Sustainable agriculture is the way of immersing farming into a way that protects the natural environment while improving the production of agricultural products. It directly removes the industrialization of the farming industry and rejects the idea of large scale monocrop harvesting. Sustainable agriculture introduces the use of multicrop plots in order to increase biodiversity while farming in order to prevent the use of pesticides and encourage economic growth by reducing loss of product. By using varying species in the same farm plot the risk of disease spreading to other species and damaging products is lowered as multiple species who may be resistant to said infection will still be able to be harvested. Unfortunately the ideal of environmental preservation is not a satisfactory idea for large corporations to change agricultural production, but rather economic incentive is required to make the change. Fortunately though we do see economic opportunities when it comes to sustainable agriculture as reduction of loss products allows for larger profits. Environmental stability also takes into account social responsibility and equity as a core principle in its ideology. By making farming accessible to the general public, sustainable agriculture allows for everyday people to grow their own produce for personal use and allows for the preservation of the environment.
Applied Plant Ecology Winter 2020 