American agriculture has traditionally focused on increased production and efficiency to provide low-cost food for domestic and export markets. Low energy costs, advances in research and technology and complex farm policies aimed at short run solutions have increased production.
North Carolina's people and its agriculture are diverse.
- North Carolina has the third highest non-city population nationally and 15 times more rural, non-farm people than farm residents.
- In the past, rowcrop agriculture, including tobacco, generated the most farm income. In the early '9Os, however, livestock produced 55 percent of farm income.
- 45 percent of farm operators work off the farm 100 or more days per year.
Situation:
As the world around us changes, agriculture must change. Shifts in income distribution and population will have important implications for agriculture's growth and viability.
Historically, increased farm output was the emphasis in research and extension programs. Concern for environmental issues was a secondary consideration. As agricultural scientists' awareness and knowledge of the environmental impacts of agriculture increased, they developed programs such as Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
IPM combines individual pest management practices into a pest management system. Using IPM has increased farmers' understanding of the environmental impacts of agrichemical use. In many cases, IPM resulted in reduced pesticide use without loss of yields or profit.
The public, too, has an interest in environmental issues involving agriculture because they are concerned about water quality, food safety, pesticide use and human health. The 1985 and 1990 farm bills reflect those concerns. With mandates for conservation compliance, wetlands protection and pesticide record-keeping, the farm bills have had and will have major implications for agriculture as farmers deal with the environmental impacts of their operations.
In response to growing concern about agriculture's impact on the environment and food safety, special interest groups and the public have supported concepts such as sustainable agriculture.
Agricultural producers must learn about and understand the costs and benefits of sustainable agriculture if they are to make informed decisions about converting from traditional farming methods to sustainable ones.
Definition:
Sustainable agriculture involves the application of scientific knowledge to achieve beneficial production systems that generate acceptable, long-term economic returns; protect the environment; protect human health and safety and support society's goals-production of high-quality, reasonably priced food and continuation of farming as a way of life. According to the 1990 Farm Bill, sustainable agriculture includes conventional, organic, low input and other alternative farming methods if they conserve resources and address economic, environmental and social concerns about farming systems.
The goal of sustainable agriculture is a permanent change in the way producers think about their farming operations and the practices they use. A sustainable approach emphasizes the farm as a living, changing system that is in constant interplay with the total environment. Diversity of farming enterprises, reduced agrichemical use, use of soil and water conservation practices, land stewardship and recycling of animal wastes on the farm are examples of these changes in attitudes.
The Role of Extension:
Farmers have traditionally looked to the Cooperative Extension Service for research-based, unbiased information concerning profitable farming practices and systems. Extension is committed to this primary mission. Extension is also committed to issues of broad public concern such as water quality, food safety, conservation of natural resources and sustainable agriculture.
EXTENSION'S CHALLENGES:
Agricultural producers must learn about and understand the costs and benefits of sustainable agriculture if they are to make informed decisions about converting from traditional farming methods to sustainable ones. State and county Extension staffs will face many challenges in meeting this educational need.
Complexity:
Sustainable agricultural systems will be more complex to implement and manage than conventional farming methods. They will be information-intensive and require people with management abilities who can incorporate technology into environmentally sensitive systems. Economic, environmental and social cost/benefit and risk analyses will be needed in assessing the feasibility of these approaches.
Balanced Viewpoint:
Extension must promote the exchange of ideas and foster a climate of collaboration so that informed citizens and policy makers can effectively address agriculture's needs. Ultimately, agricultural systems and policy must collectively benefit farmers, consumers, environmentalists, conservationists, agribusinesses and others.
Teamwork:
Interdisciplinary team approaches to problem-solving will be required to develop, test and implement sustainable farming systems. Individual subject matter efforts will be de-emphasized. Addressing complex, sustainable systems will require cooperative efforts across departments and disciplines between research, extension and teaching programs; and between the university, government agencies, environmental organization, public interest groups, farmers, and agribusinesses
Extension programs will rely on developing and using improved innovative inputs; moving from monoculture to diverse crop bases, recycling nutrients for animal and crop production and offsetting any decreases in production through savings from reduced inputs.
