Explain How Genetic Engineering Can Be Vital to Sustainable Agriculture Practices.

The goal of sustainable agriculture is to meet order'due south food and textile needs in the nowadays without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.

Practitioners of sustainable agriculture seek to integrate three chief objectives into their work: a healthy environment, economic profitability, and social and economical equity. Every person involved in the food system—growers, food processors, distributors, retailers, consumers, and waste managers—tin play a role in ensuring a sustainable agricultural system.

In that location are many practices commonly used by people working in sustainable agriculture and sustainable food systems. Growers may use methods to promote soil health, minimize water use, and lower pollution levels on the farm. Consumers and retailers concerned with sustainability can wait for "values-based" foods that are grown using methods promoting farmworker wellbeing, that are environmentally friendly, or that strengthen the local economy. And researchers in sustainable agriculture oftentimes cross disciplinary lines with their work: combining biology, economic science, engineering, chemistry, community development, and many others. Notwithstanding, sustainable agriculture is more than than a collection of practices. It is likewise process of negotiation: a button and pull betwixt the sometimes competing interests of an individual farmer or of people in a community as they work to solve complex problems about how nosotros grow our nutrient and fiber.

Topics in sustainable agriculture

• Addressing Food Insecurity
• Agritourism
• Agroforestry
• Biofuels
• Conservation Tillage
• Controlled Environment Agronomics (CEA)
• Cooperatives
• Cover Crops
• Dairy Waste matter Management
• Direct Marketing

• Energy Efficiency & Conservation
• Food and Agricultural Employment
• Food Labeling/Certifications
• Food Waste Management
• Genetically Modified Crops
• Global Sustainable Sourcing of Bolt
• Institutional Sustainable Food Procurement
• Biologically Integrated Farming Systems
• Integrated Pest Direction (IPM)
• Diet & Food Systems Education

• Organic Farming
• Precision Agriculture (SSM)
• Soil Nutrient Management
• Postharvest Management Practices
• Technological Innovation in Agronomics
• Urban Agriculture
• Value-Based Supply Chains
• H2o Apply Efficiency
• Water Quality Management
• Zero-Emissions Freight Transport

Directory of UC Programs in Sustainable Agriculture

The UC Programs | Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems directory is a catalog of UC's programmatic activities in sustainable agronomics and food systems. The directory tin can exist searched and sorted by activities and topic areas.

The Philosophy & Practices of Sustainable Agriculture

• Groundwork

• Agriculture has changed dramatically, specially since the end of Globe War II. Nutrient and cobweb productivity soared due to new technologies, mechanization, increased chemical use, specialization and government policies that favored maximizing production. These changes immune fewer farmers with reduced labor demands to produce the bulk of the food and fiber in the U.South.

  

  
  Although these changes take had many positive effects and reduced many risks in farming, there take also been significant costs. Prominent among these are topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, the decline of family farms, continued neglect of the living and working atmospheric condition for farm laborers, increasing costs of production, and the disintegration of economic and social conditions in rural communities.

  Potential Costs of Modern Agricultural Techniques

  Topsoil Depletion	Groundwater Contagion	Degradation of Rural Communities	Poor Weather condition For Farmworkers	Increased Product Costs

  A growing movement has emerged during the past two decades to question the role of the agronomical establishment in promoting practices that contribute to these social issues. Today this movement for sustainable agriculture is garnering increasing back up and acceptance within mainstream agriculture. Not only does sustainable agronomics address many environmental and social concerns, but information technology offers innovative and economically viable opportunities for growers, laborers, consumers, policymakers and many others in the unabridged food system.

  This page is an effort to identify the ideas, practices and policies that constitute our concept of sustainable agriculture. We do so for two reasons: 1) to clarify the research agenda and priorities of our plan, and 2) to propose to others applied steps that may be advisable for them in moving toward sustainable agriculture. Because the concept of sustainable agriculture is notwithstanding evolving, we intend this page not as a definitive or concluding statement, simply every bit an invitation to continue the dialogue

• What is Sustainable Agriculture?

