Three Principles of Sustainable Farming - GreenPassion.org - Dedicated to Medicinal Cannabis Cultivation and Education

scott06 · #1 (**permalink**) 05-03-2009, 05:56 PM

Sustainable Farming is more than just organic gardening...it farming in a way that is good for everyones pocket book, the community itself, and the environment. The way we grow MJ (especially those that do large outdoor grows) is a political statement and can be a force for good in the world...for more I would recommend reading Michael Pullan's The Omnivores Dilema

ECONOMIC SUSTAINABILITY

The family savings or net worth is consistently going up

The family debt is consistently going down

The farm enterprises are consistentlyp rofitable from year to year

Purchase of off-farm feed and fertilizer is decreasing

Reliance on government payments is decreasing

SOCIAL SUSTAINABILITY
The farm supports other businesses and families in the community

Dollars circulate within the local economy

The number of rural families is going up or holding steady

Young people take over their parents' farms and continue farming

College graduates return to the community after graduation

ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY
There is no bare ground

Clean water flows in the farm's ditches and streams

Wildlife is abundant

Fish are prolific in streams that flow through the farm
The farm landscape is diverse in vegetation

how does this apply to GP? Well it shows that any activity we do has social economic and environmental impacts that are well worth considering....what we grow what we cosume and what we discard are highly impactful and worth examining

jangel · #2 (**permalink**) 05-03-2009, 08:00 PM

....hmmmmm....have to think on this one.

Good post scott.

ileso · #3 (**permalink**) 05-03-2009, 11:34 PM

100%

Mr.Moonbiscuit · #4 (**permalink**) 05-04-2009, 01:22 AM

very good post scott.

River Rat · #5 (**permalink**) 05-07-2009, 06:12 AM

WORD! I agree totally. Good thread.

Naturelover · #6 (**permalink**) 09-08-2009, 01:51 AM

Really great post! I would add also the category "Soil Sustainability."

Agriculture can either be done in ways which build or deplete topsoil and topsoil depletion can never be sustainable. Most current agricultural practices deplete topsoil. Soil is built sustainably from the top down.

As an example of what I'd consider sustainable soil, I would envision the ideal situation of a farmer rotating his fields between cannabis/other crops and grass-fed cattle. The cattle would more than make up for the inevitable soil depletion caused by the planting of the other crops.

This of course ties in with the other categories as well, because if you have soil which gets more fertile over the years rather than less, you won't need to put in any extra fertilizers, and you won't have runoff into your streams, rivers, lakes and ponds and they won't be choked up by superblooms of algae.

I envision soil sustainability helping economic sustainability because by its definition sustainable soil eliminates the need for off-farm fertilizers, which increases profitability and decreases debt, and economic sustainability leads to social sustainability.

Truly a great thread.