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Unit 2: The Agricultural Professional's Role - Making Sustainable Agriculture Work for Farmers, Ranchers and Communities

READING THE FARM / TECHNICAL ASPECTS AND TOOLS

Beth Hoinacki shows an aspect of her crop rotation and cover crop plan in Kings Valley Oregon. (Photo by NRCS Oregon, CC BY 2.0)

In the first unit of this course, you explored the conceptual framework and historical roots of sustainable agriculture, and you developed your own definition of sustainable agriculture. Now, how do you put these concepts and principles into practice as an agricultural professional?

One way to approach that task is to use the concept of Reading the Farm (or reading the ranch, as the case may be). Reading the Farm means studying it carefully, and learning about all its components—environmental resources, production practices, economics and marketing, personal and family dynamics, quality of life, and the larger community. Reading the Farm also involves stepping back to look at the big picture, seeking to understand how all the components fit together, and identifying problems and solutions based on that whole-system perspective.