A Rocha USA Blog

by Emiko Corey, Farm Manager of Santa Barbara A Rocha Five Loaves Farm

Rebecca Laughton writes “agriculture is sustainable when it is ecologically sound, economically viable, socially just, humane and adaptable, and is a dynamic concept which allows for the changing needs of an increasing global population.”[i] Sustainable agriculture is the alternative philosophy of farming that considers each member of the food system as well as the environment. The food system is characterized not just by the farmer, but also “researchers, input suppliers, farm workers, unions, farm advisors, processors, retailers, consumers and policymakers.”[ii] Sustainable agriculture is defined beyond methods of farming and looks at the big picture of justice within agriculture, including: consumer food security and safety, environmental health, economic viability of farms and social equity issues surrounding farm labor and processing conditions. As a farmer of the Santa Barbara A Rocha Five Loaves Farm, I seek sustainability because I believe this is how God calls me to be a good steward of the land and resources in which I farm.

The concept of sustainable agriculture has developed out of disappointments in modern industrial agriculture characterized by a centralization of power, control, and wealth, a value of competition and capitalism and an attitude of domination of nature to meet production goals.[iii] This has led to corporations instead of families running farmers, many consumer misunderstandings around the health and safety of food, exploitation of marginalized laborers and environmental degradation. Sustainable agriculture seeks to respond to these changes, bringing back some of the “old farm values” while being innovative it its call to make changes for the future generations of farmers.

Sustainable agriculture seeks to bring justice to the consumer.

Sustainable agriculture is committed to environmental justice.

At Five Loaves Farm we do not use pesticides, fungicides or synthetic fertilizers. These chemicals create a biological imbalance on the farm and contaminate ecological processes in the local watershed and surrounding wildlife areas. Our agricultural lands are understood as an ecosystem. I plant flowers that increase the amount of beneficial insects and pollinators. I add compost and plant cover crops to increase the microbiological activity and organic matter in the soil which increases soil overall health and fertility. I am careful with the amount of irrigation used so that excess nitrogen does not runoff and enter into local streams and eventually the ocean. We are in the process of planting a native hedgerow that will increase the amount of native pollinators on our site. In the future we would like to also build owl boxes and raptor perches to increase the amount of natural rodent predators we have on the farm. All of these practices are also in accordance with USDA organic farming standards.

Sustainable agriculture emphasizes the need to have economically viable farms.

Economic viability has three sources. First, it comes simply from making sufficient profits from the sale of produce. Next, it comes from a diversified farm that creates resiliency if there is crop loss. And lastly, it comes from the consumer holding a higher value for the work of the grower and the product produced. Many small farmers have begun selling at local Farmer’s Markets or through Community Supported Agriculture programs. The middleman is removed to increase profits and the consumer’s direct connection with the farmer increases the value people place in the profession. Those who are farming should be valued by the wages they are paid and appropriate respect for the job performed.

Sustainable agriculture engages in social justice.

In conventional agriculture, laborers are often treated as second-class citizens; given brutal working conditions with minimal pay. Sustainable agriculture seeks to address the needs of those employed on the farm, through fair wages, higher safety standards, adequate housing and year-round employment. For Five Loaves Farm, the primary way we take part in social justice is through community building. Our farm laborers, those who volunteer and intern at the farm are not simply completing a task, they are participating in the community built around the farm. Weekly we host volunteers and interns who participate in all aspects of the farm, planting, weeding and harvesting. Each volunteer is given a full experience of what farm labor is like. The challenge of the work instills a sense of respect for those who do these tasks all day.

The motivation behind sustainable agriculture is to “find a way to feed ourselves more in keeping with the logic of nature, to build a food system that looked more like an ecosystem that would draw its fertility and energy from the sun. To feed ourselves otherwise was ‘unsustainable,’ a word that’s been so abused that we’re apt to forget that what it very specifically means: Sooner of later it must collapse.”[v] As a sustainable agriculture farmer I seek sustainability for the consumer and those who receive our produce, for the environment, the soil I grow in and the surrounding ecologies, for the longevity of the farm and for all those who come to work on the farm. I believe that as farmers we can feed to world through sustainable farming practices and I ask that you join in the process of seeking sustainability within our food system.