Sustainable Agriculture

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

Sustainable Agriculture — page 6

Sustainable Agriculture — page 7 — What Is Sustainable Agriculture Origin of the TBL The USDA's definition of sustainable agriculture comes from John Ikerd of the University of Missouri Ikerd defined sustainable agriculture as farming systems capable of maintaining their productivity and usefulness to society indefinitely Such systems must be resource conserving socially supportive commercially competitive and environmentally sound s John Elkington founder of the British consulting group Sustainability coined the phrase triple bottom line in 1994 He wanted companies to consider three separate bottom lines rather than only the one related to economic profit He defined the second a the people account measuring the company's social responsibility and the third as the planet account measuring its environmental responsibility Only then Elkington said was a company considering the full cost of doing business Social costs became more obvious when companies such as Nike were caught using child labor in less developed countries Environmental damage including carbon pollution and rainforest logging also helped spur the TBL movement But the and planet aspects of TBL are hard to measure Most companies still focus on profit as the only bottom line In 1987 the Brundtland Commission of the United Nations defined the term sustainable to mean agriculture must meet present needs while still making it possible for future generations to meet their needs This requires us to be stewards of both natural and human resources It also requires an interdisciplinary approach throughout the entire food system That is all interested parties researchers farmers farmworkers consumers and politicians must cooperate to make sustainable agriculture work Sustainable agriculture incorporates three separate but interrelated goals economic profitability social equity and environmental health In the sustainability movement these goals are referred to as the triple bottom line TBL They are also described as the three Ps profit people and planet 10

Sustainable Agriculture — page 8 — Sustainability The Three Legs of Sustainability The Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems CIAS at the University of Wisconsin illustrates sustainable agriculture as a three legged stool All three legs representing the economy environment and community are necessary for agricultural systems to remain stable and sustainable Sustainability Combines Old and New When most people think of cutting edge science and technology they envision shiny exciting inventions perhaps a self driving car or a single pill that cures cancer Sustainable agriculture sometimes appears to take the opposite approach with people returning to old methods rather than looking forward There is good reason for this Some advances in agriculture seemed miraculous in the 1940s and 1950s for example pesticides destroyed harmful insects and artificial fertilizers combined 11

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