What does “SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE” truly mean?
I work in a nutrition department that has begun to look at sustainability within our agricultural system. So what does it mean to be truly sustainable? I was curious too and happened to find the following article…enjoy!
(Article source: Seed Magazine; Image source: Berkeley )
What does “sustainable agriculture” truly mean—and what should it look like? The outlines of this long-running debate will be familiar to many. One side argues that modern, industrialized farming, for all its flaws, has mostly been a force for good, vastly improving yield, reducing food-borne illness, and saving the world from Malthusian disaster. Building upon this foundation, modern farming should be science-based and highly capitalized, employing the arsenal of innovations in chemistry, biotechnology, and satellite systems—from biotech seeds to laser-leveled fields. The other side rebuts that given the enormous environmental and social costs of intensified agriculture, a paradigm shift is needed: one that takes a whole-systems approach based on traditional knowledge, alternative agriculture, and local food system experience.
