APPROPRIATE TECHNOLOGY TRANSFER FOR RURAL AREAS, P.O. Box 3657, Fayetteville, AR 72702; 1-800-346-9140 ATTRA Summary: Sustainable Agriculture Concepts and Farm Applications The term "sustainable agriculture" was introduced in the early 1980's and has since gained wide recognition. It is used to convey the concept of a system of agriculture that is ecologically, economically, and socially viable, in the short as well as long term. Rather than standing for a specific set of farming practices, a sustainable agriculture represents the end-goal of developing a food production system that: - yields plentiful, affordable, high-quality food and other agricultural products - does not deplete or damage natural resources (such as soil, water, wildlife, fossil fuels, or the germ-plasm base) - promotes the health of the environment - provides a good livelihood for farmers - supports a broad base and diversity of farms and the health of rural communities - depends on energy from the sun and on natural biological process for fertility and pest management - can last indefinitely Many different views exist about what a sustainable agriculture is as well as about how to achieve it. Of the many definitions proposed for sustainable agriculture, most address the kinds of qualities mentioned above. However, a variety of terms have emerged in addition to "sustainable" to refer to the concept, or to aspects, of sustainability in agriculture. The most popular of these have been: "alternative," "low-input," "regenerative," and "organic." Examples of other terms for approaches toward or concepts of sustainability are: "natural," "biodynamic," "eco- or ecological," "biologically-sound," and "permaculture." These terms, and others in use, represent different specific philosophies and techniques in sustainable agriculture to different audiences. In addition, some may be found used interchangeably to mean the concept of "a sustainable agriculture" as the type of overall end-goal described above. Typical Farm Applications On the farm, concepts of what sustainable agriculture is can serve as guiding principles for making choices about how to design farming systems as well as about what farming practices to use. Because understandings of what is sustainable may vary, or will change, so will the types of farming systems created from an application of sustainable principles. However, there are features which tend to be typical of farming systems designed with sustainability as a goal. For example, crop fertility is generally handled in these systems by developing management alternatives to applications of synthetic petroleum-based fertilizers. Practices which protect and improve soils; conserve, cycle, and improve the availability of crop nutrients; and reduce nutrient leaching are emphasized, instead. Examples are: - crop rotations - cover cropping - inclusion of nitrogen-fixing legumes - green manuring - composting of crop residues - intercropping and agroforestry - forms of conservation tillage Systems involving livestock feature practices which conserve and effectively allocate nutrients from animal manures, such as: intensive rotational grazing, and systems for manure collection and storage, stabilization by composting or anaerobic digestion, and well-planned application. Methods of pest management in more-sustainably managed farming systems generally aim to reduce or eliminate applications of synthetically derived pesticides and to support beneficial organisms and other natural checks on farm pests. In cropping systems, cultural, physical, and biological methods may be emphasized, and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) techniques like pest monitoring may play an important role. Practices may include: - timing of field operations - crop rotations - choosing pest-resistant varieties - site sanitation - mulching - mechanical management - physical barriers - biologically derived pesticides Weeds in pastures may be managed with intensive or mixed-species grazing. More-sustainable livestock systems may also feature methods of housing, feeding, and pest management that avoid disease- and pest-promoting conditions. Overall, management methods for these farms promote greater diversity in biological systems on or related to the farm, such as those involving soil microorganisms and earthworms, or wildlife. They also aim to: emphasize reliance on on-farm resources rather than on external inputs -- including energy; conserve and protect soil and water; keep operating costs low; and increase economic diversity to enhance and stabilize farm income. The features touched on here show how working toward sustainability on the farm is more involved than adopting individual production techniques. It entails developing an integrated, holistic system of crops and management practices. To become sustainable, farming systems need to be designed and operated in cooperation with natural systems. They also need to be tailored to the characteristics and resources specific to each farm. Why a Sustainable Agriculture? A sustainable agriculture is the future standard, or convention, our agriculture is moving toward in order to remain productive and meet changing food needs. Within society, support for developing a sustainable agriculture is founded on some common understandings. For one, there is wide recognition now that our need to ensure a secure food system requires us to have an approach to agriculture that emphasizes a protected environment and resource base. In addition, there is a growing consensus that our agriculture also needs to be the product of a stable, diverse, broad-based, and self-supporting farm economy. Our current conventional form of agriculture -- in place since WWII -- is credited with the production of large quantities of low-priced food. But conventional agriculture's heavy use of fossil fuels, synthetic chemicals, capital-intensive technologies, and large-scale monocultures has generated extensive and problematic environmental, economic, and social