Sustainable Farming frequently consists of a wide range of production practices, including conventional and organic, and has a lot of enormous benefits attached to it. In this article, we are to look into the benefits of sustainable farming.
Sustainable Farming also known as sustainable agriculture refers to eco-friendly farming methods which are aimed at meeting society’s food and textile needs without compromising future generations’ ability to provide for and meet their own needs.
Sustainable Farming practitioners seek a healthy environment, conservation of the environment, social and economic equity, and profitability. Now, how has this type of farming helped the environment? What are the benefits of sustainable farming? Let’s take a quick survey on the answer to this question in detail
Without further ado, let’s dive right in to discuss the benefits in detail.
Table of Contents
What are the Benefits of Sustainable Farming?
Here are 10 leading benefits of sustainable farming
- Prevention of Pollution
- Saves Energy
- Prevents Soil Erosion
- Encourages Biodiversity
- Animal Friendly
- Reduce Costs
- Encourages Environmental Conservation
- Improves Food Production with Less Waste
- Improves Public Health
- Agricultural Waste Reduction
1. Prevention of Pollution
By adopting sustainable farming, air quality is enhanced as smoke from agricultural burning, dust from tillage, traffic, and harvest, pesticide drifts from spraying, and nitrous oxide emissions from nitrogen fertilizer used all impact air quality.
Sustainable farming can improve air quality by absorbing agricultural residue into the soil and making use of appropriate amounts of tillage.
Planting windbreaks, cover crops, or strips of native perennial grasses can also help prevent dust. And this is where one of the environmental benefits of sustainable farming comes in!
2. Saves Energy
Modern farming now heavily relies mainly on non-renewable energy sources, with special attention on the use of petroleum.
Sustainable farming systems have minimized the need for fossil fuels or non-renewable energy sources by replacing renewable sources or labor in an economically feasible manner.
3. Prevents Soil Erosion
The consistent and continual production of food through traditional farming practices like tillage has been a serious threat to soil erosion.
Statistics show that 10 million hectares of cropland are lost yearly due to soil erosion. This is a serious problem that affects and threatens our world’s food production.
Therefore, numerous practices have been developed to keep soil in place, which include reducing or eliminating tillage, managing irrigation systems to minimize runoff, and keeping the soil covered with plants or mulch can help prevent erosion.
The farm’s biological and economic stability can be enhanced by agroforestry and other sustainable crop diversification methods. As well as the selection of suitable species and varieties that are well suited to the site and conditions on the farm this can help improve crop yield and diversification of crops (including livestock).
4. Encourages Biodiversity
Adopting environmental-friendly and sustainable farming methods such as crop rotation to a large extent helps enrich the soil and prevents disease and pest outbreaks. This method creates an avenue for farmers to plant a wide variety of plants and improve biodiversity in the community.
The use of pesticide-free farming practices also helps improve the population of pollinators which has dropped over the years. It is very important to note that, an economically and socially sustainable farming system enables farms of all sizes to be profitable and contribute to their local economies.
This system supports the next generation of farmers, deals fairly with its workers, promotes racial equity and justice, creates access to healthy food for all, and prioritizes people and communities over corporate interests.
5. Animal-Friendly
Sustainable farming results in animals being taken care of as well as being treated with respect. In livestock farming, it comprises selecting appropriate animal species, animal nutrition, reproduction, herd health, and grazing management. They all contribute to the long-term development of livestock.
The natural behaviors of all living animals, including grazing or pecking, are taken into consideration, catered for, and treated respectfully in sustainable farming. As a result, they develop naturally.
Sustainable farmers and ranchers implement livestock husbandry practices that protect the health of the animals.
6. Reduces Costs
Cost reduction can be subjective, depending on the type of sustainable farming method. However, Sustainable farming reduces the overall costs involved in farming.
For example, in organic farming instead of using pesticides and other harsh chemicals and synthetic fertilizers, all you need are manure and organic waste that can be turned into fertilizers. Since organic farming can help recover the soil’s fertility, it can also lessen the need for synthetic fertilizers.
Another cost-effective farming solution is hydroponics. This system allows you to maximize your garden space and stack the system so you can grow more and plant all year round.
It doesn’t need pesticides since greenhouses are usually enclosed and speed up your plant’s growth. Therefore a considerable amount of money can be earned and saved. Also farming smarter and moving food from farm-to-fork in a more efficient manner has helped everyone involved with the agriculture industry.
7. Encourages Environmental Conservation
The environment plays a major role in fulfilling our basic needs to sustain life. In turn, we must look after the environment so that future generations are not deprived of their needs. Sustainable farming helps to replenish the land as well as other natural resources such as water and air.
Adopting sustainable methods, will reduce farmers’ dependence on non-renewable energy, reduce chemical use and save scarce resources.
This replenishment ensures that these natural resources will be able to sustain life for future generations putting into consideration the rising population and demand for food.
8. Improves Food Production with Less Waste
The constant increase in population is cause for concern. Providing food for 7.5 billion people and more across the globe is challenging. But with smart farming, sustainable agriculture, or sustainable farming practices and a pure production standpoint, we can minimize our waste and provide for more people without compromising the future generation. Sustainable farming is the best route to go and engage in.
9. It Improves Public Health
One of the major benefits of sustainable farming is its positive impact on the public’s health. Sustainable farming avoids hazardous pesticides and fertilizers, as a result, farmers can produce fruits, vegetables, and other crops that are safer for consumers, workers, and surrounding communities.
Aside from contaminating soil, pesticides have harmful effects on human health. Some of the acute or immediate effects of pesticide exposure include Nose irritation, Nausea, Blisters, Dizziness, and Diarrhea.
Therefore, through careful and proper management of livestock waste, sustainable farmers can protect humans from exposure to pathogens, toxins, and other hazardous pollutants.
10. Agricultural Waste Reduction
The use of natural inputs to fertilize crops and keep farm pests away helps to produce less negative results and healthier food, unlike chemical inputs. In most farms, even the waste is re-introduced into the ecosystem and helps to reduce environmental pollution.
Conclusion
As stated in our discussion Sustainable Farming is beneficial not just to the land and farm produce but most importantly the benefit it serves to the environment.
It is also interesting for you to know that technology has enhanced the growth of sustainable farming and with innovations coming out all the time the future of sustainable farming will continue to grow.
Therefore, having known the benefits of this type of farming, farmers globally should try to incorporate sustainable farming or possibly adopt it to be their farm practice for a healthy body and Environment.
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Ahamefula Ascension is a Real Estate Consultant, Data Analyst, and Content writer. He is the founder of Hope Ablaze Foundation and a Graduate of Environmental Management in one of the prestigious colleges in the country. He is obsessed with Reading, Research and Writing.