If you want to cultivate in a sustainable way, there are some measures to take to make this goal concrete. And if you are looking for a farm that practices sustainable methods, you can use these steps as criteria to find it.
Steps
Method 1 of 2: Part One: Designing the Farm of Your Dreams
Step 1. Don't confuse "sustainable" with "organic"
Organic or organic means that the food has been grown or grown without the use of synthetic chemicals (but there are exceptions).
- Many people confuse sustainable agriculture with organic farming. Both aim to use ecologically more rational practices, however they are characterized by a distinct set of standards.
- Organic farming, especially when carried out on an industrial scale, can still damage the environment and threaten human health in a variety of ways: ecosystems can still be damaged by widespread monoculture; pesticides can be used in any case; soils can still be depleted of nutrients and organic matter; pollution cannot be excluded; an exorbitant amount of fossil fuels can still be used (and wasted), and all this under an organic brand.
Step 2. Find out what sustainability means:
cultivate a single area that produces food indefinitely. In order to move in this direction, a farm must:
- avoid irreversible changes to the land (for example, erosion)
- do not use resources from the environment that cannot be replenished (for example, use more water than can be regularly replenished by precipitation)
- produce sufficient income to maintain itself as a farm without the need to extend into a global dimension and without requiring the development of infrastructure
Step 3. Keep track of where it comes from
Determine where resources come from and whether you are using more of them than can be replenished, through natural processes or through the manufacturing processes you employ.
- Where do the resources and factors of production come from? Think in particular of water, energy, soil remedies and feed (if you own animals). Also think about long-term investments, such as buildings, plants and equipment, etc.
- Keep in mind that no farm is an island - complete self-sufficiency is not a requirement of sustainable agriculture. Productivity and long-term stability are. The more renewable and varied the resources that are used, the longer the farm will last.
Method 2 of 2: Part Two: Making Changes
Step 1. Eliminate the waste
There is no "place" to "throw". Everything is connected. The three "Rs" apply here more than ever: reduce, reuse, recycle. Not only will this be more sustainable, it will also be more affordable.
- Examine every piece of garbage and waste that your business produces and ask yourself "What else could I do with this?"
- If you can't do anything with this, think about how someone else in the community can use it. Be creative.
Step 2. Encourage diversification within the farm
Choosing polyculture instead of monoculture produces less waste and often reduces the consumption of fossil fuels.
- Use varieties and breeds that have adapted well to local environmental conditions, rather than breeding for maximum productivity and storage (at the expense of stamina and flavor).
- Rotate crops and grazing. Use the intercropping of plants and natural fertilizers to keep the earth perpetually fertile and to prevent the loss of the surface layer of the soil. Don't let any fraction of the soil lose an irreplaceable amount of nutrients.
- Keep plants and animals that indirectly benefit from the stability and productivity of the company. For example, yarrow and nettle increase the nutritional value of plants grown near them, as well as the volatile oil content of plants cultivated for essences. Plant extra basil to use as an insecticide and keep the guinea fowl scratching to keep worms and pests away. Wandering around the farm (and the surrounding countryside), the guinea fowl eats parasites left on the grass by wandering animals. It has traditionally also had a reputation for killing or keeping snakes away.
- If guinea fowl isn't common in your area, try ducks (if you have a pond) and / or chickens. These can eat crop residues and plant waste. If they can't eat everything, they remove them and trample them, enough to turn them into nitrogen-rich organic compost (especially when added to their droppings).
- Grow livestock and crops together, and set up a mutually beneficial relationship between them. The easiest way to do this is to use livestock manure to fertilize crops and use some of the crops to feed livestock. If you can't get both of them to grow, find a neighbor who specializes in the opposite and arrange a trade.
Step 3. Encourage the diversity that surrounds a farm
The ecology of your company does not end near the boundaries of the property
- Plant trees around the farm that act as windbreaks and also provide habitat for local birds (which can prey on insects that prey on crops).
- It tolerates natural predators that keep harmful animals at bay (for example, snakes that feed on rodents, ladybugs that feed on aphids, spiders that feed on insects that spread diseases to crops).
Step 4. Diversify financially
An ecologically sustainable agricultural business will not go a long way if it cannot generate a profit and maintain its operation. Unless you or someone else is willing and able to support the company with extra-agricultural work or with another external source of income, you have to chew up numbers so as not to send your current account in the red.
- Take advantage of the opportunities available when it comes to direct marketing. This includes: participation in forms of solidarity farming, farmers' markets, roadside stalls and even the Internet.
- Adding value to products is a smart way to differentiate the company's lettuce from that of another company. When you take lettuce and use it to make a tasty burger consisting of healthy meat from your farm's farms and garnished with a slice of flavorful tomato, grown on your land, you have the option to target a wider clientele and rake in more. profits. In other words, don't just limit yourself to growing a wider variety of products - find ways to make a wider variety of things with the things you produce, and consider selling from a farmer's market or a restaurant (as well as from the Internet).
- It seeks to meet the needs of any ethnic group and people of any economic level in the Community. People with different economic capacities are looking for particular things from a farm. Some ethnicities seek out products that most people have no interest in (for example, many Caribbean immigrants seek out uncastrated goats for meat, as well as amaranth, a widespread weed, which they use to make a dish called calalloo).
- Advertise. Talk to everyone about what you are doing in the company. Organize explanatory visits and seminars. Keep the company in good condition, because if it ever happens, the local community will be willing to support development proposals because they will perceive your company as a model.
Step 5. Find capable and reliable workers
Find people who are committed to sustainable agriculture (not people who have only played with it) and who are not afraid to get their hands dirty when they realize what they have in mind.
Reduced dependence on fossil fuels means greater dependence on human labor, not just physical and manual labor - you will need knowledgeable workers who understand the complexity of the system you are managing and who can improve it with whatever decision they make
Step 6. Enjoy your life
Agriculture is hard work, however the most successful farmers know when the work is done and there is to go home and how to avoid destroying themselves with work. Remember that you are running a farm and that, in particular, you are aiming for a sustainable business. Most people like to know they are leaving the earth in a better condition than they found it.
Advice
- Practicing sustainable agriculture on a large scale versus a smaller scale requires a very different approach. Adapt sustainability practices accordingly. Don't try to produce 20 types of vegetables and raise seven types of livestock on a 12-hectare land if you don't have the workers, knowledge and experience to manage sustainably. Many farmers and ranchers operating on more than 20 hectares simulate natural grazing systems, which enrich the soil and give health to animals, through carefully thought-out rotational systems.
- The farmers who more than others have succeeded in realizing the ideas discussed here are those who can incrementally observe, experiment, adapt and repeat. In addition to this, keep detailed notes on what works best according to the temperatures, rainfall and irrigation used, and any other notes that may help you in future years. These are the farms that overcome the various challenges and, slowly but steadily, continue to grow in complexity and stability.
- If you've found a hard worker, but can't afford to pay him enough to earn a living, be flexible and creative. Consider sharing in profits and / or company assets.
