4 Sustainable Farming Techniques Making a Difference
Agriculture has changed dramatically
since the dawn of the Industrial Revolution. 300 years ago, the vast
majority of the world’s farms were subsistence operations — farmers
raised crops to feed themselves and their families, devoting whatever
land they had left over (often little or nothing) to cash crops that
they could sell at the market. The most popular cash crops of yore were
either edible delicacies or inedible raw materials, like cotton and
tobacco.
Fast forward to the present. An 18th-century farmer dropped in the
middle of Nebraska or California’s Central Valley would be dumbfounded
by the scale and efficiency of modern agriculture. These days, we have
more than enough to eat — to the point where most farmers are
millionaires who pay others to work the land for them.
Unfortunately, our bounteous agricultural system has serious
ecological impacts that threaten the planet’s long-term health. Now more
than ever, we need large-scale solutions that turn back the deleterious
tide of industrial farming and ensure that our grandchildren grow up
with the same standard of living we currently enjoy. Collectively, these
four sustainable farming techniques might just provide the answer.
