Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education in the Field A Proceedings (1991) / Chapter Skim
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PART SIX: SUMMARY
PART SIX: SUMMARY
Pages 385-392
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PART SIX Summary
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Congress provide cash incentives, at least for a transitional period, to help farmers cut back on their use of purchased commercial fertilizers and pesticides? The chapters in this volume have provided many important research findings.
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Some differing opinions on the value of fertilizers of farm origin and current research findings were presented by Harold Reetz. This volume includes strong voices calling for going slowly enough in areas such as new groundwater protection legislation to avoid the overkill that is inevitable if public policy decisions are based on public fears rather than on sound scientific evidence.
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The workshop on which this volume is based was part of stage two, that is, the creation of a vast data base of sound, replicated research findings that increasingly will make it possible for any commercial farmer in any part of the country, with any crop or livestock mixture, to improve his or her own operation's profitability, competitiveness, and environmental stewardship. Because this seminar has proved that stage two is well estahlisherl stare three when the sustainable practices detailed in Alternative Agriculture will be in widespread use throughout production agriculture cannot be far off.
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The choices range from the optimal use of fertilizers, pesticides, and other off-farm purchases in conjunction with best management practices to operations which actively seek to minimize their off-farm purchases and emphasize crop rotation, integration of livestock and crop production, and mechanical or biological weed control. To support this significant policy change and to guard against the regulatory overkill that he and other speakers warned against-Hess pointed to the need for further government investment in research, because "we must work to get more hard data so we can make informed decisions based in science rather than in emotion." It is an important step forward to have this explicit USDA support for sustainable agriculture research.
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That must be considered progress, because as stated repeatedly, LISA needs to operate in very different ways, depending not only on the part of the country and the type of crop or livestock mixture but also depending on the specific characteristics of the individual farm and the individual farm manager, on his or her own management skills, and on the local availability of farm labor. Second, it also must be considered a sign of progress that consensus seemed to emerge that it is time to replace the term LISA with the term sustainable agriculture.
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REFERENCE National Research CounciL 1989. Alternative Agriculture.
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