CONTENTS CHAPTER ONE CHAPTER FIVE 4 Defining Sustainable Agriculture 50 Seeds and Biotechnology CHAPTER Two 14 Why We Need Sustainable Agriculture CHAPTER SIX 62 Sustainable water CHAPTER THREE 24 Sustainable Soil CHAPTER SEVEN 74 Sustainable Energy and Climate Change CHAPTER FOUR 36 Chemicals and Precision Agriculture CHAPTER EIGHT 86 Into the Future 100 Essential Facts 102 Glossary 104 Additional Resources 106 Source Notes 110 Index 112 About the Author
ONE DEFINING SUSTAINABLE IAGRICULTURE n agriculture less is sometimes more Just ask ranchers Dan and Jeanne Carver owners Lof the Imperial Stock Ranch in Shaniko Oregon On their 30 000 acres 12 000 ha of rangeland the Carvers raise 600 cattle and 240 ewes per year The Carvers make a good living from their ranch But one of their major goals is to rejuvenate the land which was badly eroded and compacted when they bought the property in 1988 Soil had also Washed into the ranch's streams destroying the trout habitat They rejuvenate the land by taking care of the soil largely by leaving it alone and letting nature take its course For example they use no till farming on their 3 000 acres 1 200 ha of grain In no till farming the soil is not turned over with a plow or disk Rather A tractor with a no till drill plants soybeans in Iowa seed is drilled directly into the ground through the residue of previous years crops Growing grain without
