Sustainable Agriculture

Sustainable Agriculture — page 3 — tilling the soil helps the Carvers too It saves them 20 000 per year in fuel costs and the crop residue saves them 40 000 per year in calf feed To maintain the rangeland they practice a technique known as intensive grazing management They graze each of the ranch s 70 fenced pastures no more than three weeks per year In addition to constructing fences to control where the stock goes they built watering holes to keep their cattle from further damaging the ranch's 150 miles 240 km of streams These methods promote grass growth and protect riparian or riverbank areas Since implementing these techniques steelhead trout have made a comeback and beef production has tripled Ron Carver is not surprised I like the concept of conservation he says I've seen the results of 100 years of doing it the wrong way Every time you do something with your livestock you should be thinking about the health of the land The Carvers certainly use modern technology as needed but they do not rely on flashy equipment They use brainpower common sense and a deep understanding of farm and rangeland ecology Their approach is called sustainable agriculture and it can be applied to any type of farm Take for example Don Bustos of Santa Cruz Farm in New Mexico Bustos has also been farming since the 1980s when he took over the struggling farm his family has owned for 300 years Small but Sustainable Bustos owns only 3 5 acres 1 4 ha of land along with 10 000 square feet 930 sq m of greenhouses He has organic certification which proves his farm meets United States Department of Agriculture USDA regulations for organic food production He produces 72 different fruit and vegetable crops year round including asparagus blackberries and strawberries Bustos s sustainable farming methods are a mixture of old and new The solar panels he installed in 2005 cut his greenhouse heating costs

Sustainable Agriculture — page 4 — A worker harvests lettuce in a greenhouse whose electricity comes from solar power from 2 000 per year to zero enabling him to grow salad greens all year this increased his yields by 30 to 40 percent Water conservation is vital in dry New Mexico Bustos uses mulches to conserve water and prevent erosion and he is a member of an acequia or community owned drip irrigation project To overcome poor soil fertility Bustos practices a number of techniques First he uses intensive crop rotation He also plants cover crops which are crops grown specifically to protect and benefit the soil rather than for sale In addition Bustos uses mulches made with organic alfalfa hay This material

Sustainable Agriculture — page 5 — is high in nitrogen an element that is An acequia in New Mexico delivers water to crops particularly important for helping plants Acequias for grow Finally Bustos uses integrated Water sharing pest management strategies He Acequias or communal irrigation systems have sustained agriculture in provides habitat for beneficial insects New Mexico's arid climate for the past four centuries since Spanish settlers which are those that provide functions such as pest brought them to North America The control and pollination He also schedules planting acequia is a way of conserving and sharing water which Indo Hispanos for times when crops are least likely to be harmed view as a communal resource Acequia by pests members assemble annually to clean out the acequia moore or mother ditch the canal from which all Bustos says Little farms can make a big impact if members receive irrigation water A they get their techniques life down His farm and his mayordomo or water master decides water distribution among acequia are models of sustainable agriculture showing how members with members consent economic ecological and social values interact in this He or she monitors water flow and assigns each member a time each developing field Bustos markets directly to restaurants week to irrigate his or her fields and schools He works hard to sell his crops getting I them to market quickly while they are still fresh He helped build a permanent farmers market in Santa Fe and helps run two community supported agriculture CSA programs which sell food directly to families Bustos also works with youth programs to encourage the next generation of farmers and he participates in a national initiative to help immigrants and economically disadvantaged populations 8

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