Healthy soil and sustainable growing

["Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>]

The Importance of Sustainable Farmers
http://www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture/solutions/sustainable_farming/the-importance-of-sustainable.html
Union of Concerned Scientists

Where will the methods and practices of sustainable agriculture come from? 
Despite the decades of work in the courts, the media, and on the Hill, the 
environmental community has had disappointingly little impact on pesticide 
and fertilizer use in this country. The sad truth is that the 30 years 
following Rachel Carson's Silent Spring were characterized by dramatic 
increases—not decreases—in pesticide use.

The reason is simple. The environmental message "Don't use pesticides" was 
negative and ran counter to what most farmers believed was their economic 
survival. Because no alternatives to pesticides appeared economically viable, 
most farmers believed their choice was to use chemicals or go out of 
business. Little wonder that despite lawsuits, a federal pesticide law, and 
growing public concern, pesticide and fertilizer use stubbornly increased.

Now things are beginning to change. Pesticide use is slowly diminishing and 
it is becoming clear that new approaches to agriculture offer the possibility 
of huge reductions in chemical use. The importance of the environmental 
benefits of lower pesticide use—clean water, thriving populations of fish and 
birds, fewer industrial and transportation accidents—is hard to overstate. 
And these are in addition to the non-pesticide-related benefits of 
sustainable practices like soil conservation, soil health, and increased 
wildlife habitat.

While many factors have contributed to this turn of events, a pivotal factor 
has been the emergence of a group within the agricultural community 
who—rather than just decrying pesticides—developed and proved nonchemical 
practices of growing crops that made economic sense to farmers.

The signal feature of these practices is that they are both environmentally 
sound and economically viable. Their importance cannot be overestimated. If 
offered such alternatives, many farmers will turn away from chemicals rapidly 
and voluntarily. No regulation. No bureaucracy. No coercion. Without such 
alternatives, farmers will be pitted against environmentalists and neither 
group is likely to win.

We need many more of these innovative, sustainable practices. Where are they 
going to come from? In general, from where they originated: the sustainable 
agriculture community. While university research, better commodity programs, 
and other institutional measure are vital to underpin these efforts, the key 
to the transformation to an environmentally conscious agriculture is 
environmentally conscious farmers.