THE agriculture is an ancient activity that emerged in the Neolithic period as a way of ensuring food in a fixed place, causing humanity to abandon nomadic habits. This fixed production made it possible for food to become more accessible, ensuring the survival of communities that previously suffered from hunger.
Over time, humans learned techniques and improved agricultural production. Technological and scientific advances increased the amount of food produced and agriculture became a powerhouse. Despite the benefit of more abundant production, the means that led to this were harmful to the environment: the soil became contaminated, the nutrients were depleted and the fields became infertile. This led to the need to think about a sustainable agriculture.
Need for a sustainable future
Thousands of years after the emergence of agriculture, humanity has become aware of the importance of a biodiversity preserved. After all, highly exploited natural resources one day become unproductive. With this thought, society begins to look for ways to exploit the agriculture in a more sustainable way.
Currently, there are many techniques soil management it's from production that enable the biodiversity conservation on agricultural land. In addition to environmental concerns, these initiatives generally also have a social bias. The alternatives for sustainable agriculture are good for nature and society. Let's check out some of them:
Alternatives for sustainable agriculture
- Urban Farming
This technique means urban agriculture and it's about food production in metropolitan areas. The population of a large city grows, processes, and distributes food from a garden—which can be individual or collective. In Brazil, many condominiums and community centers are already part of this movement.
- family farming
The activity is a powerhouse when it comes to sustainable agriculture. In Brazil, the family farming represents 77% of all agricultural establishments and is developed on small farms by family groups. In general, cultivation is carried out without the use of pesticides and respects land exploitation limits.
- Crop rotation
This technique aims to prevent soil exhaustion and can be used on both small and large scales, enabling even large farms to become more sustainable. This method, as the name suggests, uses alternating species that require different nutrients from the soil. This way, the land is not extensively exploited and still produces different types of products.
- Agroforestry
This system combines the cultivation of agricultural products and trees on the same plot of land. The plant species work together to grow food and the trees ensure a reduction in soil and water degradation.
- Agricultural cooperatives
These are associations of people, usually from the same community, in which several farmers from the same region come together to produce and sell in larger quantities, achieving better sales conditions. These organizations generally involve production from family farming and enhance the action of small producers and, consequently, soil conservation.
The sustainable future is being planted
As we can see from the list of sustainable alternatives, agriculture has become an increasingly environmentally friendly activity. This shift in priorities in agricultural activities is essential to ensure that the environment is able to continue producing food in the future, without its resources being depleted. There are currently regulations that require that agricultural exploitation be controlled, but this plan needs to be further disseminated and monitoring needs to be effective.
To learn in detail how one of these alternatives guarantees positive results for nature and society, read our blogpost about cooperatives.