• A multifariousness of philosophies, policies and practices take contributed to these goals. People in many different capacities, from farmers to consumers, have shared this vision and contributed to information technology.

  Despite the diversity of people and perspectives, the following themes commonly weave through definitions of sustainable agriculture:

  Sustainability rests on the principle that we must run into the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to see their ain needs.
  Therefore,stewardship of both natural and human resources is of prime number importance. Stewardship of homo resources includes consideration of social responsibilities such equally working and living conditions of laborers, the needs of rural communities, and consumer health and safety both in the present and the future. Stewardship of land and natural resources involves maintaining or enhancing this vital resource base for the long term.

  Asystems perspective is essential to understanding sustainability.
  The system is envisioned in its broadest sense, from the individual farm, to the local ecosystem,and to communities affected by this farming system both locally and globally. An emphasis on the system allows a larger and more than thorough view of the consequences of farming practices on both human communities and the surroundings. A systems approach gives u.s.a. the tools to explore the interconnections between farming and other aspects of our environment.

  Everyone plays a role in creating a sustainable nutrient system.

  A systems approach also impliesinterdisciplinary efforts in research and education.
  This requires non only the input of researchers from various disciplines, but also farmers, farmworkers, consumers, policymakers and others.

  Making the transition to sustainable agriculture is a process.
  For farmers, the transition to sustainable agriculture unremarkably requires a series of small, realistic steps. Family unit economic science and personal goals influence how fast or how far participants can go in the transition. It is important to realize that each small determination can make a departure and contribute to advancing the entire arrangement further on the "sustainable agronomics continuum." The primal to moving forward is the volition to have the next step.

  Finally, it is important to indicate out thatreaching toward the goal of sustainable agriculture is the responsibility of all participants in the organisation, including farmers, laborers, policymakers, researchers, retailers, and consumers. Each group has its own function to play, its own unique contribution to make to strengthen the sustainable agriculture community.

  The remainder of this page considers specific strategies for realizing these wide themes or goals. The strategies are grouped co-ordinate to iii separate though related areas of concern:Farming and Natural Resources,Plant and Creature Production Practices, and theEconomic, Social and Political Context. They stand for a range of potential ideas for individuals committed to interpreting the vision of sustainable agronomics within their own circumstances.

• Farming and Natural Resources

• When the production of food and fiber degrades the natural resource base, the power of future generations to produce and flourish decreases. The decline of ancient civilizations in Mesopotamia, the Mediterranean region, Pre-Columbian southwest U.S. and Primal America is believed to accept been strongly influenced by natural resource degradation from non-sustainable farming and forestry practices.

  Water

  Water is the principal resource that has helped agriculture and club to prosper, and it has been a major limiting cistron when mismanaged.

  H2o supply and use. In California, an extensive water storage and transfer system has been established which has immune crop product to expand to very arid regions. In drought years, limited surface water supplies have prompted overdraft of groundwater and consequent intrusion of salt water, or permanent collapse of aquifers. Periodic droughts, some lasting up to 50 years, take occurred in California.

  Several steps should be taken to develop drought-resistant farming systems even in "normal" years, including both policy and management actions:

  ane) improvingwater conservation and storage measures,

  2) providing incentives for choice of drought-tolerant ingather species,

  3) usingreduced-volume irrigation systems,

  4) managing crops to reduce water loss, or

  5) non planting at all.

  H2o quality.The well-nigh important issues related to water quality involve salinization and contamination of ground and surface waters by pesticides, nitrates and selenium. Salinity has get a problem wherever water of even relatively low table salt content is used on shallow soils in arid regions and/or where the water table is near the root zone of crops. Tile drainage can remove the water and salts, but the disposal of the salts and other contaminants may negatively affect the environment depending upon where they are deposited. Temporary solutions include the employ of salt-tolerant crops, low-volume irrigation, and various direction techniques to minimize the effects of salts on crops. In the long-term, some farmland may need to be removed from production or converted to other uses. Other uses include conversion of row crop land to production of drought-tolerant forages, the restoration of wildlife habitat or the use of agroforestry to minimize the impacts of salinity and high water tables. Pesticide and nitrate contamination of water can be reduced using many of the practices discussed afterward in thePlant Production Practices andAnimal Product Practices sections.

