Sustainable Agriculture

In my opinion, sustainable agriculture is farming that does not harm the soil, water, or air and provides food for society. It means farming in harmony with the environment. According to the article Exploring Sustainability in Agriculture, the primary goals of sustainable agriculture are, "Providing a more profitable farm income, promoting environmental stewardship, including: protecting and improving soil quality, reducing dependence on non-renewable resources, ... and minimizing adverse impacts on safety, wildlife, water quality and other environmental resources ..." (2).
Sustainable agriculture is very important because these strategies will help to sustain food production for society in an environmentally friendly manner. These strategies will help to reduce soil erosion and replace nutrients to the soil. They will cut the use of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, lower fossil fuel and water usage, and increase farm profits. Some strategies of sustainable agriculture are crop rotation, pasture rotation, organic agriculture, conservation tillage and no-tillage, growing cover crops, integrated pest management, and compost and manure usage.
The consumer can contribute to the sustainability of agriculture by choosing to purchase products that have been produced using sustainable agriculture methods. Produce can be purchased at farmers' markets, pick-your-own farms and roadside stands. Consumers can participate in community and school gardens and buy organic produce. Consumers can also seek alternative sources for buying meat, join food co-ops, and patronize restaurants that serve food that has been produced using sustainable methods. The consumer has a wide variety of ways to make their choice known and has the final say in how their food is produced. I believe sustainable agriculture strategies should be practiced by everyone that produces food for themselves and society.

Food & the Environment: Extra Credit Blog

I predict that global warming will have many impacts on global food production in the future. Some of the
impacts will be the push for reduced-tillage or no-tillage agriculture, the need for improved irrigation systems, the growth of heat and drought tolerant crops, and an increase in organic agriculture. I believe that some areas will need to use greenhouses to grow their produce and some areas will lose production all together. There will also be a push for more energy efficient machinery and renewable energy for agricultural production. The food produced from the oceans could be lost or severely altered and climate variations will change the way of meat production. There are many aspects that are yet to be seen, but global food production will be changed in many ways and quite dramatically.

Globalization Blog

The only positive aspects of globalization I can think of might be free trade and being able to buy foods that are out of season or that can't be grown in the United States. Globalization impacts my life by allowing me to purchase foods that are out of season and foods and spices that are not grown in the U.S. Globalization also impacts my life because my family and I own a small farm and the cost of running the farm far exceeds the profits. We have recently downsized and we are farming only to produce our own food and food for our neighbors in our small mountain community.

Food Safety

Food safety is everyone's responsibility. It is the governments responsibility to ensure that the producers and handlers comply with safety regulations. It is the producers and handlers responsibility to provide safe products to the consumer and it is the consumers responsibility to safely store and handle food after it is in their possession. Food safety must be a fore thought not an after thought. It should be given the utmost attention from the beginning of production all the way down the line to consumption. In my opinion, every effort should be made to educate consumers on the importance of safe food handling and ways to ensure food safety in their homes.

Organic Food Production

When talking about organic agriculture, it is important to define the term "organic". Let's start with the definition provided by the USDA. according to the USDA, "Organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation" (1). I feel that it is good for the food industry that the term organic was legally defined because it allows organic food producers to sell their produce for higher prices and to grow higher-value crops. It is also good for the consumer because it assures them of safer produce, meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products that have not antibiotics or growth hormones. I believe that organic food is better for people and the environment because it is grown, produced, and handled in a safer manner and is a sustainable agriculture that is environmentally friendly. Organic agriculture, as defined by the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) is, "an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain, and enhance ecological harmony" (2). The only drawback I can see of organic agriculture is that it is more labor intensive. I feel that the "big business" of organics should take over and become the norm in the food markets. We need to have more whole foods and safer produce and other food products. Organic agriculture can produce enough food to sustain society in a healthier and more environmentally sustainable manner.

Biotech Quiz Replacement

I strongly believe that foods produced using biotechnology should be labeled fo consumers. The consumer should have the right to know what they are eating and the right to decide if they want to buy biotech products. The good side of labeling foods produced using biotechnology arr that consumers would know what was in their food, for the most part. They might also know how the crop was altered. The bad impactsd of labeling food produced using biotechnology would be the cost for the whold food production chain, the new regulations that would need to be implemented, and the possibility of needing separate facilities to process and package biotech food products. The cost is the major negative impact because there would need to be separate trucks, storage bins, processing plants, and packaging facilities just to avoid commingling of biotech food products. Then, there would be the problem of not being able to export those products to some other countries and some consumers would not buy biotech food products either. The higher cost would be passed down the line and ultimately end up at the consumer. The environmental impact would be an increase in transport (ie., pollution and fuel usage), more packaging and labeling and an overall use of more resources. Even though it would create many negative impacts, I still belive that if food produced using biotechnology is going to be put out there for human consumption, consumers should know what items are made with biotech produce and have the right to choose rather to eat it or not.

Biotechnology Week 2

Biotechnology could be a good thing for food production, the environment, and society if the information, seeds, and food produced were available to everyone. There are bioengineered crops ranging from wheat to tomatoes, but since the private sector has most of the control this biotechnology isn't as useful as it could be because it is all about the money. I think the positive side is that biotechnology is addressing environmental issues and that we are able to produce more food using less land, water, and pesticides and that plants are being modified to grow in more saline soil, as well as other adverse conditions. The down side is that equal food distribution is still a problem and the information and seeds are not reaching the poor farmers in high enough quantities. I personally would rather not have my food produced from bioengineered plants, but I am a person who prefers truly organic and all natural foods.