06/21/05 Sustainable ag

By now most of us have all heard about "sustainable agriculture" the new darling of celebrity chefs, gardeners and many organic farmers. Sustainable agriculture is tossed around in glossy cooking magazines like some exotic salad mix with often inferring that (like head lettuce) somehow it's better than the current way we grow food. But what really is sustainable agriculture? The USDA defines it as a production system that integrates natural biological cycles and controls, protects and renews soil fertility and the natural resource base. Sustainable agriculture optimizes the management and use of on-farm resources. Reduces the use of nonrenewable resources and purchased production inputs, provides an adequate and dependable farm income, promotes opportunity in family farming and farm communities and lastly minimizes adverse impacts on health, safety, wildfire, water quality and the environment. Sustainable agriculture sounds like what the successful farmers I know have been doing all along. I'm Susan Allen and this has been Food Forethought.