Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals: environmental stewardship, farm profitability, and prosperous farming communities. If we take this to the ranching industry we have environmental stewardship, ranch profitability, and prosperous ranching communities. For more information about the topic Sustainable agriculture, read the full article at Wikipedia.org. Organic ranching methods combine scientific knowledge and modern technology with traditional ranching practices based on years of agriculture.
Every day, farmers and ranchers around the world develop new, innovative strategies to produce and distribute food, fuel and fiber for sustainable agriculture. While these strategies vary greatly they all embrace three broad goals, or the 3 Pillars of Sustainability:
• Profit over the long term
• Stewardship of our nation’s land, air and water
• Quality of life for farmers, ranchers and their communities
There are almost as many ways to reach these goals as there are farms and ranches in America.
A cattle rancher might divide his rangeland into paddocks in a rotational grazing system to better manage soil and water resources while improving animal productivity. A field crop farmer might implement a rotation to break up pest cycles, improve soil fertility and cut costs, or use cover crops—non-cash crops grown for their benefit to the soil and ability to suppress weeds. A fruit and vegetable grower might try a new marketing approach such as selling directly to restaurants in a nearby city to gain a larger share of the consumer food dollar.
We want to obtain a level of sustainability in our agriculture to keep the future safe and non toxic for our children and their children. As we strive to improve our agriculture ventures we must consider the impact we have as a consumer on the way our foods are produced. It may sound funny but if there were not drops in a bucket there would be nothing in the bucket. We do count as an individual. Make great choices and check back soon for more on sustainable agriculture.
Sustainable Agriculture our future depends on it.