Sustainable Agriculture May 2009
A good idea but what does it mean?
Vox pop: Farmers, a researcher, a university lecturer and a journalist
Summary:
Three farmers, two scientists and a journalist say what they understand by 'sustainable agriculture'. Their ideas include: being on an economic scale; putting back into natural systems; making use of fertilisers, herbicides and machinery; having proper funding; and not being environmentally destructive. Thought-provoking opinions. What's yours?
Suggested introduction:
These days, whenever sustainable agriculture is mentioned - by farmers, consumers or researchers - it is presumed to be a good thing. But what is it?
Interestingly, you seem to get as many definitions of sustainable agriculture as people asked to describe it. So what does it mean to you? Compare what you understand by the term 'sustainable agriculture' with these explanations.
They come from farmers, a researcher, a university lecturer and a journalist.
Tape in:
Sustainable agriculture, to me...
Tape out:
...farming the way we should.
Closing Announcement:
Some very different views on the meaning of sustainable agriculture. How would you define it?
Making the most of it:
Record a vox pop to discover more definitions of sustainable agriculture.
To add to the views in the montage, try asking a market trader, a woman farmer and some people in the street.
Hold a studio discussion to see if a common definition of sustainable - or unsustainable - agriculture can be agreed.
Transcript
Journalist
Sustainable agriculture, to me, means agriculture that can supply the needs of people in any given country, but which at the same time is not destructive to the environment: a production system which can be passed on from generation to generation.
Farmer 1
(Vernac) For me, when I talk about sustainable agriculture, the first thing is to take note of the land area under production. These are gone when agriculture is practised under a very small area, so for good economic returns, agriculture should be practised on a fairly economic scale.
Scientist
Sustainable agriculture, in my view, is an agriculture which can sustain on its own. Any agriculture that exploits natural resources without putting back into the system will contribute to the degradation of natural resources. Clearing forests for the sake of agriculture, to me is a bad practice, but the new kind of innovations that are now being put into the system, perhaps would make agriculture a renewable process.
Farmer 2
(Vernac) We have land, we have the know-how, but our only constraint really is funds to do it in a way that we know how, for optimum yield. The constraint we have, why it's not sustainable, it is due to lack of funds. Even with the know-how, it doesn't get well done. Funds, access to things like tractors and stumpers to uproot, to prepare the farmland, and fertilisers.
Lecturer
To me agricultural practices that are not sustainable are practices that, one, lead to degradation of the environment, two, that lead to waste of resources, three, that lead to inability to renew your resources. So when you can no longer renew or recycle resources and you cannot achieve the end product, that's not sustainable.
Farmer 3
(Vernac) My idea of sustainable agriculture is that we need to frequently use fertilisers. We need to have access to herbicides and we need to have access to machineries that would enable us to do our farming the way we should. End of track.
