Farming types, sustainable agriculture and indicators (PTI4208)
Sustainable Agriculture
Outline
History of farming types
Trends in food production and human population
Sustainable agriculture:
definition, goal and objective.
Sustainability indicators
Conclusion
History of farming types
In 1813 Sir Humphrey Davy and Justus von Liebig discovered that plants
absorbed the mineral salts contained in humus and manure instead of organic matter.
in the 1840s the first commercial artificial fertilisers were produced highlighted as the beginning of agricultural revolution.
However, the significant uptake of
fertilisers by plants did not occur until the start of World War in 1918.
In 1924 Rudolf Steiner’s criticised this agricultural revolution and gave his lectures on Biodynamic farming –no synthetic inputs.
The first organic certification and labelling system, ‘Demeter’
History of farming types
In 1940’s promoted by Sir Albert
Howard and Lady Eve Balfour on the importance of humus and good soil fertility.
o Returned crops by-products to soil and use animal manures, too.
o Developed concept of composting.
o Concerned about negative affects of synthetic fertilizers and pesticides on soil.
Word ‘organic’ first used in 1940’s in reference to sustainable agriculture by Lord Northbourne: “farm is a
dynamic, balanced, living organic whole”
History of farming types
After so many trials with synthetic fertilisers, in 1950’s-1960’s, Green Revolution was finally evolved that was promoted by Rockefeller
Foundation:
o emphasis on genetically enhanced plants
o high energy off-farm inputs such as:
mechanization (burning of fossil fuels)
synthetic pesticides
synthetic fertilizers
o Produced low cost food for the public.
Mass production style of farming has resulted in numerous negative side-affects:
Environmental damages
Reduced biodiversity
Habitat destruction
Water, air and soil pollution
Salinization, desertification
Decline in water resources
Human impacts
Damage to soil fertility
Reduced nutritional value of food
Decreased economic, social and cultural values
Negative Impacts
Trends
The onset of the industrial age brought about various trends that have led us to our present state .
The quick rise in population More people to feed.
The greater need for production
Farms required to produce more.
Wide-spread ecological impacts
Faith in technological,
political and economic fixes.
The increase in urbanism Less farms to do more work.
Today, “less developed countries”
are following a similar trend.
Sustainability
For the past several years research has looked at sustainable agriculture as a potential solution to correct and prevent these problems.
in 1972, “sustainability” was first
used in the context of man's future, in a British book, Blueprint for Survival.
In 1974, the word was first used to justify a “no growth” economy.
In 1978, was us in UN documents as
"ecodevelopment”
Sustainable was first used in 1987 in the Brundtland Report, calling for ‘‘a new era of economic growth—and at the same time socially and
environmentally sustainable’’.
Definition, goal and objective
Definition
Sustainable farming is then defined in the FarmBill USDA at 1990 as “an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will, over the long term
Goal
Meeting society’s food and textile needs in the present without
compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Objectives
A healthy environment
Economic profitability
Social and economic equity
5 key
principles of sustainability for food and agriculture
Increase productivity, employment and value in food systems
Protect and enhance natural resources
Improve livelihoods and foster inclusive economic growth
Enhance the resilience of people, communities and ecosystems
Adapt governance to new challenges
Sustainability
Definition of “sustainable agriculture” is vague and ambiguous, meaning different things to different people.
It can mean conventional farming that drives efficiencies and productivity.
Or it can refer to biological, organic, biodynamic, permaculture, agroecology or holistic management styles of farming.
“Sustainable agriculture” need to be defined precisely, including assessment and analysis to verify the comparative advantage of sustainable agriculture against conventional.
Sustainable agriculture analysis
FAO and researchers from other institutes develop tools to
assess and analyse the
sustainability of farming either on-farm, landscape, a country or a region.
For example MESMIS, SAFA and many others using developed indicators.
Calculation and presentation can also be done manually using SPSS or excel.
Indicators are categorised into economic, environment and social dimensions.
Indicator framework
To guide assessment on sustainable agriculture practices of country level, FAO develops 11 indicators
See http://www.fao.org/sustainable-development-goals/indicators/241/en/ or http://www.fao.org/3/ca7154en/ca7154en.pdf or
http://www.fao.org/3/cb0617en/cb0617en.pdf
Example: economic
Land productivity fam output value (quantities and prices)
Quantities of main crops/ livestock produced
Quantity of main by-products of crops/ livestock
Other on-farm products produced
Farm gate prices of the crops and livestock and its products and by- products produced
Farm gate prices of other on-farm products produces
Example:
Example: Environment
Fertiliser risks the proposed approach is based on questions to farmers about:
their use of fertilizer (synthetic and organic)
their awareness about the environmental risks associated with fertilisers
their behaviour in terms of plant nutrient management
Example of farmer responses on the surveys:
Example: Social
Food security food insecurity experience scale (FIES)
FIES is a metric of severity of food insecurity at the household level that relies on people’s direct yes/no responses to eight simple
questions regarding their access to adequate food.
It is a statistical measurement scale to measure unobservable traits such as aptitude/intelligence, personality, and a broad range of
social, psychological and health-related conditions.
