Rural Issues -- Agriculture

Agriculture and other renewable natural resource industries once dominated livelihoods. Sustaining agriculture and other renewable resource industries will be critical to sustaining many rural communities.

Just what that agriculture may look like is the topic of lively debate. Sustainable agriculture means many things to many people. It is perhaps arguable that sustainability in agriculture is essentially an energy issue. Beginning in the 20^th century, the energy of human and animal labor and wastes has been replaced with the use of fossil fuels and mechanization.

From a purely ecological perspective, defining sustainable agriculture is relatively straightforward. Renowned tropical ecologist John Terborgh, in his book Requiem for Nature, describes sustainable development as "when outputs are balanced in kind by inputs." He continues, applying that criterion to agriculture.

An agricultural system, for example, would be sustainable if the outputs, the nutrients contained in the crop and soil that are lost to erosion, were balanced by inputs, in the form of fertilizer and new soil created by weathering of the underlying bedrock. All additional inputs, such as energy, water, chemicals, and fertilizer, would also have to be sustainably produced.... Energy consumed in crop production, such as that used to power tractors and irrigation pumps, would have to come from renewable sources such as solar collection or hydroelectric generation. Any reliance on fossil fuels and fossil water, both nonrenewable resources, would, of course, be precluded.

Such stringent definitions may indeed prove difficult for many to embrace. Still sustainable agriculture strives to fulfill ecological aims, such as promoting biodiversity, balancing pest and predator relationships, cycling nutrients, building soil and using water efficiently.

For some, sustainable agriculture is synonymous with organic agriculture. Organics, while still playing a small role in the overall agriculture picture, have proven to be one of the fastest growing segments in agriculture. 

Agricultural sustainability, however, may entail more than just ecological and demographic concerns.

The three corner stones of sustainable agriculture -- ecological soundness, economic viability, and social responsibility -- rest upon a foundation of intergenerational equity. Intergenerational equity, in turn, has its foundation in human spirituality.

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