Sustainable
Agriculture: a necessary alternative to industrial
agriculture
in the twenty-first century.
By: Debra J. Brubaker
Biology Senior Seminar
Dr. Stan Grove
Outline
I.
A.
Background
B.
Thesis
II. Industrial
Agriculture: can the trend continue
1.
Increase yield
2.
establishment of industrial
economy
1.
Contamination of water,
air, etc.
2.
Depletion of Natural
Resource Base
3.
Soil Erosion
C.
Decline
of Rural Communities
D.
The
Outlook
III.
Sustainable
Agriculture: a necessary alternative
1.
Decreasing external inputs
2.
Soil conservation
3.
Fossil Fuel conservation
B.
Sustaining
the farmer and community
1.
Value vs. Cost
2.
CSA
IV. Conclusion: Sustaining the Future
Agriculture has been a fundamental component of human societies for
centuries. It is so fundamental in fact that it is often
forgotten by those dependent on its products, but not directly involved in
the production. As we enter the 21st
century, agriculture is beginning to receive more attention from the general
public as the implications of farming are realized and the problem of potential
world wide food shortage is addressed. With the future in focus, much of agricultural
establishment uses words like biotech, and high-tech to describe their goals
for
While these forecasts are legitimate, a growing number of agriculturalists,
concerned public, and educators envision a very different future for agriculture.
Such a view is represented in the writings of John E. Ikerd,
an agricultural economist and Professor Emeritus at the
Industrial
Agriculture: Can the trend continue?
At the start of the 20th century, the gains from industrializing
agriculture were undeniable. As an
agrarian society, much of the time, money, energy, and resources of farming
went to support the farming community themselves.
At the same time, the opportunities of the industrial revolution were
becoming evident. In order to harness
such opportunities, it was necessary to free up individuals to work in manufacturing
as well to make it possible for the public to have the economic resources
to buy the products of the new industries.
These two things were achieved by applying concept of industry to agriculture.
Through specialization, mechanization, and well developed process,
it was possible to produce more food more quickly and cheaply with a smaller
manual labor force. This new industrial agriculture was so efficient
in regards to dollars and cents that it resulted in great economic gains for
individuals and the
While the industrial agriculture movement was beneficial in the past,
many feel like the objectives of the movement have been achieved and the continuation
of such practices result in more harm than benefits at the beginning of the
21st century. At the same
time that industrial practices increased production, they have also resulted
in the requirement of external inputs (such as chemical fertilizers and pesticides),
increasing environmental concerns, and weakening of rural economies. According Jules N. Pretty's book Regenerating Agriculture
pesticide and fertilizer consumption has increased drastically with nitrogen
use increasing from 2 to 75 million tons in the past 45 years.
Additionally pesticide use in many individual countries has increased
10 to 30% since the 1980's (3).
Dependence on external inputs to keep production rates high results
in farmers reliance on agrochemical companies which can keep prices of their
product high while farmers get less and less for their product because of
increasing production nationwide.
The increased use of synthetic chemical and pesticides is not only
a concern for the sustainability of the farmer but also of the natural world. The uses of these chemicals in addition to other
conventional agriculture practices have resulted in concerns with the chemical
contamination of drinking water, food, and atmosphere (Pretty
4). For example, heavy use of synthetic fertilizer
and livestock confinement has resulted in large levels of nitrate entering
the groundwater. High concentration
of nitrates has been proven to be harmful to infants, and sometimes even fatal
(Gardner 8). Residue
of pesticides on farm products has been of increasing concern, and increased
levels of ammonia, methane, and other gases has been linked to ozone depletion
(Pretty 60).
Other environmental concerns include depletion of the natural resource
base including water and energy fuels. Industrial
practices require more water than the commercial, industrial, and residential
sectors combined. This has lead to
ground water depletion, conflict over water rights, and increased threats
to fish and other aquatic organisms (
The area of environmental concern that has been addressed the most
thoroughly in the past has been the issue of soil erosion.
Large scale farming most often involves large mono-cropped fields which
are used year after year. Such use
results in the depletion of crop residue and soil infrastructure making the
land more vulnerable to loss of topsoil. Industrial
agricultural practices have attempted to address this issue through conservation
programs and encouraging no-till farming practices. These have been successful to a certain extent.
Conservation, or land set aside programs have encouraged many farmers
to reduce the acreage they farm and leaving a certain proportion of the land
in cover year around. The relatively new concept of no till farming
which involves planting crops directly in a field with crop residue still
on the surface rather than plowing has decreased topsoil erosion effectively,
but has also resulted in higher herbicide and fertilizer runoff (USDA). Many other attempts have been made, but few
have been proven effective despite the large amount of funding that has been
aimed at achieving them (Pretty
35).
