2.4 Sustainable Agriculture

By 2030, ensure sustainable food production systems and implement resilient agricultural practices that increase productivity and production, that help maintain ecosystems, that strengthen capacity for adaptation to climate change, extreme weather, drought, flooding and other disasters and that progressively improve land and soil quality

United States

CURRENT KNOWLEDGE 

Action Tasks

• This site helps people send pre-written letters to their representatives. Scroll down to the “get involved” section to send your input. https://www.ucsusa.org/food

• Buy food directly from local farmers: https://myhealthforward.com/pages/find-a-farm

Informational Resources

• This is a list of articles on the topic of food and agriculture from the anarchist library. Some categories are really similar to each other, and some articles are in multiple categories.

• https://theanarchistlibrary.org/category/topic/agriculture (agriculture)

• https://theanarchistlibrary.org/category/topic/food  (food)

• https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/sylvia-wilde-a-forest-garden-primer  (food forest)

• https://theanarchistlibrary.org/category/topic/farms (farm articles + a book)

• Steve's Permaculture Resources A very broad yet condensed guide to all the areas of information you need to know to start permaculture. This was designed as a support document for mentoring and teaching permaculture but it gets ever bigger and is a growing resource to be shared far and wide. It has a focus in the Scottish Highlands in particular and the UK in general but does reach further. https://tiny.one/StevesPermacultureResources

Potential Organizations

• Information on agriculture: https://www.ucsusa.org/food 

Flows

• Deforestation for farmland - Major contributor to climate change through carbon and methane emissions. Reduces biodiversity.

• Slash-and-burn agriculture practices create greenhouse emissions and air pollution 

• Food waste - Roughly 30-40% of food grown globally is wasted. Contributes excess methane from landfills.

• Long-distance transport of food - Burning of fossil fuel for transport increases greenhouse gas emissions.

Stock and Flow Structures

• Excessive groundwater pumping for irrigation - Depletes and contaminates aquifers faster than they recharge.

• Factory farming and crowding animals - Increases risk of disease transmission. Routine antibiotic use promotes drug resistance.

Feedback Loops

• Domination of food systems by large corporations can promote unsustainable practices, reduce food access, and undermine local economies. 

• In the US, Private companies own most farmland and take farmers' profits. Farmers are paid with tax subsidies.  https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8dH4HQg/

• https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8dHsgo3/ 

• Overuse of chemical fertilizers and pesticides - Can pollute waterways, soil, and have health impacts on farm workers and local residents. Also contribute to biodiversity loss.

• Intensive tillage and monocropping - Degrades soil health over time, depletes organic matter and nutrients. Increases topsoil erosion, and is bad for pollinators. 

• Overgrazing livestock - Causes erosion, land degradation, and promotes desertification.

POTENTIAL SOLUTIONS

• Organic farming - Uses natural fertilizers and pest controls, avoids synthetic chemicals, focuses on building healthy soils. Certified organic farms must meet strict USDA standards.

• Composting and using manure as fertilizer instead of synthetic chemicals

• Using beneficial insects or traps for pest control instead of chemical pesticides

• Planting cover crops to suppress weeds and add nutrients

• Permaculture - Holistic approach that seeks to mimic natural ecosystems. Emphasizes biodiversity, composting, integration of plants and animals.

• Agroforestry - Combining trees with crops and/or livestock. The trees provide shade, windbreaks, erosion control, and other benefits.

• Alley cropping - growing crops between rows of trees

• Silvopasture - combining trees, livestock grazing, and forage crops

• Windbreaks - planting rows of trees to reduce wind erosion

• Rotational grazing - Moving livestock between pastures to prevent overgrazing and allow land to rest and regrow. Manure left behind also fertilizes the soil.

• Conservation tillage - Minimal plowing to preserve nutrients and soil structure. Includes no-till methods.

• No-till - uses specialized planters/drills to plant seeds without plowing

• Strip-till - only tills narrow seed-row zones

• Ridge-till - forms and plants on raised soil ridges with minimal disturbance

• The topics listed below have information on them in the following link, when you click on the agriculture filter.

• https://drawdown.org/solutions 

  • CONSERVATION AGRICULTURE

  • FARM IRRIGATION EFFICIENCY

  • IMPROVED AQUACULTURE

  • IMPROVED CATTLE FEED

  • IMPROVED FISHERIES

  • IMPROVED MANURE MANAGEMENT

  • IMPROVED RICE PRODUCTION

  • INDIGENOUS PEOPLES’ FOREST TENURE

  • NUTRIENT MANAGEMENT

  • PEATLAND PROTECTION AND REWETTING

  • PLANT-RICH DIETS

  • REDUCED FOOD WASTE

  • REGENERATIVE ANNUAL CROPPING

  • SUSTAINABLE INTENSIFICATION FOR SMALLHOLDERS

  • SYSTEM OF RICE INTENSIFICATION