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Unit 1: Conceptual Framework and Historical Foundations of Sustainable Agriculture

A 1980 USDA publication addressing the status of all U.S. agriculture (Report and Recommendation on Organic Farming) is particularly noteworthy in that it was a clear recognition of the increasing public concerns about U.S. agriculture at that time. Click on each concern below to learn more:

• Declining numbers of family farms

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We all know that while production in U.S. agriculture has soared over the past 50 years, the number of farmers and ranchers has been in serious decline.
Consider: Between 1950 and 1997...
• The number of U.S. farms and ranches dropped from 3.71 to 1.91 million.

• We lost an average of 38,269 farms every year.

• Average size farm increased from 216 to 487 acres.
The causes of this decline have much to do with public policy over many decades that has allowed the industrialization of U.S. agriculture, larger-scale farms, and greater corporate control at all levels of our food system. For a particular commodity and region, a single corporation may control seeds and livestock, inputs, processing, and distribution of food products. Some question whose interests are most prominent in the setting of domestic farm policy: agribusiness corporations or family farmers? Since 1997 there has been a fluctuation in the total number of farms nationwide. In 2012, the numbers stood at 2.1 million farms and an average farm size of 434 acres. In 2012, the average age of farmers was 58.3 years.

• Farm financial crisis

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In the 1970s, commodity prices, unusually high for a decade, combined with low interest rates prompted farmers to expand. In 1980, interest rates soared, land values and commodity prices dropped, and farmers couldn't pay their debts. At the same time, crop farmers saw record harvests. This over-production resulted in a glut of commodities, forcing prices down. These factors forced many farmers out of business.

• Soil quality and soil erosion

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Many crop farmers depended on intensive tillage and cultivation to prepare and manage their soils. Without crop residue or cover, soils were carried away by wind and runoff. With topsoil goes nutrients, organic matter, and minerals. NRCS estimates that one of every three acres of cropland in the U.S. is limited by soil erosion. Depending on your region of the country, other soil quality problems that were becoming apparent include compaction, drainage, and/or salinization.

• Agri-chemicals and pesticide residues on food

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In the 1980s, concerns about pesticides and reports and findings on the amount of pesticide residues on food brought this issue to the forefront of public policy.

• Water quality

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Water pollution caused by runoff from farm fields and feedlots began to make news in the 1980s. Spills from manure lagoons on hog farms and phosphorus from chicken litter were blamed for poor water quality and the rise of pathogens like Pfiesteria.

• Agricultural energy consumption

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In the early 1970s, Americans learned about the fragility of the oil supply, curtailed during the 1973 oil embargo. Fuel shortages and long lines at the gas pump spawned new interest in energy use, including farmers' increasing dependence on fossil fuels and the fertilizer and pesticides made from them.