Sustainable agriculture is a raising food that is healthy for consumers, animals, and does not harm the environment, is humane for workers, respects animals, provides a fair wage to the farmer, and supports and enhances rural communities.
The main characteristics of sustainable agriculture are:
- Many plantations can be grown together such as planting rows of corn, bean, and squash together rather than in separate plots of land.
- The plot is never bare which means it reduces soil erosion because since many plants are planted together, and each one has a different harvesting period.
- Bio-diversity is maintained.
- Because of the diverse system of plants, many species of herbivores are attracted. Some of these herbivores like to eat specific plants. However predator species usually do not have a preference for which herbivores to eat. So, this predation keeps the herbivore population in check, thus reducing predation of any one crop.
- In this agriculture, citrous plants are used as a natural insect repellents to eliminate the need of using insecticides.
- Fertility of the soil will be increased because nutrients from each inter-crop plant provide different nutrients to the soil.
- There is no need of spending much energy for the farmer because the agriculture system sustains itself.
Sustainable agriculture effects:
Bio-diversity becomes more extensive with the usage of ecological principles but animals are not only saved (salvaged) but also the natural ecological system protects itself from soil erosion, severe herbivore predation and crop disease. But here too there are some effects.
- There is no issue of poisons because insecticides and pesticides are not using.
- Here little or no fertilizers are added to soil because each inter-cropping plant supplies a different nutrient to the soil.
- This type of agriculture is depends on nature and uses the principles of nature to sustain itself.
- There is no economic loss to farmers because the natural environment protects itself from crop disease (due to diversity of species), soil erosion, flooding, droughts, and fire (extra moisture and shade keeps plants from drying out and becoming more susceptible to fire) and etc.