What is Sustainable Farming?

In recent years, the term “Sustainable Farming” has become increasingly abused and its value diluted by those who have tried to re-brand their exploitative agribusiness models with a “green” facelift. At the same time, others have recognised the need for farming systems to work within the boundaries of natural resources whilst providing the highest standards of production. With such a range of interests claiming to offer Sustainable Farming, its not surprising that those on the periphery of farming have become increasingly confused about the sort of farming model we should leave as an inheritance for future generations.

The key role for FARM for its medium and long-term strategy will be to take the principles that underpin sustainable farming systems and to translate them from broad aspirations into well-defined, practical objectives. We can also demonstrate that these values have a central role to play in the future of farming by taking the elusive objective of “sustainable farming” and breaking it down into elements that can be easily communicated to those outside farming.

Through our work, we are encouraging both farmers and others interested in how food is produced to consider farming as one component within a system that uses inputs such as fuel, water and nutrients and provides outputs such as wheat, milk, vegetables and meat. Behind the more obvious elements of some production systems also lie exploitative inputs such as cheap labour or non-renewable resources and destructive outputs such as pollution and soil degradation.

  • Finite Resource management
    Water, energy, soil, biodiversity. Narrow interpretations of efficiency and productivity often fail to reflect the consumption of these finite resources. These can be consumed either as direct inputs such as tractor fuel, or indirectly through inputs that require finite resources in their manufacture and transport. Integrated systems of farming have the potential to minimise these inputs and under a wider definition of efficiency, have values that are currently ignored. Similarly, environmental damage, particularly to soils is seldom reflected in short-term analysis of balance sheets.
  • Economic systems ~ local & regional food networks
    Fair Trade for UK farmers.
    Unless producers receive a fair price for their produce that covers all costs of production, the inevitable consequence will be to compromise production standards, reinvestment and ultimately the survival of domestic produce.
  • Environmental systems
    Environmentally beneficial management practices should be integrated in all aspects of farming as distinct from “bolt-on” measures that attempt to mitigate damage caused by the management practices employed on the main areas of production.
  • Assurance, accountability and trust
    These are eroded when the connection between producer and consumer is lost, as in today’s supermarket-dominated economy. Attempts to replace these with audit trails and labelling are expensive and a poor substitute for direct lines of communication. Despite their economic success and dominance, supermarkets often fail to reflect the quality and diversity that regional foods are capable of delivering and they also fail to provide genuine opportunities to any but the largest of farm businesses.