Published on October 12th, 2007 | by Stephanie Evans

What is Sustainable Agriculture?

Sustainable produce is a relatively new idea. It gives shoppers interested in purchasing organic produce an alternative option at a lower cost, and sometimes a higher rate of availability. According to the Food Alliance, sustainable produce (although not the same as organic produce) must meet the following criteria:

Use a range of natural pest controls, such as beneficial insects, careful weather monitoring and scouting
Use the least toxic pesticides when natural methods don’t work
Improve soil by natural methods, such as crop rotation and cover crops
Protect clean drinking water and fish habitat by providing buffer zones in riparian areas
Provide wildlife habitat and encouraging residency by growing some year round vegetative cover for shelter and food
Take into consideration quality of life issues for their farm workers and their communities when making daily farm management decisions
Continually improve their farming practices to make them more environmentally sound, socially just, and economically viable.