  Wildlife. Some other way in which agriculture affects water resources is through the destruction of riparian habitats inside watersheds. The conversion of wild habitat to agricultural state reduces fish and wildlife through erosion and sedimentation, the effects of pesticides, removal of riparian plants, and the diversion of water. The plant diversity in and around both riparian and agronomical areas should be maintained in order to support a diversity of wild animals. This diverseness will heighten natural ecosystems and could aid in agricultural pest direction.

  Energy

  Modern agriculture is heavily dependent on non-renewable energy sources, especially petroleum. The continued apply of these free energy sources cannot exist sustained indefinitely, however to abruptly abandon our reliance on them would be economically catastrophic. However, a sudden cutoff in energy supply would be equally disruptive. In sustainable agronomical systems, there is reduced reliance on not-renewable energy sources and a exchange of renewable sources or labor to the extent that is economically feasible.

  Air

  Many agricultural activities touch on air quality. These include smoke from agricultural burning; dust from tillage, traffic and harvest; pesticide migrate from spraying; and nitrous oxide emissions from the use of nitrogen fertilizer. Options to improve air quality include:

        - incorporating crop residue into the soil
  - using advisable levels of tillage
  - and planting wind breaks, encompass crops or strips of native perennial grasses to reduce dust.

  Soil

  Soil erosion continues to be a serious threat to our continued ability to produce acceptable nutrient. Numerous practices have been adult to keep soil in identify, which include:

        - reducing or eliminating tillage
  - managing irrigation to reduce runoff
  - and keeping the soil covered with plants or mulch.

  Enhancement of soil quality is discussed in the next department.

• Institute Production Practices

• Sustainable product practices involve a variety of approaches. Specific strategies must take into account topography, soil characteristics, climate, pests, local availability of inputs and the individual grower's goals.

  Despite the site-specific and individual nature of sustainable agriculture, several full general principles can be applied to help growers select appropriate management practices:

        - Pick of species and varieties that are well suited to the site and to conditions on the farm;
  - Diversification of crops (including livestock) and cultural practices to heighten the biological and economic stability of the farm;
  - Direction of the soil to enhance and protect soil quality;
  - Efficient and humane use of inputs; and
  - Consideration of farmers' goals and lifestyle choices.

  Selection of site, species and variety

  Preventive strategies, adopted early, can reduce inputs and help found a sustainable product system. When possible, pest-resistant crops should exist selected which are tolerant of existing soil or site atmospheric condition. When site selection is an pick, factors such as soil type and depth, previous crop history, and location (e.g. climate, topography) should exist taken into business relationship earlier planting.

  Diversity

  Diversified farms are unremarkably more economically and ecologically resilient. While monoculture farming has advantages in terms of efficiency and ease of management, the loss of the crop in any 1 year could put a farm out of business organisation and/or seriously disrupt the stability of a community dependent on that ingather. By growing a variety of crops, farmers spread economic chance and are less susceptible to the radical price fluctuations associated with changes in supply and demand.

  Properly managed, diverseness can also buffer a farm in a biological sense. For example, in annual cropping systems,crop rotation can exist used to suppress weeds, pathogens and insect pests. Also, cover crops tin have stabilizing effects on the agroecosystem by holding soil and nutrients in identify, conserving soil wet with mowed or standing dead mulches, and by increasing the water infiltration charge per unit and soil h2o holding chapters.Cover crops in orchards and vineyards can buffer the system against pest infestations by increasing beneficial arthropod populations and can therefore reduce the need for chemical inputs. Using a diverseness of cover crops is also important in order to protect against the failure of a particular species to grow and to concenter and sustain a wide range of benign arthropods.

