Sustainable farming practices rule the day. When you take a walk through the authentic Romanian countryside, you will see people working on their fields from the early morning until the evening. You will see them manually weeding rows of corn and beans, you will see them carefully planting potatoes, cabbage, onions, carrots, or beets on some plots, while sowing clover and alfalfa over other parts as animal fodder. Every inch of soil. Is utilized for producing food for families and animals.
These are subsistence farmers. Their land is their biggest treasure and they care for it more than they care for their own health, often working outside under the scorching summer sun to ensure the best harvest, to stack up hay rich in meadow flowers from their high-value grasslands, or spending all day in the rain preparing the soil for the next season.
These people have unique relationship with the land. Their families have been farming the same land for generations and the first lesson they have learned was to do it sustainably. Otherwise, their harvest would fail. They would end up hungry in the winter. They would have to watch their kids and animals suffer.
A subsistence farmer needs to supply increasing amounts of food to a growing populations at low prices. Highly industrial and damaging farming can't be sustain. We have evidence that in many places this has led to soil degradation and environmental pollution. Which impairs health of many people even far away from the affected areas.
Challenged by the changing climate, calls for a smarter approach to farming. An approach for the long-term sustainability of our food production systems.Quick Navigation for Sustainable Agricultural Practices and Farming Methods1. Permaculture2. Biodynamic farming3. Hydroponics and Aquaponics4. Urban agriculture5. Agroforestry and food forests6. Polycultures and crop rotation7. Heirloom and older varieties8. Natural animal raising9. Natural pest management10. Mulching and manual weed control
A sustainable food system is one that does not require chemicals, conserves energy and water, emphasizes local production, decreases inputs and utilizes resources more efficiently on site, values biodiversity and ecology, and works within our global natural resource limitations.
In order for agriculture to be truly sustainable, it must incorporate following principles:
