Sustainable agriculture is founded on three main pillars — environmental health, economic profitability, and social justice. Each is indispensable in achieving a form of agriculture that meets this global challenge. To understand how these three pillars work together to build a sustainable agriculture system, it’s important to explore each one in turn.
Environmental Health
The environmental pillar of sustainable agriculture is focused on protecting the health of our planet. This involves building or restoring natural soil fertility, using sustainable farming methods, and conserving agricultural resources such as water and land. It also involves reducing emissions of damaging substances like greenhouses gases, which contribute to global climate change. These practices help increase crop yields, using fewer resources, reducing environmental pollution, and promoting healthier soils, water supplies, and air.
Economic Profitability
The economic pillar is all about ensuring the economic resilience of farms, improving their efficiency and performance, and allowing them to remain financially viable over the long-term. This includes a commitment to rewarding farmers fairly, providing access to capital, training and support to increase agricultural productivity, and making use of modern technology to increase profit margins while minimizing costs.
Social Justice
The social pillar is centered around social equity and opportunities for all stakeholders involved in the farming process. This includes providing decent working conditions and pay, protecting the rights of farmers and workers, as well as supporting rural and urban communities. It emphasizes diversity and inclusion so that marginalized and minority communities are not left behind in the process.
Supporting Family Farms
The three pillars of sustainable agriculture all contribute to the goal of enabling family farms to remain profitable and competitive in the long-term. Sustainable farming practices, such as reduced tillage, cover crops, as well as integrated pest and nutrient management, are key strategies for improving soil health and protecting the environment, while at the same time improving the economic prospects of agricultural businesses. Family farms can also benefit from using newer, more efficient technologies and tools to reduce costs and increase yields while preserving assets and the local environment.
Reducing Rural Poverty
The pillars of sustainable agriculture are also important for reducing rural poverty and improving food security. For instance, sustainable farming practices, such as agroforestry, agroecology and conservation agriculture, help reduce soil erosion, degradation and pollution while also providing livelihoods and food security in rural communities. The economic pillar provides access to capital and training to increase productivity and profit, while the social pillar prioritizes justice and inclusion by advocating for and protecting the rights of all stakeholders.
Climate Change Adaptation
The three pillars of sustainable agriculture also play an important role in adapting to climate change. By adoptin sustainable farming techniques, farmers can increase crop yields and reduce their environmental footprint. This, in turn, helps reduce the costs of production, increase food security, and help the agricultural sector become more resilient to the impacts of climate change. In addition, the economic pillar contributes to adapting to changing market conditions, while the social pillar ensures fair pay and labor rights to protect vulnerable and marginalized communities.
Energy Efficiency
The three pillars of sustainable agriculture also promote energy efficiency in the agricultural sector. Sustainable farming techniques and technologies can reduce the amount of energy needed for farming operations, such as pumping, irrigation, and transportation of goods. This, in turn, reduces greenhouse gas emissions and the cost of production, while increasing the efficiency of farm operations. The economic pillar provides incentives for farmers to adopt sustainable technologies, while the social pillar supports and protects small-scale farmers who are often most affected by the impacts of climate change.
