What is Sustainable Farming?

Long before I arrived at Fairview, the valuable topsoil on the front field had been scraped off and sold. In my first winter I started on its renewal, planting a mix of peas, beans, and vetch that we mow under every year, just as they begin to flower. Legumes such as these fix nitrogen on their roots, and their leaves and stalks provide the essence of good soil – organic matter. -- Michael Ableman



Farming has changed dramatically in the last 50 years. Through mechanization, increased chemical use, specialization and government subsidies, farmers were able to increase food productivity. But that “progress” came with a price: topsoil depletion, groundwater contamination, continued neglect of the living and working conditions for farm laborers, increased costs of production, the decline of the family farm and the deterioration of the social and economic fabric of rural communities.
As many people within and outside the agriculture community began to question the soundness of these practices, a growing movement of sustainable agriculture began to emerge. Sustainable agriculture addresses not only many environmental and social concerns, but also offers innovative and economically viable alternatives for growers, laborers, consumers, policymakers and others in the food system.