An area of concern equal to the impact of industrial agriculture on
the environment is its effect on rural farmers and communities. From the start of the industrial movement, specialization
and mechanization has required fewer and fewer people to produce the same
amount of food. In the beginning this
freed people to work in factories and other town or city jobs, but now such
efficiency in production pushing persons from the farming lifestyle because
they are no longer able to support themselves. In order to survive as a farm, farmers need
to become larger to compete, but with a limited number of people to feed and
limited land, some farmers must lose in order for others to succeed. Additionally
large farms need to bypass local suppliers of chemicals, seed, and equipment
in order to be able to compete. Because
of this, local businesses lose out. With failing local businesses and farms, persons
are leaving rural areas so grocery stores, drugstores, and even schools are
failing. This dilemma is resulting
in desolate towns. The picture looks bleak for rural
The Outlook for
Industrial Agriculture
The negative impacts of industrial agriculture
are evident, but many believe that it still represents the best path for agricultural
development. Others believe that industrialization
has very little left to offer, especially in the
Such justification has its flaws.
First of all, industrial practices that result in increase yield are
already developed and unavailable to farmers of the developing countries because
of the requirement of large amount of external input to maintain soil fertility.
Such products are expensive and therefore unattainable by a large percentage
of the agrarian population. Those that
oppose increased industrialization and use of controversial biotechnology
argue increased industrialization has never been effectively innovated in
developing countries in its many years of existence so there is little hope
that increased technology will make a difference soon enough (Pretty
7).
Sustainable
Agriculture: a necessary alternative
to industrial agriculture
So what is the alternative? With increased environmental problems, dying
rural communities, and concern of world wide food shortage, some changes must
occur in the way agriculture is carried out.
There is more than one way to farm the land. While large numbers of people have been involved
in industrial or conventional farming, a growing number of people have been
moving in the direction of sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture emerged in the early
1980's to try and counteract many of the problems associated with conventional
agriculture. Sustainable Agricultural
is a goal rather than a set of well defined practices. Nearly the only consensus is that sustainable
agriculture must be environmentally sound, economically viable, and socially
just. Generally the picture of a sustainable
agriculture practice is one that is "highly diversified, flexible, environmentally
sound family farming that replaces chemical-intensive practices with on farm
resources, renewable energy, conservation, and skillful management of natural
processes (
While the concept of sustainable agriculture
is understood by larger and larger numbers of the population, it is difficult
to translate the defining principles into practices. The question is how can farmers develop operations
that will fulfill the goals? Many skeptics
of this alternative say the there is no way farmers will be able to implement
sustainable practices and be able to compete with large scale corporate agriculture.
As John E. Ikerd responds in his paper, "Sustainable
Agriculture: A positive alternative to Industrial Agriculture," by
saying, "They are not going to compete with industrial agriculture."
One example that shows that sustainable farms are succeeding is in the North
Western States in Europe where 2800 farmers who produce twice as many
crops as conventional farmers use 60 to 70% less fertilizers, pesticides,
and energy, and yet their yields are roughly comparable. Additionally these farms contributed more to
the local economy with each farm contributing more than £13500 for local goods
and services (Supporting... 28). Opportunities for farmers of the future will come from farming in
ways that are fundamentally different from both ways of the past and the present.
Sustainable agriculturalists have a
deep regard for sustaining the integrity of our environment. Sustainable agricultural practices attempt to
respond directly to pesticide contamination of land, air, water, and wildlife,
high rates of soil erosion and degradation, dependence on fossil fuels, as
well as other environmental issues. These
practices focus on significantly reducing or eliminating the use of synthetic
chemical and fertilizers. Instead of
using large amounts of pesticides to minimize crop loss by insects, weeds,
or disease, alternatives such as biological pest control, resistant crop varieties,
crop rotation, and the use of beneficial insects are applied. Sustainable farmers work to develop healthy
soil structure through cover cropping and application of composted manure. By doing so farmers are able to drastically
reduce the need for fertilizers (Hassanein
5).
A farmer worried
about maintaining soil fertility must also be concerned with eliminating top
soil erosion since it is the top soil that is the most productive layer.
There are many different soil conservation technique that are used
together to maintain a healthy topsoil. Some
of these practices are contour farming, conservation tillage, mulching and
cover crops, as well as others. Contour
farming involves farming across the slope rather than up and down a slope. Sometimes physical structures such as terraces
are used to hold back ground. Other
times fields are alternated so that a farming field is up hill from one that
remains in sod or other vegetation. Each sod strip than serves as a silt trap for
the field above it. Conservation tillage
basically means that the soil is disturbed as little as possible. Such practices can range from no tillage farming
to cultivation which only disturbs the surface. The less the soil is disturbed the less likely
it is to be eroded. Mulching and cover
cropping are practices used to increase crop residue in the soil. Cover-crops often serve as a "green mulch"
and are a positive alternative to leaving a barren field fallow.
