Samantha Jorden’s article “Sustainable Agriculture” argues that sustainable agriculture is important to our lives and our future. Sustainable agriculture, one of method of agriculture, tries to prevent destroying ecosystems and soil deterioration, two results of excessive agricultural pesticides and chemical fertilizer. Many people do not know about sustainable agriculture because they do not think of agricultural products as anything more than food. However, this ignorance has serious repercussions for the earth. The environment suffers from non-sustainable farming techniques such as using pesticides. According to Samantha Jorden, there are four major criteria agriculture practices must meet in order to be sustainable: the practices must preserve the environment for future use, avoids the use of pesticides and growth hormones, uses water responsibly, and preserves the soil through crop rotation. These practices are the only way to stave off the food crisis certain to come about if we continue are current farming practices. Hopefully, farmers and nations will realize the need for these sustainable practices and will adopt them in order to plan for future food security.
First Samantha Jorden discusses the definition of sustainable agriculture. Before evaluating the benefits of sustainable agriculture, is we have to know what it means. According to the author, the world population is rapidly growing, outpacing the food supply. If the population consistently grows and uses resources at the current rate, our species will soon face a food supply crisis. We cannot afford to consume the same amount of resources per person as the population grows exponentially; earth simply does not have the means to support this. Alternatively, we could change our methods for growing food to sustainable agriculture. Sustainable agriculture preserves the environment for future use, preventing this looming world food crisis. People usually think that sustainable agriculture is not necessary in our lives because they don’t realize the extent of our current environment problems. However, this is not just somebody else’s business. It is our common problem as a society, so we have to face the real challenges we are up against. If people keep ignoring the rate at which we are consuming our environmental resources, we will soon face insurmountable problems.
The second issue this article explores is the collective disadvantages of non-sustainable farming techniques. Chief among these disadvantages is the damage caused by using pesticides. Normally, people think this harm is limited to the agricultural products grown using pesticides, but the damage reaches much further than a bit of bug spray on your apple peel. The seriousness of the situation is more expansive than we know. Pesticides cause air and water pollution, make livestock sick, and taint our entire ecosystem. The pesticides we use run into our water supply, which is then spread to farms and even our houses. We are not just spraying poison on our plants; we are poisoning our entire planet. These pesticides cause disease in plants, animals, and even humans. However, that is not all. Non-sustainable farming techniques also contribute to air pollution. The problems caused by using pesticides are not easy to rectify. Before we make the situation even more serious, we have to realize the real harm we are causing to ourselves and to the earth. To change course, we must eat food grown with sustainable agricultural practices.
Sustainable Organic Farming. Retrieved from :
http://g2ne.org/organic-farming/ on June 04,2015
Next, the author tells us what the advantages of sustainable agriculture are. Sustainable agriculture does not use pesticides, fertilizers, or artificial growth hormones—all of which make our planet and its inhabitants sick. Moreover, sustainable agriculture allows more than one crop to grow on one farm, and it manages water and other resources sustainably. Likewise, sustainable agriculture yields many advantages, but only if we use it if correctly. In order to use it correctly, we must be knowledgeable about sustainable agriculture. We have to understand the importance of sustainable agriculture in securing our future. If we invest in these practices, we will be rewarded with strong farms, healthy livestock, and an environmental future.
Of course, there are also some disadvantages to sustainable agriculture. Changing from our current practices to those than avert a future food crisis will involve money to convert farms and training for farmers to learn a different way of doing things. Individual agricultural companies have little reason to take these costs on unless governments and regulating bodies put pressure on them to do so. Right now there are too few people who even know what sustainable agricultural practices are, let alone why we need to adopt them and how we can go about doing so. However, before we balk at the barriers to entry with sustainable agriculture, we should first consider advantages of taking on this challenge as a society. It is not too late for people to change their beliefs and then to put these beliefs to action. If we do not allow ourselves to be paralyzed by a fear of failure, we can join together and produce results.
Currently here are very few famers in the United States and Europe practicing sustainable agriculture, and even fewer farmers elsewhere in the world who even know what sustainable agriculture means. Yet this does not mean we can dismiss sustainable practices. If we just perpetuate the status quo, the environment will soon change beyond imagination. We risk stripping the earth of its good soil and water, turning our planet into a desert. To prevent this harm, we know what me must do. We must adopt sustainable agriculture to avoid destroying our planet and the future of the human race by continuing to grow food in ways that damage the land. In places where sustainable practices are not yet known, we have to emphasize how changing the way we farm benefits all of us. Public service messaging is one way we can raise awareness of the problem. So, sustainable agriculture should be thrived. However it is hard to execute because there are many people who don’t know about sustainable agriculture. It happens because it is not well known in the world. The more we invest in a campaign to adopt sustainable agricultural practices, the further the message of innovations in sustainability will spread. Though there are challenges to changing our agricultural practices, the cost of inaction is simply too high. In order to save our food supply and our planet, we must commit to sustainable agriculture.
Sustainable development strategies beyond Europe. Retrieved from :
http://www.sd-network.eu/?k=quarterly%20reports&report_id=14 on June 04, 2015
Works Cited
About.com Education,. 'What Is Sustainable Agriculture?'. N.p., 2015. Web. 4 June 2015.
Foundation, GRACE. 'Sustainable Agriculture - The Basics'. GRACE Communications Foundation. N.p., 2015. Web. 4 June 2015.
G2ne.org,. 'Sustainable Organic Agriculture | G2NE Inc.'. N.p., 2015. Web. 4 June 2015.
Sd-network.eu,. 'ESDN | European Sustainable Development Network'. N.p., 2015. Web. 4 June 2015.
