental issues.

The Brundtland report defined sustainable development as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” From early times, philosophers, such as Thomas Malthus, believed humanity could not be sustained. Malthus believed mankind would reach their carrying capacity, specifically with regards to food. Yet, this notion changed in subsequent years, thanks in part to the green revolution. This revolution helped increase crop yields due to new fertilizers, pesticides, etc. While there became more food available, sustainability, with regards to producing food in an environmentally friendly way, ran into some difficulties. While the Brundtland commission defined sustainability, there are three components that must be integrated for the well-being of all—social, environmental, and economic. Each component of sustainability must be looked at critically when considering the sustainable use of any resource. While many simply worried about having enough food available in the world, one must think of food sustainability with regards to environmental, economic, and social implications. As follows, the importance of food sustainability will be discussed, along with the attempts to measure food sustainability.

     Agriculture has changed dramatically, especially since the end of World War II. Food and fibre productivity rose due to new technologies, mechanization, increased chemical use, specialization and government policies that favoured maximizing production. These changes allowed fewer farmers with reduced labour demands to produce the majority of the food and fibre.

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.

Organic farming is becoming an increasingly popular market throughout the world. (Adam, 2004, p. 666). The aims of organic farming are, to decrease pollution, maintain soil fertility and biodiversity, be more sustainable, and have increased nutritional benefits than conventionally grown foods (Yaping et. al., 2003, p. 298). While the aim of conventional farming is to provide safe, proficient supplies of food, in abundance and at low prices (Trewavas, 2001, p.409). Since 1996, the amount of land in the UK dedicated to organic farming has risen tenfold (Adam, 2004, p. 666). As well, from 1992 to 1997, the amount of certified organic cropland in the US more than doubled (Tafel et al, 2007, p.182 ). The main difference between organic and

Sustainability development has three components: environment, society, and economy. If you consider the three to be overlapping circles of the same size, the area of overlap in the center is human well-being. As the environment, society, and economy become more aligned, the area of overlap increases, and so does human well-being. Therefore, education for sustainable development (ESD) is the use of education as a tool to achieve sustainability. Simply put, ESD is a way to make the world a safer, healthier, and more livable place for us and future generations (McKeown, 2002, pgs 7-9).

Organic agriculture is the oldest type of agriculture there is. Many people don't know exactly what has to be done to say that you are farming organically, these days. Organic Agriculture has been increasing in size over the past few years as more people worry about what they are eating. Many people donít know what it exactly means to be farming organically.

Agriculture in the United States has changed dramatically over the centuries. Since the 1960’s large commercial farms have been leading in sales. As a direct result of their success we, as a society, have access to affordable food. However, the success of large farms has lead to many negative impacts such as increased usage of resources and decreased diversity in crop fields. This begs the question, what can be done to reduce the negative impacts of large farms. One solution growing in popularity is sustainable agriculture. The idea of sustainable agriculture is to create farms that need little to no outside help from irrigation, pesticides, or fertilizers. Sustainability can be achieved in many way through