Photo: Pixabay/kirahoffmann
When looking at the future, some people may have a bleak opinion of what might be left after years of farming. Sustainable food comes from responsible sources.
Yet not enough people may know how to find out whether their food was harvested or raised sustainably.
The way to create a sustainable future is to educate everyone on what to look for — and it may include changing their diet. Sustainability also calls on some farmers to alter their practices or change their processes entirely.
Still, though there may be some growing pains at first, these sustainable practices can ensure that there’s a future with food for everyone.
Why sustainable farming is important
Farming sustainably means leaving something to the earth rather than destroying the land by depleting it of nutrients for plants. When all the land resources are depleted in an area, that area is tthen ypically abandoned rather than rehabilitated, and it cannot be used for food again for years.
In a world where food insecurity, the lack of certainty that a household will obtain enough quality food to nourish it, is a looming threat, it is vital to ensure food creation and processing are sustainable.
When demand is high, sustainable practices often are not followed. More food has to be grown and harvested to catch up with the demand. Doing so can damage the land, sometimes beyond repair.
Those who grow food should always want to farm in a sustainable way that doesn’t severely damage the soil. People will want food to continue growing for years afterwards. To better help farmers adhere to sustainable practices, people should change their diets to be healthier, including limiting or omitting red meat altogether.
The problem with red meat is that cattle take up a lot of resources for very little return on investment. Much of red meat is not sustainable for several reasons. Some red meat might be exposed to hormones and pesticides, which then can harm people’s health.
Additionally, cattle need large spaces to graze, which means land needs to be cleared out, often via deforestation. They also emit methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Sustainable farming may need to step away from red meat and lean more towards plant-based meats or other types of meat like poultry.
Sustainable farming practices
Practicing sustainable farming can guarantee that people worldwide will have enough to eat. One way to ensure that there will be enough food for everyone in future is to create a change in the supply and demand process by having people alter the way they eat, therefore relying on less processed meat and more on natural, plant-based foods.
Pest control is another key area. There are several natural ways to prevent pests in your home, but when you run a large farm, it might be difficult to eliminate pests. Having professional pest control is essential to disrupting the breeding cycles of pests.
Professionals know how much of certain pesticides to use and where to use them to keep them from affecting you or anything else you may be worried about, such as crops. This way, you don’t have to spray pesticides directly on your crops, and you need not worry about pests getting into your food.
Electric farm equipment that releases zero carbon emissions will also become tools of the future. Transitioning off traditional equipment can save the world from tons of unnecessary carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, and it can be cost-effective for the people who own them and a worthwhile investment for those looking for a growing sector to dip their money in.
Traditional farming equipment can be dangerous to the environment, but preparing for and harvesting crops by hand is not feasible. Electric farm equipment creates a happy medium that allows farmers and other workers to create food with relative ease while also causing less harm to the environment.
Raising healthier animals can help the meat farming industry. Technology is improving to the point where farmers can use it to detect any gene abnormalities in livestock. This way, farmers can prevent that livestock from breeding and find others worth the investment.
As technology improves and becomes more affordable every day it is set to become more widespread. Though sustainable farming may not be as common as it should be right now, there is hope for the future as technology evolves and sustainable practices become even easier to implement.
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