  Optimum diversity may exist obtained past integrating both crops and livestock in the same farming operation. This was the mutual do for centuries until the mid-1900s when engineering, government policy and economics compelled farms to get more specialized. Mixed crop and livestock operations take several advantages. First, growing row crops only on more level state and pasture or forages on steeper slopes volition reduce soil erosion. Second, pasture and provender crops in rotation enhance soil quality and reduce erosion; livestock manure, in plough, contributes to soil fertility. Tertiary, livestock can buffer the negative impacts of low rainfall periods by consuming crop residue that in "plant just" systems would have been considered crop failures. Finally, feeding and marketing are flexible in animal product systems. This can aid cushion farmers against merchandise and price fluctuations and, in conjunction with cropping operations, make more efficient use of subcontract labor.

  Soil management

  A common philosophy amidst sustainable agriculture practitioners is that a "healthy" soil is a key component of sustainability; that is, a salubrious soil will produce healthy crop plants that have optimum vigor and are less susceptible to pests. While many crops have primal pests that attack fifty-fifty the healthiest of plants, proper soil, h2o and nutrient direction can help foreclose some pest problems brought on by crop stress or nutrient imbalance. Furthermore, ingather management systems that impair soil quality oftentimes consequence in greater inputs of water, nutrients, pesticides, and/or energy for tillage to maintain yields.

  In sustainable systems, the soil is viewed as a frail and living medium that must be protected and nurtured to ensure its long-term productivity and stability. Methods to protect and enhance the productivity of the soil include:

        - using cover crops, compost and/or manures
  - reducing tillage
  - avoiding traffic on wet soils
  - maintaining soil encompass with plants and/or mulches

  Conditions in most California soils (warm, irrigated, and tilled) exercise not favor the buildup of organic matter. Regular additions of organic affair or the use of cover crops can increase soil amass stability, soil tilth, and multifariousness of soil microbial life.

  Efficient use of inputs

  Many inputs and practices used by conventional farmers are too used in sustainable agriculture. Sustainable farmers, withal, maximize reliance on natural, renewable, and on-subcontract inputs. Equally of import are the environmental, social, and economical impacts of a particular strategy. Converting to sustainable practices does non mean simple input substitution. Oftentimes, it substitutes enhanced management and scientific noesis for conventional inputs, especially chemic inputs that harm the environment on farms and in rural communities. The goal is to develop efficient, biological systems which practise not need loftier levels of fabric inputs.

  Growers frequently ask if synthetic chemicals are appropriate in a sustainable farming system. Sustainable approaches are those that are the least toxic and least energy intensive, and yet maintain productivity and profitability. Preventive strategies and other alternatives should be employed before using chemical inputs from any source. Notwithstanding, there may be situations where the use of synthetic chemicals would exist more than "sustainable" than a strictly not-chemical approach or an approach using toxic "organic" chemicals. For example, one grape grower switched from cultivation to a few applications of a broad spectrum contact herbicide in the vine row. This approach may use less energy and may compact the soil less than numerous passes with a cultivator or mower.

  Consideration of farmer goals and lifestyle choices

  Management decisions should reflect not only ecology and broad social considerations, just also private goals and lifestyle choices. For case, adoption of some technologies or practices that promise profitability may also require such intensive management that ane's lifestyle actually deteriorates. Management decisions that promote sustainability, nourish the environment, the community and the individual.

• Beast Production Practices

• In the early role of this century, well-nigh farms integrated both crop and livestock operations. Indeed, the ii were highly complementary both biologically and economically. The electric current moving picture has inverse quite drastically since then. Crop and animal producers now are notwithstanding dependent on one another to some degree, but the integration now nearly commonly takes identify at a higher level--betwixt farmers, through intermediaries, rather thaninside the subcontract itself. This is the result of a trend toward separation and specialization of crop and beast production systems. Despite this tendency, there are nevertheless many farmers, particularly in the Midwest and Northeastern U.S. that integrate ingather and animal systems--either on dairy farms, or with range cattle, sheep or hog operations.

  Fifty-fifty with the growing specialization of livestock and crop producers, many of the principles outlined in the crop production section utilize to both groups. The actual direction practices will, of course, be quite different. Some of the specific points that livestock producers need to address are listed below.