In addition to conserving soil, cover crops often are able to add nutrients
to the soil. Mulching is a process of covering bare soil
with dead or dying plants to reduce exposure to hard rain and wind. Such practices when used in combination are
very effective at conserving top soil (Pretty 120-122).
Sustainable
agriculture advocates for the decreased reliance on fossil fuels both on the
farm as well as by stressing the need for local food systems. Many sustainable farmers aim to market their
products as close to their farm as possible rather than depending on fossil
fuels to transport their goods from one side of the country to the other.
These examples
of resource conserving practices only represent a few of the numerous practices
used to insure the sustainability of our finite resources for years to come.
These practices do two important things:
they conserve existing farm resources, and introduce new elements into
the farming system that add more of the resources for years to come.
In the process, they are able to substitute for some or all of external
inputs that are often required in the conventional system (Pretty
129).
Sustaining the farmer and the community
While
industrial agriculture has driven many farmers to bigger productions or out of
farming all together, many small family farmers have found hope in the area of
sustainable agriculture. Opportunities
for small farmers lie in their ability to exploit the weaknesses of
industrialization and focus on the strengths of the sustainable
alternative. Sustainable farmers have
been able to create a market for their product without competing with the
conventional farmers by focusing on value rather than cost. In the
Neva Hassanein in her book Changing the way America
Farms quotes Harriet Freedman, an advocate of community
food security saying "the sustainable agriculture must reconnect consumers
and producers to forge new relationships around more locally responsive food
systems rather than around commodity markets," (Hassenein 4).
This relationship between the farmer and the community is one of the
main strengths of the sustainable agriculture movement. Farmers are able to
market their product by building relationship with customers that have been
neglected by the mass marketing technique of large corporations.
A growing initiative under the sustainable agriculture umbrella, referred
to as Community Supported Agriculture represents the extreme of community
involvement. In this type of program,
a community member will pay at the beginning of the season for a weekly allotment
of produce. By paying at the beginning
of the season customers share some of the risk of farming which is affected
by natural systems uncontrollable by the farmer.
They also can benefit by sharing in the bounty of harvest. In addition to paying for the produce, CSA members
are encouraged to participate in the farming when they are able. Often farmers offer field days in which farmers
and customers work side by side to produce the food they are all eating.
While it is unlikely that such relationships will occur on a large
scale, they guarantee a place for the small farmer in rural
Sustainable Agriculture:
Sustaining the future
Industrial
agriculture has been beneficial in the past by increasing yield and enabling
the establishment of a solid economy, but growing problems with industrial
agriculture show the system needs to be evaluated, and new alternatives must
be explored. Sustainable agriculture
with its range of practices offers a necessary alternative which improves
on aspects in which industrialization has failed.
Sustainable agriculture does not require a rejection of all new technologies,
but instead incorporates new technology into a system that attempts to evaluate
the impact of new technologies on the environment, farmer, and community.
It steps back from the industrial drive to mechanize and specialize
and recognizes that long term sustainability of agriculture depends on land
that is constantly renewed by good management rather than external inputs.
It depends on farms that are economically viable and communities that can
differentiate between value and cost of a product.
In the words of Wendell Berry is his book What
are People For?, "if agriculture is to remain productive, it
must preserve the land and the fertility and ecological health of the land;
the land, that is, must be used well. A
further requirement, therefore, is that if the land is to be used well, the
people who use it must know it well, must be highly motivated to use it well,
must know how to use it well, must have time to use it well, and must be able
to afford to use it well" (Healthy Farms Healthy Communities).
Works Cited
Gardner, John C. et al Planting the Future: developing an agriculture that sustains land and
community.
Hassanein, Neva. Changing
the Way
Ikerd, John "Healthy Farms Healthy Communities"9.
February 2002.
<http://www.ssu.missouri.edu/faculty/JIkerd/papers/SustainableLink.html>.
--- "Sustainable Agriculture:
A Positive Alternative to Industrial Agriculture"
--- "Rethinking the Role
of Agriculture in the Future of Rural Communities" 25, January 2002.
Pretty, Jules N. Regenerating
Agriculture: Policies and Practice for Sustainability and Self-reliance.
--- "Supporting
Policies and Practice." Facilitating Sustainable Agriculture. ed.
N. G. Roling and M.A.E. Wagemakers.
USDA Press Release. "Fitting
Farming Practices to Minimize Water Pollutionä