Sustainable Agriculture
Bill Proebsting
Department of Horticulture
Oregon State University
Fire and Ice
Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.
Sustainable Agriculture

Meeting the needs of the present without
compromising the ability of future
generations to meet their own needs
Sustainable Agriculture:
An Oxymoron



“our farming has never been sustainable”
Wes Jackson
“agriculture represents the single most
profound ecological change in the entire 3.5
billion year history of life” Niles Eldredge
“the fact that we have not yet invented a
truly sustainable agricultural system means
that we have not yet achieved a truly
sustainable civilization” Ward Chesworth
U.S. Agricultural Policy

“In actual fact, American agricultural
policy distorts food prices, frustrates
innovation, limits product diversity and
subsidizes a select group of farmers at
enormous public cost.”
 National
Cattlemen’s Beef Association
http://www.beefusa.org/NEWSUSFarmBill2002ItsImplicationsforWorldAgriculturalMarkets11148.aspx
U.S. Industrial Agriculture

System of crop production that results in:
Destruction of soil
 Overuse of energy, water, fertilizer, chemicals
 Wreckage of rural societies and economies



Are these good things or bad things?
Sustainable or unsustainable?
Capitalism
1)
2)
3)
Market-driven system
Some level of government involvement
As currently practiced, the system is
flawed
Natural Capitalism




Manufactured Capital; infrastructure,
machines, tools, factories
Financial Capital; cash, investments,
monetary instruments
Human Capital; labor, intelligence, culture,
organization
Natural Capital; resources, ecosystems
Industrial Capitalism


Fails to assign value to natural, social or
cultural systems
Thus, it fails to live by basic accounting
principles and is not sustainable
Industrial Capitalism, cont.


“Free enterprise and market forces will
allocate people and resources to their
highest and best uses”
Can’t be true without accounting for
natural capital
Industrial Capitalism, cont.


“Resource shortages will elicit development
of substitutes”
Substitutes for:
Soil
 Air
 Water
 Functional ecosystems

Industrial Capitalism, cont.

“Concerns for a healthy environment are
important but must be balanced against the
requirements for economic growth if a high
standard of living is to be maintained”
Current Social System
Environment
Economy
Social Justice
Gross National Product
Index of Sustainable
Economic Welfare
ISEW = personal consumption
+ non-defensive public expenditures
- defensive private expenditures
+ capital formation
+ services from domestic labor
- costs of environmental degradation
- depreciation of natural capital
http://www.rprogress.org/newprograms/sustIndi/gpi/index.shtml

Why does the environment matter?
Ecosystem Services:
Things that nature provides for free







Climate stability
Weather moderation
Clean air
Clean water
Flood control
Nutrient cycling
Waste removal





Soil formation
Insect control
Pollination
Seed dispersal
Biodiversity
Value roughly $30 trillion ($30 x 1012)
Replicating Ecosystem Services
http://facultystaff.vwc.edu/~gnoe/EES_ENVS/biosphere4a.jpg
Ecosystem Services of
Biosphere 2






>$150 million
8 persons
Produced 80% of food requirements
Ecological collapse
Atmospheric change
$20 million x 6.5 billion people = $13 x
1016
Ecosystem Services Are
Important: What’s the Problem?

Are we really having a significant impact?
Ecological Overshoot of the
Human Economy
PNAS 99, 9266 (2002)

Ecosystem Services related to Agriculture
Soil


2 billion tons of soil eroded per year from
agricultural lands
Costs $44 billion per year





Lost productivity
Water pollution
Silting of reservoirs
90% of U.S. land eroding above replacement
rates
Growing a bushel of corn costs 2-5 bushels of
top soil
Soil Carbon
Science 277, 507 (1997)
Nitrogen
Crop Yield
Nitrogen Efficiency
Nature 418, 671 (2002)
Nitrogen Run-off


Groundwater contamination
Streams, lakes and wetlands
Gulf of Mexico Dead Zone
http://www.ers.usda.gov/amberwaves/november03/findings/images/photo_deadzone.jpg
Ocean Dead Zones
http://www.classzone.com/books/earth_science/terc/content/investigations/es2206/es2206page04.cfm
Water




Ag accounts for 80% of water used in U.S.
Depletion of stream flows, water quality,
fish and wildlife
Federal projects deliver water below cost
Depletion of aquifers
Ogallala Aquifer
Aral Sea
Energy

Industrial agriculture is energy intensive:






Tilling, planting, spraying, harvesting
Synthesizing fertilizer, irrigating
Processing
Transporting
For each food calorie produced, 10 calories of oil
are consumed
"It costs 435 fossil fuel calories to fly a 5-calorie
strawberry from California to London."
Energy in Agriculture



Based on energy use alone, agriculture is
about 90% unsustainable
Industrial agriculture can never be
sustainable, because it relies on fossil
fuels
Only energy generation directly from sun,
sun-driven wind and water can be
sustainable
Good News!

We have many exciting challenges to
devise a sustainable agriculture
Towards Sustainable
Agriculture
1)
2)
3)
4)
Account for natural capital
Remove or change subsidies
Tax “bads,” instead of “goods”
Emphasize ecological, rather than
technological approaches to agriculture
and other activities
Science 309, 570 (2005)
Characteristics of Sustainable
Agriculture
1)
2)
3)
4)
Energy generated on farm
Mimic natural systems
Use of perennial plants
Locally-grown food

A locally-grown meal requires about 6-10%
of the energy use of a standard American
meal
http://www.energybulletin.net/4492.html
Natural Systems Agriculture


Developing systems to, “rely on the
ecological benefits of natural ecosystems
with no or minimal sacrifice in food
production.” Wes Jackson, The Land
Institute
Modeled on prairies
Perennial plants
 Species diversity
 Powered by the sun

http://www.landinstitute.org/
Major Questions




Is there a trade-off between perennialism
and seed yield?
Can a perennial polyculture outyield a
monoculture?
Can perennial polycultures defend
themselves?
Can a perennial polyculture supply its own
nitrogen?
http://www.landinstitute.org/
Is There a Role for Biotechnology
in Sustainable Agriculture?



Problems of agriculture are much bigger
than genetic engineering
Presently, biotechnology is, at best,
basically irrelevant to developing
sustainable agriculture
At worst, it perpetuates a disastrous
system
Is There a Role for Biotechnology
in Sustainable Agriculture?

Ethical questions, mostly narrow the
debate about risk
Natural?
 Toxic?
 Genetic pollution?
 Invasive?



Risks vs. Benefits
Industrial agriculture is unsustainable.
Is There a Role for Biotechnology
in Sustainable Agriculture?




Are single gene approaches suitable for
addressing complex problems?
Insect resistance
Herbicide resistance
May or may not have had some positive
environmental effect, but very little effect
on “Sustainability”
Focus Questions


What are the consequences of developing,
or not developing, sustainable agriculture?
What are some genetic traits that might
have a major impact on developing
sustainable agriculture?
Fire and Ice
Robert Frost
Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I’ve tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.
But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate
To know that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.