Just for a little background, I grew up in Iowa and have farmed with my husband Larry Harris for thirty six years. We started farming organically in the spring of 1976 on the farm where Larry spent his childhood. Our farm has gone through a number of changes since we started from a cow/calf operation to a dairy to its current form as a small Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) farm. We now grow crops for thirty families and sell to the local hospital. I raise turkeys that are sold to Iowa State University for Thanksgiving. In 2009 I also sold to Grinnell College.

Oh yes, many of you may remember my run for Secretary of Agriculture in 2006. It was a great race and a very close one. You may also remember that I was “swiftboated” at the very end by our dear Iowa insurance company the iowa farm bureau. We gave them a run for their money but in the end their dirty politics won.

Okay, now to get back to what I am writing about: The USDA has laid out what follows as Sustainable Agriculture.

Sustainable Agriculture: The Basics

Some terms defy definition. “Sustainable agriculture” has become one of them. In such a quickly changing world, can anything be sustainable? What do we want to sustain? How can we implement such a nebulous goal? Is it too late? With the contradictions and questions have come a hard look at our present food production system and thoughtful evaluations of its future. If nothing else, the term “sustainable agriculture” has provided “talking points,” a sense of direction, and an urgency, that has sparked much excitement and innovative thinking in the agricultural world.

The word “sustain,” from the Latin sustinere (sus-, from below and tenere, to hold), to keep in existence or maintain, implies long-term support or permanence. As it pertains to agriculture, sustainable describes farming systems that are “capable of maintaining their productivity and usefulness to society indefinitely. Such systems… must be resource-conserving, socially supportive, commercially competitive, and environmentally sound.” [John Ikerd, as quoted by Richard Duesterhaus in “Sustainability’s Promise,” Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (Jan.-Feb. 1990) 45(1): p.4. NAL Call # 56.8 J822]

“Sustainable agriculture” was addressed by Congress in the 1990 “Farm Bill” [Food, Agriculture, Conservation, and Trade Act of 1990 (FACTA), Public Law 101-624, Title XVI, Subtitle A, Section 1603 (Government Printing Office, Washington, DC, 1990) NAL Call # KF1692.A31 1990]. Under that law, “the term sustainable agriculture means an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term:

This is a good place to start. I would like to add that local foods, regional food systems, food security, the health of human beings and the enhancement of rural economies also fit in the definition. I will be writing about these issues in the weeks to come.

Sustainable agriculture has come a very long way and it is becoming a big player in the agriculture scene in Washington D.C. and I must say, agribusiness is not happy. Agribusiness will not move over and give sustainable ag a seat at the table very easily. Many people have fought hard for sustainable ag to get where it is today but we have so much farther to go. Yes, we have friends and allies in positions of power who are trying hard to do what needs to be done to correct the course of agriculture. Their job is not easy and we need to support them every step of the way.

It makes me want to vomit when I hear Monsanto on public radio and public television talk about how sustainable they are. They will spend billions of dollars to convince the public that they are the “good guys”. It is our job to continue the path of sustainability and to recognize green washing and call them out on it.

As I stated early on in this piece, I am delighted and honored to blog for BFIA and am hoping to engage in some good dialog about sustainable agriculture.