Presentation
The results of the survey calculation on 11 indicators that are categorised into economic, environment and social can be presented as Figure below with the sustainability criteria:
Green: desirable or mild (for food insecurity)
Yellow : acceptable or moderate (for food insecurity) Red : unsustainable or severe (for food insecurity)
Farm-level sustainability
(Ryan et al, 2016)
Example from Ireland’s natural pastoral-
based food production systems dairy (……..), cattle (——), sheep (- - - -) and tillage(——)
A comparison of indicators across Irish farm systems showed that
o dairy farms, followed by tillage farms, tended to be the most economically and socially
sustainable farm systems.
o Dairy farms, in an economic sense, also
tended to be the best-performing farms from an environmental sustainability perspective.
o The adoption of innovative practices was strongly correlated with economic
performance
Example from western Mexico
(Calleros-Islas, 2019)
Indicators derived through participatory workshops, interviews and field trip.
Sustainability analysis focused on contrasting two crop
management systems conventional(——) and an alternative (- - - -).
Analysis was made on the impact of maize management systems that can trigger tangible changes
Sustainability is constantly evolving.
Therefore, assessment tools should be tailored to allow an adaptive application and
interpretation.
Conclusion
The concept of sustainability emerges from a long process and experience of agricultural development.
It started from traditional to organic and driven by the negative impacts of the green revolution.
Yet, the definition is ambiguous and need to be clarified.
Sustainable indicators can help farmers or policy makers to track farming progress to provide a transparent basis for understanding differences among systems and countries.
Presentation of quantified and visualized indicators provides impacts of current agricultural production on future
sustainability.
Working group
All students do role-play as farmers
Choose on what kind of farmers you want to be (rice/ maize/ others;
conventional/ sustainable/ organic)
Find information on the yields, constraints and management of each farming type you select.
Make small group of 10 students
Each group decides to work on one type of crop system and management.
Find 10 farmers growing similar crops among your classmates and do interview them with the following question:
o Economic dimension (see example from previous slides):
- What kind of crops and animals do you produce?
- What kind of residues resulted from those production?
- What are the prices of each product and by-product/ residue?
Land productivity: what are the total value of crops, livestock and its by-products production?
a. Decide the criteria of each farmer/ household into: desirable, moderate and unsustainable.
b. Calculate the proportion (in %) from 10 farmers having farming activities that are: desirable, moderate and unsustainable.
Profitability: how often do you make profit in the last 2 years?
Repeat the procedures in a and b as was done for the land productivity
Working group
o Social dimension (see example from previous slides):
Find information on the minimum district wage rate (monthly)
Convert the wage into hourly wage by dividing monthly wage with number of working days per month multiplied by 8 hours working per day. Example
Minimum wage rate in Malang is Rp 2.800.000
Hourly working wage = (2800000/ (25 days * 8)) = 14000
Ask your respondent on how much does their wage? (usually it is daily in agricultural sector)
Ask your respondent on how long do they work with that wage (or ask them from what time until what time they work daily)
Convert respondent wage into hourly wage
Compare respondent wage with the minimum wage in the district they live. Desirable: if it is > minimum wage; acceptable if it is =
minimum wage and non-sustainable if it is < minimum wage.
Repeat the procedures in a and b as was done for the Environment dimension of land productivity and profitability indicators!
Working group
Pesticide risks (Management measures ):
1. Do you follow protocols as per extension service or retail outlet directions or local regulations, not exceeding recommended doses (no=0; yes=1).
2. Do you use organic source of nutrients (including manure or composting residues) alone, or in combination with synthetic or mineral fertilizers (no=0; yes=1).
3. Do you use legumes as a cover crop, or component of a multi/crop or pasture system to reduce fertilizer inputs (no=0; yes=1).
4. Do you distribute synthetic or mineral fertilizer application over the growing period (no=0; yes=1).
5. Do you consider soil type and climate in deciding fertilizer application doses and frequencies (no=0; yes=1).
6. Do you use soil sampling at least every 5 years to perform nutrient budget calculations (no=0; yes=1).
7. Do you perform site-specific nutrient management or precision farming (no=0; yes=1).
8. Do you use buffer strips along water courses (no=0; yes=1).
Sum the response of each respondent: <2: unsustainable; 2-3:
acceptable; 4->4 : desirable
Repeat the procedures in a and b as was done for the environment dimension of land productivity and profitability indicators!
Working group
Collect all answer and present them in BAR chart for the proportion of desirable (green), acceptable (yellow) and non-sustainable (red).
References
Calleros-Islas A. 2019. Sustainability assessment. An adaptive low-input tool applied to the management of agroecosystems in México. Ecological Indicators 105, 386–397.
FAO. 2020. Sustainable development goals.
http://www.fao.org/sustainable-development- goals/indicators/241/en/
Ryan M, Hennessy T, Buckley C, Dillon EJ, Donnellan T, Hanrahan K and Moran B. 2016. Developing farm-level sustainability
indicators for Ireland using the Teagasc National Farm Survey.
IJAFR, 55(2), 112-125.
Taji, Acram & Reganold, John. (2006). Organic Agriculture: A Global Perspective. 10.1071/9780643094604.
