Throughout history, the phrase ‘sustainable agriculture” has been subjected to a variety of definitions. This lack of consensus in terms of defining sustainable agriculture has resulted in a situation whereby no real progress has been made when it comes to conservative agricultural practices. The purpose of writing this letter is to advocate for the formulation of a unified definition of sustainable agriculture. As the official body charged with such issues, I urge the Office of Sustainability to look into this matter immediately.
Currently, the agricultural practices taking place in our nation are to a huge part environmentally non-conservative. Conventional farming techniques have had destructive systems especially in terms of soil ecology. There has been a shift from an emphasis on soil maintenance towards crop nutrition, which has seen some of the old soil maintenance techniques such as green manuring and growing of grass decline and be replaced by practices such as straw burning (Gastó, 2009). Such practice reduces the soil’s organic matter and the loss of crop cover consequently exposes the soil to erosional effects. Other characteristics of conventional farming such as complex crop rotations, frequent tillage operations, use of large machineries, and application of synthetic and inorganic fertilizers, as well as pesticides all, aggravate this situation leading in even further destruction of the soil’s ecology and the environment in general. In summary, the major effects have been topsoil depletion, contamination of ground water and general degradation of soil fertility (Gastó, 2009).
Consequently, the above-mentioned facts necessitate an immediate development of sustainable agricultural practices. More importantly, a unified definition of the word agriculture is necessary. Sustainable agriculture should particularly integrate three major goals, which include economic profitability, environmental health and economic and social equity. It should involve the production of fame products using techniques of farming that protect public health, the environment, animal welfare and human communities. Specific sustainability strategies must take into account various concepts and strategies including the general land topography climate, soil characteristics, local inputs and the farmer’s goals. These strategies should involve sustainable methods of pest management and the conservation of water sources, which also entails protecting ground water sources (Gastó, 2009). In addition, the strategies should employ soil conservation strategies. The growing of organic food and genetically generated food should also be encouraged.
All the mentioned concepts work hand in hand to ensure that sustainable agriculture is achieved. I, therefore, besiege you that you incorporate all these facts when coming up with a unified definition of sustainable agriculture. Pests’ management, for instance, should be done using conservation means. This should involve the use of biological pest control such as the use of pheromones to attract pest after which they are sterilized (Lichtfouse, 2011). Water conservation is mandatory since water is the source of life, and all efforts should be taken to protect future generations from potential water scarcity. This also applies to soil conservation. Unified definition of sustainable agriculture means that destructive practices such as straw burning that leads to the destruction of soil will be eliminated. In addition, crops should be grown organically, and that is through conservational practices such as the use of green manure amongst other natural conditions will also decrease the destruction of the agricultural ecosystem. Genetically modified crops will also support sustainable food production as these crops grow under relatively less intensive conditions further decreasing the necessity of farming techniques such as using synthetic fertilizers which degrade the environment further (Lichtfouse, 2011).
Organic practices are a key part of agricultural sustainability and should therefore be part of sustainable practices. The absence of such practices in sustainability efforts will result in a situation whereby public health and social and economic equity may be achieved but whereby environmental health is not achieved (Lichtfouse, 2011).
In light of these factors, it is paramount for a unified definition of sustainable agriculture to be formulated immediately by the Office of Sustainability to ensure that not only is the environmental kept safe for future generations but that decent public health and social and economic equity are achieved.
References
Gastó, J., Vera, L., Vieli, L., & Montalba, R. (2009). Sustainable Agriculture: Unifying Concepts. Ciencia e Investigacion Agraria, 36(1), 5-26.
Lichtfouse, E. (2011). Sustainable agriculture. Dordrecht: Springer.
