To Be Sustainable, Agriculture Must Be Economically Viable

It was a pleasant surprise to search for the definition of “sustainable agriculture”, and find this (via sustainableagriculture.net):

“Sustainable agriculture” as legally defined in U.S. Code Title 7, Section 3103 means an integrated system of plant and animal production practices having a site-specific application that will over the long term:

• Satisfy human food and fiber needs.
• Enhance environmental quality and the natural resource base upon which the agricultural economy depends.
• Make the most efficient use of nonrenewable resources and on-farm resources and integrate, where appropriate, natural biological cycles and controls.
• Sustain the economic viability of farm operations.
• Enhance the quality of life for farmers and society as a whole.

Wow, nice job, U.S. Code! My plan for today’s post was to lead with what I assumed would be a vague, incomplete definition of sustainable agriculture. Refreshingly, this is the opposite. It’s so good that it will certainly be used as a reference for future topics. For now, I want to chat about the “Sustain the economic viability of farm operations” part.

Often, what is on paper is different than what you see in practice. From personal experience (I’m focused on urban farming) the financial side is overlooked.

For us to see food production make a meaningful dent in the 1500 acres of vacant land in St. Louis, growing gardens and pasturing poultry in the city will need to be able to compete with plumbing, teaching, delivering packages or designing websites as a rewarding career that someone may is able to put their kids through school with. This cannot happen by a reliance on a steady stream of grants or donations. Growers will need to bring to market high quality produce, met by enthusiastic buyers willing to pay enough to sustain the operators and operations, their family, and also allow them to invest back into their business and save for their future.

We are grateful to have excellent examples leading the way for us, proving that it is possible to grow food you can be proud of, that’s good for the land, communities, and people it’s connected to, while also being financially rewarding. Here are some of our guides:

• Joel Salatin of Polyface Farms was my first great inspiration. Anyone even considering farming as a way of life should drop everything and read You Can Farm, it will hopefully seal the deal for you like it did for me. Once you’re in, he has specific and detailed works like Pastured Poultry Profits that will give you the step-by-step on how to be successful from the start. Do not pass up an opportunity to hear him speak. He’s a gifted speaker, his talks are full of energy, informative and motivating. If you can catch him afterword, he’s one of the warmest people you’ll ever meet.
• Curtis Stone started Green City Acres in Kelowa, Canada. His book The Urban Farmer is an exceptional reference on our bookshelf. A prolific YouTuber, we’ve gleaned so much from his videos, including our method of composting, the Johnson-Su Bioreactor. This was one little part of a tour he filmed on another farm, and was the magic key for handling our volume of compostables in a neighborhood setting.
• Conor Crickmore left a career as a computer consultant in the Big City to start a farm in Neversink, NY. If you search his name, videos touring his farm that “grosses $350k per year” abound. Following another market garden hero, Eliot Coleman, he applied a lot of ingenuity to dense, high rotation, no till farming. He passes on all of his methods and techniques, including checklist, contracts, anything you think of, through “The Famous Neversink Market Farm Course” which we are so very glad we invested in.

We are blessed to have these great models and more to follow as we set out on our agricultural journey. There are tangible successes that we are not only able look to for encouragement, but they also give freely of their experience. Our job now is to apply these practices here in St. Louis, and pass on in kind an example for others, so many more may join along and help grow something wonderful in our city.