What is Sustainable Agriculture?

Sustainable agriculture can be defined in many ways, but ultimately it seeks to sustain farmers, resources and communities by promoting farming practices and methods that are profitable, environmentally sound and good for communities. Sustainable agriculture fits into and complements modern agriculture. It rewards the true values of producers and their products. It draws and learns from organic farming. It works on farms and ranches large and small, harnessing new technologies and renewing the best practices of the past.

Sustainable agriculture defined

One of the best ways to understand sustainability is to look through the eyes of farmers and ranchers and their support professionals, those who are seeking sustainable solutions to agricultural challenges. Consider these projects, all funded by Western SARE grants:

• In Montana, researchers using a Western SARE Research and Education grant found that sheep grazing wheat stubble suppressed a yield-robbing insect, and, at the same time, reduced weed populations and fertilized the soil.
• A Colorado sheep producer, seeking to expand his income options, used a SARE Producer grant to start a sheep dairy. He now milks more than 200 ewes and can barely keep up with demand.
• A Nevada extension specialist used a SARE Professional Development Program grant to develop an educational program, in concert with specialists from several other Western states, to teach owners of small acreage on urban fringes how to manage their resources in ways that are economically beneficial and environmentally responsible.
• In the irrigated desert of Southern California, producers and researchers, collaborating in a Research and Education grant, found that cowpea plowed down as a green manure and used as mulch in reduced tillage systems increased yields and reduced weeds and nematodes.
• Hawaii pork producers used a SARE Producer grant to develop an on-farm sales outlet that allowed them to sell directly to consumers, increasing their sales and drawing a closer link between people and their food.
• An Idaho-cattle producing family harnessed a SARE Producer grant to expand their operation with weed-eating goats, finding a profitable enterprise offering goats for hire by land-management agencies.
• Projects funded by Professional Development Program grants in Oregon and Washington are teaching producers of both crops and animals about successfully managing both commercial and natural nutrients to prevent environmental degradation and obtain the greatest economical benefit.
• In Utah, an extension agronomist, funded by a SARE Research and Education grant and working with poultry producers, found that composting chicken manure reduced odors and flies and yielded a marketable product for land application

In short Sustainable Agriculture is:

• Economically Viable: If it is not profitable, it is not sustainable.
• Socially Supportive: The quality of life of farmers, farm families and farm communities is important.
• Ecologically Sound. We must preserve the resource base that sustains us all.

Beyond the Congressional definition, sustainable agriculture has been defined in several ways, for example, as a system that can indefinitely sustain itself without degrading the land, the environment or the people. It reflects our concern with the long-term viability of agriculture.

Dr. John E. Ikerd, Extension Professor at the University of Missouri, offers his view of sustainability: "A sustainable agriculture must be economically viable, socially responsible and ecologically sound. The economic, social and ecological are interrelated, and all are essential to sustainability. An agriculture that uses up or degrades its natural resource base, or pollutes the natural environment, eventually will lose its ability to produce. It's not sustainable. An agriculture that isn't profitable, at least over time, will not allow its farmers to stay in business. It's not sustainable. An agriculture that fails to meet the needs of society, as producers and citizens as well as consumers, will not be sustained by society. It's not sustainable. A sustainable agriculture must be all three - ecologically sound, economically viable and socially responsible. And the three must be in harmony."

However it is defined, sustainable agriculture will affect how you operate your farm or ranch.