  Management Planning

  Including livestock in the farming organization increases the complexity of biological and economic relationships. The mobility of the stock, daily feeding, wellness concerns, convenance operations, seasonal feed and fodder sources, and complex marketing are sources of this complexity. Therefore, a successful ranch plan should include enterprise calendars of operations, stock flows, fodder flows, labor needs, herd production records and land utilize plans to give the manager control and a means of monitoring progress toward goals.

  Animal Choice

  The animal enterprise must be advisable for the farm or ranch resources. Farm capabilities and constraints such as feed and forage sources, landscape, climate and skill of the manager must be considered in selecting which animals to produce. For example, ruminant animals tin can be raised on a diverseness of feed sources including range and pasture, cultivated forage, embrace crops, shrubs, weeds, and crop residues. In that location is a broad range of breeds available in each of the major ruminant species, i.e., cattle, sheep and goats. Hardier breeds that, in full general, have lower growth and milk production potential, are improve adapted to less favorable environments with sparse or highly seasonal forage growth.

  Animal nutrition

  Feed costs are the largest single variable cost in whatsoever livestock operation. While most of the feed may come up from other enterprises on the ranch, some purchased feed is commonly imported from off the subcontract. Feed costs can be kept to a minimum past monitoring animal status and performance and understanding seasonal variations in feed and forage quality on the farm. Determining the optimal use of farm-generated by-products is an of import challenge of diversified farming.

  Reproduction

  Use of quality germplasm to improve herd operation is another key to sustainability. In combination with good genetic stock, adapting the reproduction season to fit the climate and sources of feed and forage reduce wellness problems and feed costs.

  Herd Health

  Animal health profoundly influences reproductive success and weight gains, two key aspects of successful livestock production. Unhealthy stock waste matter feed and require boosted labor. A herd health program is disquisitional to sustainable livestock production.

  Grazing Management

  Near agin environmental impacts associated with grazing can exist prevented or mitigated with proper grazing management. Kickoff, the number of stock per unit area (stocking charge per unit) must be correct for the landscape and the provender sources. There will need to exist compromises between the convenience of tilling large, unfenced fields and the fencing needs of livestock operations. Use of modern, temporary fencing may provide one applied solution to this dilemma. Second, the long term carrying capacity and the stocking rate must take into business relationship brusque and long-term droughts. Particularly in Mediterranean climates such as in California, properly managed grazing significantly reduces fire hazards past reducing fuel build-upward in grasslands and brushlands. Finally, the director must attain sufficient command to reduce overuse in some areas while other areas get unused. Prolonged concentration of stock that results in permanent loss of vegetative cover on uplands or in riparian zones should be avoided. However, small scale loss of vegetative encompass around water or feed troughs may exist tolerated if surrounding vegetative cover is adequate.

  Confined Livestock Production

  Animal wellness and waste management are key bug in bars livestock operations. The moral and ethical debate taking place today regarding brute welfare is specially intense for confined livestock production systems. The problems raised in this debate need to be addressed.

  Confinement livestock production is increasingly a source of surface and footing water pollutants, especially where there are large numbers of animals per unit of measurement expanse. Expensive waste management facilities are now a necessary price of bars production systems. Waste is a problem of almost all operations and must be managed with respect to both the surroundings and the quality of life in nearby communities. Livestock production systems that disperse stock in pastures so the wastes are not concentrated and do not overwhelm natural food cycling processes have become a subject of renewed interest.

• The Economical, Social & Political Context

• In addition to strategies for preserving natural resources and changing production practices, sustainable agriculture requires a commitment to changing public policies, economic institutions, and social values. Strategies for change must take into account the complex, reciprocal and ever-irresolute relationship between agricultural production and the broader guild.

  The "food system" extends far beyond the farm and involves the interaction of individuals and institutions with contrasting and oft competing goals including farmers, researchers, input suppliers, farmworkers, unions, subcontract advisors, processors, retailers, consumers, and policymakers. Relationships among these actors shift over fourth dimension as new technologies spawn economic, social and political changes.