costs. Society as a whole now has a better understanding of these costs which, among other impacts, are endangering future agricultural productivity. Making a change to more-sustainable systems can be worthwhile for farmers. As concluded in the National Research Council's 1989 study, "Alternative Agriculture": "Farmers successfully adopting these systems generally derive significant sustained economic and environmental benefits." Adopting a more sustainable approach to farming may for some be a practical response to restrictions on resource-depleting and environmentally harmful agricultural practices and technologies. For others, developing a food system that works cooperatively with nature is the primary goal. Making the Farm More Sustainable Farmers often find that making major changes toward sustainability on the farm can require a transition period of up to several years. The nature and length of the transition period for an individual farm depends on the type and size of farm to start with as well as on the kinds of changes implemented. During the transition, farmers may experience fluctuations in crop yields and farm income as new methods get established and farm systems adjust to any changes made. Purchases of special inputs, such as non-conventional fertilizers, may also be required during the transition. To one degree or another, steps farmers take to make a farm more sustainable involve all aspects of the farm system. Farm labor and management needs are affected, as are farm biological systems; uses for equipment, buildings, and tools; and the roles played by water, minerals, and soil. To make the transition, farmers commonly find they need new kinds of management skills along with increased knowledge about the key elements and interactions in their farm system. Taking steps to diversify production or to rely less on synthetic chemicals for fertility and pest management, for example, may require farmers to: 1) become familiar with new crops; 2) understand and monitor pests more thoroughly; 3) use new types of equipment and practices for planting and harvesting and for fertility and pest management; 4) allocate and schedule labor inputs differently; 5) know more about and work more precisely with farm soil, water, plant, insect, and animal systems and system interactions; and 6) develop new marketing strategies. Changing farming methods may also require farmers to plan for financial and time demands of acquiring new skills, equipment, or materials for implementing desired changes in the farm. Extra finances may also be needed to pay for advice, or to weather temporary income changes during a transition. Changes commonly made: While each farm is unique, certain types of changes are often instituted by farmers working to apply sustainable agricultural principles to their farms. A basic step farmers commonly take is to make changes which increase the levels of biological and economic diversity of the farm. These may include adding new crops or crop varieties, integrating livestock with crop enterprises, or developing additional ways to market farm products. Meeting needs for nitrogen and other crop nutrients and for alternative forms of pest management may be a farmer's most immediate challenge when changing from conventional methods. To start developing on-farm fertility, farmers often initiate general soil-maintenance practices such as: crop rotations, cover cropping, and conservation tillage. Specific practices farmers may adopt to improve soils and supply crop nutrients, especially nitrogen, are: 1) including nitrogen-fixing legumes in rotation with non-legume crops; and 2) soil-incorporating legume and other crops as "green manures." Practices often instituted which are well-suited to small or intensively managed enterprises may include the application of composted crop residues or of other organic amendments, and techniques like "foliar feeding." Changes in pest management farmers make generally give a greater role to non-chemical tactics for preventing a start-up of pest problems or for suppressing problem pest populations. Preventive tactics for crops may include choosing pest-free plant starts, or supporting habitat for natural pest enemies. Non-chemical suppression tactics may range from crop rotations or tillage to planned releases of beneficial insects. Alternative chemical tactics may range from reduced- or spot-spray methods to a reliance on botanical and other biologically derived pesticides. Farmers may implement pest monitoring and other IPM techniques for identifying combinations of tactics that carefully target pests and that best meet farmer-goals for an effective, ecologically sound pest management program. Other changes made may include switching to more efficient forms of irrigation or to crop varieties better adapted to local climatic and soil conditions. In livestock systems, farmers may opt to: grow their own feed; institute non-chemical pest management (such as rotating pastures to manage parasites); phase out controversial growth additives; or produce a leaner meat product. Important time factors: Examples of time factors that can be important in making a transition from conventional methods include time needed to: 1) improve compacted soils and raise soil levels of organic matter, earthworms, and microorganisms; 2) improve farm levels of bio-diversity and of natural pest enemies; 3) establish new crops, technologies, and enterprises; 4) learn and become proficient at a new management skills; and 5) stabilize farm income and operating costs. Time factors such as these can be especially critical for farmers choosing to farm organically who are working to meet strict farming and waiting-period requirements involved in being certified to sell products as "organic." Barriers encountered: Lack of adequate knowledge and skills can be a serious barrier to changing from conventional farming practices. New production approaches may also require equipment, materials for fertility or pest management, crop seed or starts, or