Growing food sustainably means treating the farm like an ecosystem; caring for and regenerating soil, air and water and treating animals and people humanely.
Published: 10/08/18, Last updated: 2/28/24
Sustainable crop production includes methods of raising vegetables, fruits, grains and other food and fiber crops in ecologically mindful ways that focus on soil health and biodiversity instead of chemical fertilizers and pesticides. These growing practices require more labor and specialized expertise than chemical-based production, which means that the resulting products are often more expensive.
Yet, for those able to pay this premium, buying sustainable products represents an important long-term investment in a new and different food system that is dramatically healthier not only for consumers, but for farmers, rural communities where many crops are grown — and the environment as a whole.
The industrialization of agriculture artificially divorces two parts of a naturally closed-loop and renewable cycle – nature’s balanced system in which crops feed animals and, in return, the waste from animals feeds (fertilizes) crops. In an industrial system feed for animals is grown in large monoculture systems that rely on chemical fertilizers and pesticides, while animals are raised separately in concentrated facilities where they create huge amounts of waste. This system results in depleted soils on the one hand and toxically excessive animal wastes on the other. 1
Sustainable crop production reintegrates this cycle, using animal manure, compost and other natural fertilizers to improve soil health and ecosystem-based pest controls instead of chemical pesticides. Sustainable crop farmers include growers of vegetables, fruit, flowers, grains, nuts, fiber (like cotton) or any other farmed plant. While they do not always necessarily raise animals alongside their fields, they do often purchase manure and other natural soil amendments from off-farm neighbors.
Farmers may use a variety of techniques to raise their crops, including organic, beyond organic, biodynamic, permaculture, regenerative and agroecology. USDA Organic is the only government-regulated of these, carefully defined by the US Department of Agriculture (which, for crop production, includes requirements, such as no synthetic fertilizers and a limited list of pesticides), but here all related terms are encompassed by “sustainable crop production.”
While industrial methods focus on addressing what are considered isolated problems like low soil fertility or weeds, sustainable crop production is focused on building soil and managing an integrated ecosystem, encouraging beneficial insect and plant relationships and looking at how the farm functions as a whole. Often this also includes consideration of workers, consumers and the larger community.
Managing and building the health of the soil is the most critical element of sustainable crop farming. 37 Other methods of preventing runoff of water and nutrients, including contour buffers and prairie strips, which use native prairie grasses to retain water, are also becoming common even in landscapes dominated by industrial-style crops.813 Some independently owned seed companies still remain and are the chief suppliers of sustainable farmers. Additionally, with the increasing interest in heirloom seeds, new seed companies have started in recent years, with a mission to revive old plant varieties and their accompanying food and cultural traditions.
Some forms of sustainable production can look quite different than a typical farm. Some of these include:
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