The conditions for agricultural production in South Africa and elsewhere in the world are rapidly changing. Thanks to climate change, severe weather phenomena are affecting food production with farmers witnessing significant changes in their soil structures. This makes sustainable agricultural practices vital in ensuring long-term success.
This has spurred on the need to think differently about how we farm and cultivate the land, keeping future generations in mind.
So what are sustainable farming practices? In essence, sustainable farming focuses on having minimal effect on the environment while producing long-term crops. The goal is to try and protect the environment and increase natural resources.
Mandy Mazibuko, a master’s candidate in crop science specialising in agronomy at the North West University, shares insights into sustainable agricultural practices.
What are the benefits?
The benefit of this farming practice is that the farmer reduces the use of chemicals. It also reduces costs, prevents the erosion of the soil, and encourages biodiversity, Mazibuko explains.
“Other farming practices can have a negative impact on the environment. It is important to contribute to climate change, implementing sustainable agriculture is to our advantage, especially to mitigate climate change,” she shares.
Considering the state of food security in the country and the rising population, Mazibuko says sustainable agricultural practices is important, now more than ever before. “The best is to learn to produce for yourself without having to add more input costs and using the natural inputs for food production,” she says.
Other benefits include:
- Minimising agricultural runoff
- Avoiding lake and river pollution
- Conserving water
- Naturally maintaining soil fertility by recycling nutrients on the farm.
- Improving soil and perennial plant carbon storage.
- Promoting farming operations’ energy efficiency; reducing emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases.
How does sustainable farming work?
The goal of sustainable agriculture is to raise crops and livestock for a long time with the least amount of environmental impact possible.
“We should try by all means to avoid the use of synthetic fertilisers. So, what happens in sustainable farming, [is] there are different methods and techniques of sustainable farming, but overall work on strategies that can mitigate the environmental impact as far much as possible,” she says.
Sustainable farming has a greater potential to protect the environment and conserve natural resources than intensive agriculture. By adhering to natural cycles, recycling nutrients and water, and avoiding overusing agricultural chemicals, it achieves this.
Sustainable farming methods
You may think that organic farming is the only way to farm sustainably, but there are actually several other approaches that combine a variety of sustainable long-term concepts and may be entirely organic or at least largely so.
Mazibuko shares five sustainable farming methods that can be beneficial:
1. Biodynamic farming
Growing techniques that are based on an ecological and holistic concept are used in biodynamic farming. Farmers are urged to treat their property as a single, thriving organism where domesticated species coexist and promote one another’s well-being.
Gardens, vineyards, and farms that cultivate a variety of crops, and other types of agriculture can all use biodynamic techniques.
2. Crop rotation
Growing several crop species together is known as polyculture farming. These species strive to produce a wider range of products from a single plot while making the best use of the available resources. They frequently complement one another. A system with a high biodiversity is more resistant to weather changes, encourages a healthy diet, and uses natural controls to maintain soil fertility.
3. Natural pest management
Preventing the use of synthetic pesticides and other chemicals that are supposed to control infections and insect infestations is one of the key goals of sustainable agriculture methods. Using more and more chemicals to grow food is not a long-term solution and is harmful to both our health and the environment. Therefore, farmers from sustainable farms search for answers in nature and attempt to reproduce environments that do not favour pests.
4. Mulching, groundcovers, and manual weed control
By mulching the soil around their plants and using ground covers, farmers and other growers can drastically minimise the growth of weeds and preserve soil moisture.
These methods considerably minimise, or in some cases even completely eliminate the need to use pesticides to eradicate weeds by naturally limiting their growth. And because their numbers are kept to a minimum, even the most obstinate weeds that occasionally arise can be easily handled by hand.
5. Natural animal raising
Animal farming can be done sustainably, and it benefits everyone. It is advantageous for the animals as well as the environment and our dietary requirements. Raised outdoors or in their chosen habitat, animals experience less stress and live more closely than they would in the wild.
Aside from giving young people jobs and promoting the socio-economic development of rural areas, sustainable farming has additional benefits for rural communities in terms of economic opportunity. In addition, sustainable food production enhances ecosystem resilience and allows for greater climate change adaptation.
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