Science Alliance for Valuing the Environment – S.A.V.E.
PRESENTS
THE ESSENTIALS OF SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
Dr. John Ikerd – Professor Emeritus, University of Missouri –
Columbia.
Tuesday, November 12
7:30 to 9:00 p.m.
Lourdes University – Franciscan Center
According to John Ikerd, the core principles that drive
sustainable agriculture include interdependence, diversity, trust, and the need
for the carryover of kindness. The intrinsic
values involving present-day agricultural systems do not address relationships
nor conform to a natural balance: maximum extraction is valued over restoration,
large-scale agricultural systems do not promote interpersonal relationships between
growers and consumers, environmental degradation and depletion affects more than the farm field. Agricultural
sustainability goes beyond self-sufficiency and towards greater behaviors
including cooperation, trust, food access for all people and a continuing restoration
of earth productivity.
At the present time, western agricultural methods favor large-scale systems. Existing farms have
built accompanying sub-systems to meet the challenges of such large-scale
models. Pesticides, herbicides,
fertilizers have to be a scheduled input for maximum effect and
productivity. Sustainable farms
recognize the value of respecting the bounds that nature places on all living
things. Sustainable agriculture will necessarily
evolve toward smaller localized operations whereby cooperation, trust and a sense
of commonwealth are integral. Local
advantages associated with sustainable agriculture add value to the greater community: increases in food security, reversal of social decay, reduction of the use of the fossil fuels, and the reversal of ecological depletion and degradation.
The movement toward Community Supported Agriculture is an
important first step towards sustainable agriculture but must more must be
done. Presently, there are certain limits to
production encountered by local farmers wanting to market in sustainable ways. Meat processing, dairy
products, and bakery goods will all have to be scaled up to meet greater demands for locally-produced food products.
John Ikerd’s website can be accessed at:
The “Essentials of
Sustainable Agriculture” is free and open to the public.
