What is the priority for alternative/sustainable agriculture?

Question

eco-friendly farming

Answer 1

The priority is to support environmental health, economic profitability, and social and economic equity.

Sustainable agriculture uses bio diversity as a method to support ecological health.  It's working with the environment and not against it.  But it also uses the same method to increase yeilds and profits.  

I don't know why they call it alternative agriculture, since it's one of the oldest forms of agriculture known to man.  It's common sense.  Rotate crops.  Plant things that grow well in your area.  Fish, ducks, and rice all do well in the same paddie......   And don't dump cow manure in the drinking water.

So, priority?  Farming which doesn't destroy the environment, and which is economically viable, and which makes the best use of the land.

Answer 2

Obviously it is important to have all our agriculture sustainable and environmentally friendly. As to how much effort goes into that, we as a species, the only one that farms (with exception of insects that farm fungus organically I might add), could do better. We really need more government incentives in the well-to-do western nations, as most current incentives are supply and demand from the organic customer. In nations that are impoverished or not as well off, many farmers do not have the education and information needed to grow organic products or run sustainable farm projects. More often than not the bottom line is that it costs more to produce a product that is organic for a lot of reasons. A third world farmer might do better with a cheap bag of fertilizer, an aging tractor rental, and seed culled from the last harvest. Initially the cost of conversion to clean agriculture is high for no actual gains, like an increased harvest, and remains a bit higher for a somewhat diminished quality and quantity even though the product is organic from a sustainable farm. The profit comes later when that farmer has a finer, more productive soil to work with, but that is ethereal for the most part. If that farmer can find a market for an organic product, one that pays the higher cost with the demand (an export to a higher economic system/ country), then the conversion was a good one and both the farmer and country benefit. This in general will not happen without an education not only in agriculture but also economics, business management, etc. The uneducated dirt poor farmer will probably not get to that place without help from the government programs and local community agricultural support (co-ops, markets, etc).

We wait for the trickle down effect; the nations who are better off help their farmers get on the right track to sustainable and organic farming with money and programs and incentives. But those countries have huge populations to feed and that food needs to be a good value for people to eat well and be healthy. Exports and imports (and laws that govern) need to be constantly evaluated, and in general are.

The trickle down effect to the farmer in other countries whose economy is not doing as well? Other countries must, and do, spend a lot to teach other countries farmers how to protect and improve their farms and lives, and to feed the populations a quality product, and then to have enough to export. For the truly impoverished nations, this help and money will feed those who would otherwise perish, and get them on the road to self sufficiency.

In the end we have a better world economy with better food quality as well as protecting the air and water and the land.