Priniciples of Sustainable Farming

Sustainable farming meets environmental, economic, and social objectives simultaneously. Envirnomentaly sound agriculture is nature-based rather than factory-based. Economic sustainability depends on profitable enterprises, sound financial planning, proactive marketing, and risk management.  Social sustainability results from making decisions with the farm family's and the larger community's quality of life as a value and a goal.

Sustainable agriculture depends on a whole-system approach whose overall goal is the continuing health of the land and people.  Therefore it concentrates on long term solutions to problems instead of short term treatment of symptoms.

Sustainability can be observed and measured; indicators that a farm community is achieving the three objectives of sustainability include :

Economic Sustainability :
1.  The family savings or net worth is consistently going up.
2.  The family debt is consistently going down.
3.  The farm enterprises are consistently profitable from year to year.
4.  Purchase of off-farm feed and fertiliser is decreasing.
5.  Government subsidy payments is decreasing.

Social Sustainability :
1.  The farm supports other business and families in the community.
2.  Money circulate within the local economy.
3.  The number of rural families is going up or holding steady.
4.  Young people take over their parents.
5.  College graduates return to the community after graduation.

Environmental Sustainability :
1.  There is no bare ground.
2.  Clean water flows in the farm's streams.
3.  Wildlife is abundant.
4.  Fish are prolific in steams that flow through the farm.
5.  The farm landscape is diverse in vegetation.

Biological Model of Agriculture : 
1.  Information Intensive
2.  Cyclical process
3.  Farm as Ecosystem
4.  Enterprise Integration
5.  Diversity of Plants & Animals
6.  Higher-Value Products
7.  Multiple use equipment
8.  Active Marketing

Increase Biodiversity :
Do's :
1.  Intercropping
2.  Crop Rotation
3.  Cover Crops (Mulching)
4.  Multi Species Grazing

Don'ts :
1.  Mono-cropping
2.  Tillage
3.  Herbicides
4.  Insecticides

How Do We Achieve Sustainability? 

Know Your Markets, Protect Your Profits, and Add Value to Your Products

• Diversify enterprises.
  
• Market outside the commodity supply chains and corporate vertical integra- tors.
  
• Emphasize direct marketing and pre- mium specialty markets.
  
• Consider forming a cooperative with other farmers.
  

Add value through on-farm processing. 

Holistic ManagementEvaluating a Rural EnterpriseMoving Beyond Conventional Cash CroppingEntertainment Farming and Agri-TourismDirect MarketingFarmers’ MarketsCommunity Supported AgricultureBringing Local Food to Local Institutions Selling to RestaurantsOrganic Certification and the National Organic ProgramOrganic Marketing Resources Keys to Success in Value-added Agriculture.

Build Soil Structure and Fertility

• Reduce the use of synthetic fertilizers by increasing on-farm nutrient cycling.
• Make fertilization decisions based on soil tests.
• Minimize or eliminate tillage.
• Think of the soil not only as a physical and chemical substrate but as a living entity; manage the soil organisms to preserve their healthy diversity.
• Maintain ground cover year-round by using cover crops and mulches and by leaving crop residues in the field. 

Sustainable Soil Management
Drought Resistant Soil
Nutrient Cycling in Pastures
Manures for Organic Crop Production

Overview of Cover Crops and Green Manures
Overview of Organic Crop Production 
Farm-scale Composting Resource List 
Conservation Tillage
Pursuing Conservation Tillage 
Systems for Organic Crop Production
Assessing the Pasture Soil Resource 
Alternative Soil Testing Laboratories 
Alternative Soil Amendments
Sources of Organic Fertilizers and Amendments

Protect Water Quality on and Beyond the Farm

• Use soil-building practices that increase soil organic matter and support a biologically active humus complex.
• Use soil conservation practices that reduce the potential for water runoff and erosion.
• Plant perennial crops such as forages, trees, and shrubs.
• Plant catch crops or cover crops to take up nutrients that may otherwise leach into the subsoil.
• Provide buffer areas between fields and water bodies to protect against nutrient and sediment movement into lakes and streams.
• Manage irrigation to enhance nutrient uptake and decrease nutrient leaching.
• Produce livestock in pasture-based systems.

• Nutrient Cycling in Pastures

Protecting Water Quality on Organic Farms

Protecting Riparian Areas

Managed Grazing in Riparian Areas 

Conservation Easements

Montana Irrigator’s Pocket Guide 

Constructed Wetlands

Conservation Tillage

Sustainable Soil Management

Drought Resistant Soil

Sustainable Pasture Management 

Agroforestry Overview

Manage Pests Ecologically; Use Minimal Pesticides

• Prevent pest problems by building healthy, biologically active soil; by creating habitat for beneficial organisms; and by choosing appropriate plant cultivars.
• View the farm as a component of an eco-system, and take actions to restore and enhance pest–predator balances. Understand that the mere presence of a pest does not necessarily constitute a problem; base any intervention on monitoring (crop scouting) and economic damage thresholds.
• Before intervening with a chemical, positively identify the pest species and learn about its life cycle and ecology. Implement cultural practices that alter the cropping system and surrounding habitat to make life more difficult for the pest and easier for its natural enemies.
• Use pesticides as the last resort, when biological and cultural controls have failed to keep pest populations below economically damaging levels. If you have to use chemicals, seek out the least-toxic pesticide that will control the pest.

Biointensive Integrated Pest Management
Farm scaping to Enhance Biological Control
Sustainable Management of Soil-borne Plant Diseases
Integrated Pest Management for Greenhouse Crops
Principles of Sustainable Weed Management
Integrated Parasite Management for Livestock
A Whole Farm Approach to Managing Pests

Maximize Biodiversity on the Farm

• Integrate crop and livestock production.
• Use hedge rows, insectary plants, cover crops, and water reservoirs to attract and support populations of beneficial insects, bats, and birds.
• Abandon monocropping in favor of crop rotations, intercropping, and companion planting.
• Plant a percentage of your land in trees and other perennial crops in permanent plantings or long-term rotations.
• Manage pastures to support a diverse selection of forage plants.
• Plant off-season cover crops.

Enhance Biological Control
Intercropping
Companion Planting
Converting to Perennial Crops
Sustainable Pasture Management 
Multi species Grazing
Agro Forestry

Organic Farming

“an ecological production management system that promotes and enhances biodiversity, biological cycles and soil biological activity. It is based on minimal use of off-farm inputs and on management practices that restore, maintain and enhance ecological harmony.” 

Organic Crop Production (Priniciples & Practices)

Priniciples

Biodiversity
Integration of Enterprises
Sustainability
Natural Plant 
Nutrition
Natural Pest Management

Practices

Crop Rotation
Green Manure
Cover Crops
Intercropping
Biocontrol
Farmscaping
Animal Manure
Composting
Natural Fertiliser
Foliar Fertiliser
Natural Pesticides 
Least Tillage 
Mulching