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Sustainable Agricultural Practices

Sustainable agricultural practices aim to meet current food needs without compromising future generations' ability to do the same. This involves integrating environmental health, economic profitability, and social equity. The document outlines several key sustainable practices like crop rotation, integrated pest management, water conservation, and alternative energy use. Crop rotation improves soil nutrients and yields while integrated pest management controls pests naturally through predator reintroduction and breaking pest cycles. Water conservation is important since agriculture uses most water, and planting native crops in similar climates reduces water needs.

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Veverley Carupo
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155 views

Sustainable Agricultural Practices

Sustainable agricultural practices aim to meet current food needs without compromising future generations' ability to do the same. This involves integrating environmental health, economic profitability, and social equity. The document outlines several key sustainable practices like crop rotation, integrated pest management, water conservation, and alternative energy use. Crop rotation improves soil nutrients and yields while integrated pest management controls pests naturally through predator reintroduction and breaking pest cycles. Water conservation is important since agriculture uses most water, and planting native crops in similar climates reduces water needs.

Uploaded by

Veverley Carupo
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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SUSTAINABLE

AGRICULTURAL
PRACTICES
• The goal of sustainable agriculture is to meet society’s food and
textile needs in the present without compromising the ability of
future generations to meet their own needs. Practitioners of
sustainable agriculture seek to integrate three main objectives
into their work: a healthy environment, economic profitability,
and social and economic equity. Every person involved in the
food system—growers, food processors, distributors, retailers,
consumers, and waste managers—can play a role in ensuring a
sustainable agricultural system.

• There are many practices commonly used by people working in


sustainable agricultural practice:
Crop Rotation
• is one of the earliest methods of sustainable farming, and has
been employed since the mid-19th century. A farmer who plants
fields of corn year after year eventually depletes his soil of
essential nutrients. Because these are required for healthy corn
to grow, the farmer must replenish his fields with fertilizers that
contain elements like nitrogen, potassium and phosphorus.

• This is a problem for farmers in countries without developed


infrastructures. Because transporting the fertilizer becomes so
labor intensive, the price skyrockets.

• Crop rotation is the natural solution to this particular


conundrum. Studies have shown that corn grown biennially, with
soybeans grown in the same fields on the off years, yields 5 to 20
percent more harvest.
Integrated Pest Management
• The same crop planted year after year provides
a reliable food source for insects that prey upon
it. Replacing that food source with another
breaks down the reproductive cycle of the insect
population, ultimately controlling the
insects’ numbers.
• Integrated Pest Management also advocates the
reintroduction of insects’ natural predators.
Bats, birds and spiders all play a role in
managing pests, though they are often killed off
by insecticides.
Water Conservation
• One of the most important aspects of sustainable farming is
water conservation. Nearly 70 percent of the world’s water
consumption goes to the agriculture sector. This amount can be
minimized by ensuring that irrigation systems are in order and
effective and by preventing water evaporation using cover crops
and mulch.
• The greatest way to conserve water is to plant crops in regions
similar to that of their native climates. Transporting large
amounts of water to sustain non-native plants is, at least,
uneconomical. It is commonly practiced in the industry,
nonetheless. On the other hand, many varieties of amaranth and
barley are drought-resistant; they thrive in areas with very little
rain.
Weeds
• Weeds are perhaps the obstacle sustainable farmers can
say the least about. On small farms, some advocate
removing them by hand. On larger farms that is
implausible. Other people propose burning fields after
harvest to prevent weeds from spreading seeds. This,
though effective, is a source of pollution and a
potential health hazard to farmhands.
Sustainable is not Organic
• A sustainable farm is not always an organic farm.
Often, the only way to deal with pests, weeds and the
like is to use commercial products. In practice,
sustainable farming seeks to make farms healthier for
people and their environment. They are not meant to
bankrupt the farmer in the pursuit of a totally ‘green’
enterprise, nor are they meant to be advertised by
those who make minimal effort to be sustainable.

• Sustainable farming is an endeavor requiring


moderation, effort and strategy, but the benefits are
worth it.
Integrated Pest Management
• The same crop planted year after year provides a
reliable food source for insects that prey upon it.
Replacing that food source with another breaks down
the reproductive cycle of the insect population,
ultimately controlling the insects’ numbers.
• Integrated Pest Management also advocates the
reintroduction of insects’ natural predators. Bats, birds
and spiders all play a role in managing pests, though
they are often killed off by insecticides.
Alternative Energy
• A commercial farmer is going to have greater
energy needs than the smallholding
permaculture gardener, simply due to the
much larger size of the land under
cultivation. However, he can still utilize
alternative, sustainable forms of energy to
perform many function on the farm, rather
than relying on fossil fuel-powered
machinery.

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