Sustainable Agriculture and the SARE Program
Public Deposited- Creator
-
Agnew, Nancy C.
- Affiliation: College of Arts and Sciences, Department of City and Regional Planning
- Abstract
- General concepts of sustainability have been gaining currency in recent years as publications such as Our Common Future ( 1987) and events such as the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro push sustainable development issues into the forefront of critical discussion on growth, development, and finite resources. Agricultural practices are critical to any discussion of sustainability as current agricultural practices worldwide are considered environmentally unsound. Increasing public awareness of problems associated with conventional agricultural practices and a growing interest in concepts of sustainable development have converged to bring the subject of sustainable agriculture out of the periphery and into the center of discussion on the future of agriculture in the United States. Until recently, conventional agricultural production was never questioned. Rather, its increasing concentration into bigger units and the subsequent demise of many family farms and rural communities has been accepted as historical inevitability. Earl Butz, former U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, will long be remembered for his infamous edict, "Get big or get out," delivered during the heyday of farm expansion in the 1970s. At about the same time, environmentalists and advocates of family farms began to speak out about the inadequacies of conventional agriculture. Environmentalists were concerned about soil erosion, groundwater adulteration, and bio-genetic engineering. Family farm advocates were concerned with adequate incomes and the health of rural communities and businesses. Agricultural scientists were noting limits to production despite increasing chemical input. Consumers joined in, voicing concern about chemical residues on their food and deteriorating water quality. In response, the U.S. Congress renewed its mandate to support the family farm system of agriculture but added a new focus—to preserve family farms and to do so in a way that enhances environmental quality and the natural resource base. This shift is reflected in the U.S. Congress's 1985 call fora program of Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE). Sustainable agriculture had acquired government sanction. However, any effort to promote sustainable agriculture should not leave out the concept of sustainable communities. This paper discusses the SARE program, assesses its contribution to the promotion of sustainable agriculture, and evaluates the program's success in fostering sustainable communities.
- Date of publication
- 1995
- DOI
- Resource type
- Article
- Rights statement
- In Copyright
- Journal title
- Carolina Planning Journal
- Journal volume
- 20
- Journal issue
- 1
- Page start
- 5
- Page end
- 11
- Language
- English
- Digital collection
- Carolina Planning Journal
Relations
- Parents:
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