livestock that are not widely available, or that are expensive. Making investments up front and risking a period of income instability and of managerial trial-and-error can be important barriers for farmers who don't have financial reserves built up. Historically, institutional barriers have presented important limits to farmer-adoption of sustainable methods. These barriers have included: 1) inadequate support for developing and disseminating technical and practical information on alternative farming methods; 2) low investment in supplying alternative technologies, equipment, and materials; 3) farm credit biases; and 4) restrictive product grading and commodity program policies. Support for Sustainable Systems An array of new and long-established farmer and environmental organizations and spokespersons have had a key role in promoting the development of sustainable agricultural systems. Their contributions include significant outreach, research and demonstration, and political efforts. At the federal level, Congress has taken some important steps through '85 and '90 farm bill legislation to support sustainable agriculture, including the creation and funding of the national-scale USDA "LISA" (Low-Input Sustainable Agriculture) Program. The LISA Program, now administered as the "Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education" (SARE) Program, funds innovative research and extension projects aimed at meeting farmers' needs for practical information on sustainable agriculture. With fiscal funding up to $6.72 million in 1991 and also in 1992, the LISA (now SARE) Program has awarded hundreds of state- and regional-level project grants. Funded projects are often designed and management jointly by several kinds of individual or organizational participants, including: farmers; university or private researchers, educators, or extensionists; and public agency staff. To date, thousands of farmers have participated in SARE projects. The non-profit ATTRA ("Appropriate Technology Transfer for Rural Areas") national direct-access information service is another product of federal funding initiatives to support sustainable agriculture. ATTRA -- which produced this Summary -- responds to individual questions from farmers and others about sustainable agricultural production and marketing. SARE projects, dozens of farmer organizations such as the Practical Farmers of Iowa, non-profit research organizations such as Rodale Institute, and direct-access information providers like ATTRA or the National Agriculture Library are making available important sustainable agriculture information-transfer and skill-learning opportunities to farmers. These opportunities include: farm tours, farmer field days, and on-farm demonstrations which promote farmer-to-farmer contact; workshops, symposiums, and conferences for information exchange and skills training; projects to conduct on-farm research; and publications and other media. Barriers easing: Coinciding with these efforts, some institutional barriers to farmer adoption of sustainable methods are easing. Representative of this change, for instance, are new commodity program provisions allowing farmers to grow certain cover and alternative crops and use crop rotations on program base acres. Congress is also now requiring a greater focus of USDA research on environmental, rural economic, and resource issues, and of Extension on sustainable agriculture outreach to farmers. Working from a different tack to encourage sustainable farming choices, the beginnings of legislated restrictions targeting certain conventional practices are being enacted at the state level. State-sponsored projects, like California's Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program (SAREP), are also being created to meet in-state needs for sustainable agriculture research and information. At the same time, a number of universities across the country are sponsoring innovative research and degree programs in sustainable agriculture. In the commercial arena, as well, a variety of businesses now distribute products of, supply, and advise farmers who are working to apply sustainable methods. For More Information This publication summarizes information on sustainable agriculture researched and compiled by ATTRA technical staff. Further information on any of the sustainable agriculture concepts, applications, or terms mentioned in this Summary can be obtained by contacting ATTRA. ATTRA also has additional information on organizations working in sustainable agriculture. Call ATTRA toll-free at: 1-800-346-9140. ATTRA Summary: Sustainable Agriculture Concepts and Farm Applications Written by: Holly Winger Editorial and Project Director: Christine Rugen (PageMaker Version Design/Layout: Jim Tracy) December 1991; update: November 1992 A word about ATTRA and NCAT ATTRA is a federally-funded service offering free technical information on sustainable agricultural production and marketing. ATTRA provides tailored responses to individual questions from farmers, agricultural researchers and extensionists, wildlife professionals, and others, and also distributes Information Packages, Summaries, and Resource Lists on a range of general topics in sustainable agriculture. ATTRA is funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Dept. of the Interior, and managed by the National Center for Appropriate Technology (NCAT) -- a non-profit organization incorporated in 1976 to help communities and individuals find sustainable ways to improve their quality of life using skills and resources at hand. The ATTRA staff includes technical specialists in horticulture, agronomy, livestock production, aquaculture, and wildlife management, and information specialists in agricultural information transfer. Their combined training and experience includes advanced degrees in agriculture and years in consulting, research, Cooperative Extension, large-scale farming, organic market gardening, agricultural writing, and orchard, nursery, and livestock management.