Sustainable Agriculture - Healthy Choices for Everyone!You're probably wondering just what sustainable agriculture is. Hopefully this site will help you determine that so that you can make healthy choices for you, your family, farmers and the environment.In a nutshell sustainability means that the practices used to produce the food that we eat are healthy, don't harm the environment, are fair to the workers and humane to the animals, provide fair wages to farmers and support farming communities. We hope that this site will help you make healthy eating decisions, shop wisely and enjoy sustainable food sources! Reasons to Buy SustainableThere are several reasons to consider eating sustainable agriculture. First and foremost, though, you have to want to do it for yourself.
The EnvironmentDid you know that on unsustainable factory farms excrete tons of waste every week which are often held untreated in open air lagoons that pollute surrounding land, air and water? Until I began to investigate sustainablility, I really hadn't given it much thought. The Environmental Protection Agency reported that in the 1990s agriculture animal waste polluted 35,000 miles of rivers in 22 states and contaminated ground waters in 17 states.
Another way that factory farms harm the environment is through their consumption of massive amounts of feed crops. Granted some cows feed themselves by grazing in pastures, but the majority of factory farms feed their animals corn or soybeans. This means that American cropland is pushed hard to produce a massive amount of grains. In response to the need for more grains, producers have begun using practices that produce more crops, but damage the soil and throw the natural systems out of balance. Better HealthThere are so many benefits to your health if you eat sustainably. It's been shown that grass fed beef has 3 to 4 times more Omega 3's the factory farmed, grain fed meat.Another health benefit is that because sustainability involves eating Locally Grown Food, you end up with fresher foods with higher nutrients. Sustainable agriculture comes from minimal or zero pesticide use. Farmers also practice better soil management, such as crop rotation and use of cover crops and composting, which actually enriches the soil and increases the concentration of vitamins and minerals. On conventional factory farms chemical fertilizers are used which lowers the nutrient content of the soil. It also increases the level of harmful nitratesand contains toxic metals which can be absorbed by the plants. I don't know about you, but that's enough for me to want to eat sustainably!
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