Chapter 10, Problem 1CR

To determine

The summary of the benefits that are brought to the community by the Growing Power farm and whether the farm displays the three scientific principles of sustainability.

Answer to Problem 1CR

The benefits of the Growing Power farm include producing a wide variety of crops, also producing organically raised chickens, goats, and other organisms. The farm nutrients are recycled in creative ways. Growing Power farm ecologically based farm and rely on the renewable energy source. It helps to maintain natural, aquatic, and agricultural biodiversity. Thus, it displays all the three scientific principles of sustainability.

Explanation of Solution

The following are the benefits of the Growing Power farm:

(i) The Growing Power farm produces an amazing diversity of crops, which include 150 varieties of organic vegetables along with organic herbs and sunflowers.

(ii) Growing Power farm also produces organically raised chickens, turkeys, goats, fish (such as perch and tilapia), and honeybees.

(iii) The nutrients of the farm are recycled in creative manners. For example, the wastes from the farmed fish are utilized as nutrients to raise some of the crops.

(iv) The farmed products are sold locally at Growing Power farm stands throughout the region and to several restaurants.

(v) The developer of Growing Power farm also worked with the city of Milwaukee to set up the Farm-to-City Market Basket program. Through this program, people can sign up for weekly deliveries of organic produce at modest prices.

(vi) Moreover, Growing Power runs an education program in which school children visit the farm and gain knowledge about the source of their food.

(vii) The farm has also partnered with Milwaukee city to create 150 new green jobs for unemployed and low-income workers, developing green-houses, and growing organic food.

Growing Power farm provides a diversity of good food to people living in a food desert. Making the transition to more sustainable food production means relying more on solar energy, which is a renewable energy source. It means sustaining chemical cycling by conserving topsoil and returning animal wastes and crop residues to the soil. It involves helping to maintain natural, aquatic, and agricultural biodiversity. The three scientific principles of sustainability suggest the different ways by which people can move towards a more sustainable future. The principles include dependence on solar energy, biodiversity, and chemical cycling. Therefore, the Growing Power farm is an ecologically based farm and showcase forms of agriculture that apply three scientific principles of sustainability.