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Sustainable Agriculture: Importance, Principles, and Techniques |
What is meant by sustainable agriculture? Which principles and techniques are primarily used here? In this article, you will find answers to the most important questions related to this topic, which has become an increasing focus in discussions about the future of the sector in recent years.
Table of contents
What does sustainable agriculture mean?
What are the principles of sustainable agriculture?
What is meant by promoting sustainable agriculture?
Which techniques and technologies are used in sustainable agriculture?
What types of sustainable agriculture are there?
Agriculture 4.0 and precision farming for a sustainable future
What does sustainable agriculture mean?
The term sustainable agriculture refers to resource-conserving agriculture that avoids pollutants in order not to impair the balance of the environment. It embodies almost the opposite of intensive agriculture.
As defined by the Agricultural Sustainability Institute, this translates into an approach to safeguarding the well-being of the world's people and their need for food and tissue without harming future generations.
Sustainable development is therefore a type of economy that promotes the protection of our environment and our habitat while being able to protect the human and economic resources involved in its processes.
For this reason, sustainable agriculture is an economically advantageous production model for workers, since it aims, among other things, to improve their quality of life and working conditions.
What are the principles of sustainable agriculture?
The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), led by the United Nations, lists the 5 most important principles that sustainable agriculture must comply with.
Here you can find out what they are
5 principles FAO
Increasing productivity, employment, and value creation in food systems
Protection and enhancement of natural resources
Improving livelihoods and promoting inclusive growth
Improving the resilience of people, communities, and ecosystems
Adaptation of governance to new challenges
In this vision, farmers, shepherds, fishermen, foresters, and other rural residents make themselves heard and benefit from economic development and decent employment.
Rural women and men live in security, have control over their livelihoods, and have equal access to the resources they use efficiently.
What is meant by promoting sustainable agriculture?
The promotion of sustainable agriculture is based on 4 key points:
Improving the living conditions of workers and producers by increasing their access to the market and promoting fairer trade
give more opportunities to a larger number of producers - especially the most disadvantaged ones - and protect them from exploitation
the dissemination of information about the mechanisms of economic exploitation and the associated sensitization of consumers to an alternative economic model as an alternative to the prevailing model
the promotion of social justice and respect for fundamental human rights.
Which techniques and technologies are used in sustainable agriculture?
The most important techniques
The main sustainable farming techniques dating back to the pre-industrial era, when the industrial revolution also revolutionized the agricultural world.
These are techniques related to
crop rotation to improve or maintain area yield;
the control of agricultural pests and disease-carrying insects using their natural enemies such as other beneficial enemies, predators, parasitoids, and microorganisms such as fungi, viruses, and bacteria;
covering the soil with straw or organic matter, which is helpful in maintaining optimal soil moisture and regulating the temperature of the soil.
These techniques have been rediscovered within a new paradigm of agriculture with less environmental impact and improved to the point that today they are supported by a strong technical system that allows them to maximize work and resource optimization on a large scale.
Technologies 4.0
Technological innovation plays a fundamental role when it comes to sustainable agricultural models.
The collection and analysis of real-time data, and with it the provision of new technologies, helps farmers to make better decisions in the shortest possible time and consequently avoid waste and damage to the crops
.This manifests itself as follows:
Optimization of the available resources: For farmers and businesses, this means a reduction in consumption and an increase in area productivity.
Better quality of the final product thanks to the traceability of the supply chain, which allows better control throughout all stages of production
Environmental benefits through reduced fertilizer use and lower emissions
Sustainable agriculture and agriculture 4.0 are therefore interrelated models
Learn more about our best technologies to improve your daily work.
What types of sustainable agriculture are there?
Sustainable agriculture is the application of agricultural techniques that respect the environment, biodiversity, and the ability to absorb waste from the earth.
There is no absolute model that can be defined as inherently sustainable. Rather, there are several that rely on different or even integrated techniques and knowledge.
Organic Farming
This is a production model that, in accordance with European regulation EEC 2092/91, only allows the use of natural substances and aims to avoid the massive exploitation of natural resources.
The certified organic farms do not use chemicals (fertilizers, herbicides, plant protection products, insecticides, and pesticides), but only use natural fertilizers and more traditional techniques (crop rotation).
Biodynamic farming
Their goals are to enrich the environment and improve food quality by preserving plant biodiversity.
Like organic farming, it dispenses with the use of chemical fertilizers and phytosanitary products, instead of using "homeopathic" doses of natural preparations to promote soil fertility and plant growth. For this reason, it also takes into account the phases of the moon, to which correspond the periods of activation of life in the soil.
Permaculture
This term not only refers to the entirety of agricultural practices for the natural preservation of the fertility of the soil but also a design that combines the subject areas of architecture, economy, ecology, anthropology, and legal systems.
The purpose is to plan and manage the landscape in an optimal and ethical way, so as to meet human needs in harmony with natural systems.
Solidarity Agriculture
Finally, community-based agriculture also falls under the category of sustainable agriculture – a term by which we mean a type of agriculture that protects people and nature, based on direct relationships, trust, and the distance between those who farm the land and consumers reduced...
On the other hand, economic sustainability guarantees :
farmers ' livelihoods by implementing a fair income support system and achieving greater equality in the food chain
linking income support and environmental measures through cross-compliance and green direct payments
Agriculture 4.0 and precision farming for a sustainable future
The transition towards a more sustainable future is only possible in line with the advancement of land management techniques and methods.
That's why it's so important for farms to embrace and adopt the new technologies that are available.
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