Industrial agriculture giants want us to believe that eco-farming is a return to the past and that we can’t feed the world without mechanized methods that destroy our ecosystem in the process. Nothing is further from the truth. Look around and you will see growing market for local and organic produce across the globe.
We are undergoing an explosion in food consciousness. Millions of consumers are demanding to know the ingredients in their food. Farmers are refusing to rely upon pesticides and fertilizers that jeopardize public health. Make no mistake, eco-farming is growing now and today.
Eco-farming is innovative and forward thinking because it builds upon the efficiencies and systems that it took Mother Nature millions of years to create. It advances technologies that are locally available and free or inexpensive for farmers. Science and knowledge based innovation are key to ecological farming.
These innovations include:
- Smart Breeding, a biotechnology that helps farmers deal with climate change and plant diseases.
- System of Rice Intensification (SRI), a technique that increases rice production ecologically.
- Push-Pull Technology, a pest management and fertilising system based on biodiversity.
- Vertical Farming, a high tech urban farming solution to grow food indoors.
Ecological farming is based on the diversity of nature to produce healthy food for all: diversity of seeds and plants; diversity of crops grown in the same field; and diversity of insects that pollinate or eliminate pests. Such local and natural diversity is essential to build resilience to climate change.
What You Can Do
- Buy sustainable or organic fresh produce whenever possible from ecological farms near your community.
- Calculate how many “food miles” your produce took before you buy.
- Buy from local farms or farmers markets whenever possible.