  A wide diversity of strategies and approaches are necessary to create a more sustainable nutrient organization. These will range from specific and full-bodied efforts to alter specific policies or practices, to the longer-term tasks of reforming central institutions, rethinking economic priorities, and challenging widely-held social values. Areas of business organisation where change is well-nigh needed include the following:

  Food and agronomical policy

  Existing federal, state and local government policies oft impede the goals of sustainable agriculture. New policies are needed to simultaneously promote ecology health, economic profitability, and social and economical disinterestedness. For example, commodity and cost back up programs could be restructured to allow farmers to realize the full benefits of the productivity gains made possible through culling practices. Taxation and credit policies could be modified to encourage a diverse and decentralized system of family farms rather than corporate concentration and absentee ownership. Government and land grant university inquiry policies could exist modified to emphasize the development of sustainable alternatives. Marketing orders and cosmetic standards could be amended to encourage reduced pesticide use. Coalitions must be created to address these policy concerns at the local, regional, and national level.

  Country utilise

  Conversion of agricultural country to urban uses is a particular concern in California, as rapid growth and escalating country values threaten farming on prime number soils. Existing farmland conversion patterns often discourage farmers from adopting sustainable practices and a long-term perspective on the value of land. At the same time, the close proximity of newly developed residential areas to farms is increasing the public demand for environmentally safety farming practices. Comprehensive new policies to protect prime number soils and regulate evolution are needed, particularly in California'due south Central Valley. By helping farmers to adopt practices that reduce chemic utilise and conserve scarce resources, sustainable agriculture research and pedagogy can play a fundamental office in building public support for agricultural country preservation. Educating land use planners and determination-makers most sustainable agriculture is an important priority.

  Labor

  In California, the atmospheric condition of agricultural labor are generally far below accepted social standards and legal protections in other forms of employment. Policies and programs are needed to address this problem, working toward socially just and safe employment that provides adequate wages, working conditions, wellness benefits, and chances for economic stability. The needs of migrant labor for year-around employment and adequate housing are a specially crucial trouble needing immediate attention. To exist more than sustainable over the long-term, labor must be acknowledged and supported by government policies, recognized as important constituents of land grant universities, and advisedly considered when assessing the impacts of new technologies and practices.

  Rural Community Evolution

  Rural communities in California are currently characterized by economical and ecology deterioration. Many are amid the poorest locations in the nation. The reasons for the decline are complex, but changes in farm structure accept played a significant part. Sustainable agriculture presents an opportunity to rethink the importance of family farms and rural communities. Economic development policies are needed that encourage more diversified farm production on family unit farms every bit a foundation for good for you economies in rural communities. In combination with other strategies, sustainable agriculture practices and policies can assist foster community institutions that meet employment, educational, health, cultural and spiritual needs.

  Consumers and the Food System

  Consumers tin can play a disquisitional role in creating a sustainable food system. Through their purchases, they send strong messages to producers, retailers and others in the system virtually what they recall is important. Food cost and nutritional quality take always influenced consumer choices. The challenge now is to notice strategies that broaden consumer perspectives, so that environmental quality, resource use, and social equity issues are too considered in shopping decisions. At the same time, new policies and institutions must be created to enable producers using sustainable practices to marketplace their appurtenances to a wider public. Coalitions organized effectually improving the nutrient arrangement are ane specific method of creating a dialogue among consumers, retailers, producers and others. These coalitions or other public forums tin can be important vehicles for clarifying problems, suggesting new policies, increasing mutual trust, and encouraging a long-term view of food production, distribution and consumption.
  

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Contributors: Written by Gail Feenstra, Writer; Chuck Ingels, Perennial Cropping Systems Annotator; and David Campbell, Economical and Public Policy Annotator with contributions from David Chaney, Melvin R. George, Eric Bradford, the staff and advisory committees of the UC Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education Program.

How to cite this folio
UC Sustainable Agriculture Inquiry and Education Programme. 2021. "What is Sustainable Agronomics?" UC Agriculture and Natural Resources. <https://sarep.ucdavis.edu/sustainable-ag>

This page was last updated August 3, 2021.

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Source: https://sarep.ucdavis.edu/sustainable-ag

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