Sustainable Agriculture

Where Does Our Food Come From? How is it Produced?

Today our food travels an average of 1500 miles from farm to table. The process of planting, fertilizing, processing, packaging, and transporting our food uses a great deal of energy.  Transporting food long distances is not only a waste of energy, it may be a health risk as well.

Centralized food Production Turns Local Problems into National Problems.
From NewScientist.com: "Fresh vegetables are increasingly packaged and shipped in centralised locations, so instead of a localised outbreak, we see a nationwide or even worldwide epidemic." (referring to a national salmonella outbreak)

Traditional farms have an adverse effect on the environment.  The synthetic fertilizers and pesticides from fruit & vegetable farms, and the waste from beef, pork and poultry farms, gets into local water systems, and pollutes rivers, lakes, streams, and ground water.  From the EPA: "did you know that runoff from farms is the leading source of impairments to surveyed rivers and lakes?"

Click Here for excerpts from a report on Industrial Farm Animal Production.
The Pew Commission on Industrial Farm Animal Production website is Here.
The complete, 122 page document is Here

So, What Can We Do to Make a Difference, Here and Now?

• Plant Victory Gardens

• Buy Food from Local Farms (CSA: Community Supported Agriculture)