Education
Strong education and training efforts will be needed to implement an effective sustainable agriculture component to Extension's current programs. Extension faculty must first be trained about sustainable agriculture. They must be able to apply subject-matter training to a sustainable system orientation. Faculty need not only a keen appreciation of the economic impacts of agriculture, but also of agriculture's impact on society and the environment.
For educational strategies to be effective, however, farmers and agribusiness leaders will need to advise Extension on the implications of proposed sustainable agriculture approaches.
Then, Extension's educational efforts must target farmers, agribusiness, government agencies concerned with agriculture, environmental groups, policy makers and the general public. Educational efforts must help audiences understand sustainable agriculture as a concept, orient them toward a systems perspective and help them assess risks and benefits.
Incentives
Extension's field and campus staffs must feel that multidisciplinary team efforts will be accepted and rewarded professionally if sustainable agriculture concepts are to be successfully implemented. just as important, federal farm policies, agricultural costshare programs and other incentives will encourage farmers to implement components of sustainable agriculture in their farming systems.
Needs
Sustainability addresses not only the economic success of the farmers using the systems, but also society's social and environmental expectations. A close link needs to be forged between research and extension faculty and farmers to assist them in understanding the basic biological principles of agriculture. This will ensure farmers' success in implementing these sustainable systems.
EXTENSION OPPORTUNITIES:
The Cooperative Extension Service must play a leadership role in moving agriculture toward sustainability. Therefore, Extension must work to develop and maintain an agriculture that is both competitive and sustainable in the short and long-term.
Extension programs will rely on developing and using improved, innovative inputs; moving from monoculture to diverse crop bases; recycling nutrients for animal and crop product ion and offsetting any decreases in production through savings from reduced inputs.
Extension as a Catalyst.
Current Extension programs can supply some of the building blocks necessary for transformation to a sustainable agriculture.
IPM:
Integrated Pest Management principles are components of sustainable agriculture and can be focal points for new routes toward sustainability. This 20-year Extension program has helped farmers improve profits and reduce environmental impacts from decreased chemical use.
Innovation end persistence will be key ingredients to the success of sustainable agriculture educational programs at the state or county level.
Soil and Plant Testing:
These popular diagnostic programs can provide a strong basis for decision-making in a sustainable system.
Soil Conservation:
Reducing soil erosion and compaction through practices such as strip cropping, field borders, conservation tillage and crop residue management are compatible with sustainable goals.
Crop Rotations:
Long-term crop rotations involving perennial grasses or legumes improve soil filth and provide biologically fixed nitrogen. Rotations often occur with diversification of crops, reducing income risk as well as risks from disease, insects or weeds. In the past, some rotations have been avoided because their use has conflicted with short-term federal farm program benefits. However, it is likely that government farm policy will soon reward sustainable farming systems and penalize those that are not.
Enterprise Diversification:
Diversification can mean increased income for farmers. One means of diversification is the addition of crops to rotations. Value-added technologies may also represent diversification. While much of the emphasis has focused on cropping systems, sustainable animal components in farming systems can offer several benefits including diversity in income sources; addition of value to forages and grains produced on the farm; use of available labor; use of manure nutrients in crop production and productive use of land not suited to crop production.
Waste Utilization:
Prudent use of animal manures as fertilizer sources allows valuable nutrients to be recycled, reducing external farm inputs. Based on soil and plant tissue testing, if these wastes are applied according to crop needs, wastes utilization is a sound way to use a potential soil and water pollutant.
GETTING STARTED:
Innovation and persistence will be key ingredients to the success of sustainable agriculture educational programs at the state or county level. The most successful approach will involve use of proven Extension programs and practices including a strong emphasis on demonstrations and other hands-on learning experiences.
Prepared by
NCCES Sustainable Agriculture Initiative Task Force
Dr. Paul Mueller, Chairman
Department of Crop Science
North Carolina State University
Box 7620, Raleigh, NC 27695-7620
Phone:919 515-5825 fax:919 515-7959
Published by North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service Distributed in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914 Employment and program opportunities are offered to all people regardless of race, color, national origin, sex, age, or handicap. North Carolina State University, North Carolina A&T State University, US Department of Agriculture, and local governments cooperating.