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Food production in the United States is at a crossroads.
For decades, 公共政策和大公司塑造了我们的食品和农业系统，迫使农民像食品工厂一样管理他们的土地，在那里投入种子的形式, fertilizer, pesticides, 或将动物饲料转化为可销售的食品形式的产出.
这种农业模式的特点是单一栽培(年复一年在大片土地上种植同一种或两种作物)。, raising crops and livestock in isolation from each other, 使农田光秃秃的，容易受到侵蚀和经济作物之间的养分流失.
工业化模式忽略了一个至关重要的事实:农场是生态系统的综合体, interdependent networks of living things. 农民通过管理他们的生态系统来有效地生产粮食，从而取得成功. But if we want that success to continue over the long term, we must also manage farm ecosystems sustainably, nurturing their resilience and self-regenerating capacity.
What is Sustainable Agriculture?
Restoring soil health
Dirty Water, Degraded Soil
几代人的工业化农业已经对我们最宝贵的资源之一造成了损害:我们脚下的“泥土”.
健康的土壤是一个丰富而复杂的系统，充满了微生物和无脊椎动物. 这种多样化的生物群落在维持土壤的化学平衡和物理结构方面发挥着至关重要的作用，从而使土壤能够继续为子孙后代带来丰硕的收成.
工业化农业通过消耗土壤有机质和破坏土壤结构的做法破坏土壤. 其结果是，农田需要大量肥料才能高产, is prone to erosion and runoff that pollutes waterways, 而且越来越容易受到洪水和干旱的影响——随着617888九五至尊娱乐变化的影响越来越严重，这种脆弱性只会恶化.
The solutions are out there: reduce plowing; protect soil year-round with cover crops and more complex crop rotations; incorporate deep-rooted plants on and around farms to hold nutrients and water (while also providing habitat for wildlife and pollinators).
A growing number of farmers, with the help of agroecological science, 是否接受使用这些方法重建健康土壤的挑战.
Diversifying farm landscapes
Rotating Crops, Turning Profits
“Keep it simple” is often good advice. 但当你试图管理一个健康的农场生态系统时，这是一个失败的秘诀. Natural systems are diverse and complex, 可持续农场经营旨在反映和培育这种复杂性.
By oversimplifying the landscape in the name of efficiency, industrial agriculture impoverishes the farm ecosystem. 这造成了资源短缺，农民必须通过大量使用化肥和农药来弥补, with serious environmental consequences.
Instead, sustainable agriculture works with nature, 采用诸如未开垦的“草原带”和作物/牲畜综合管理等做法，增加生物多样性，保持农场生态系统健康. This greatly reduces the need for chemical inputs, leaving the farm more viable and productive for the long haul.
Building climate resilience
Climate Change and Agriculture
617888九五至尊娱乐变化已经对农民造成了沉重打击，而且情况只会变得更糟. Droughts, floods, extreme heat and other climate impacts will wreak havoc in farm country, reducing yields, increasing erosion and pollution, and threatening both farmers’ businesses and our food supply.
占主导地位的工业化农业模式使农场更容易受到617888九五至尊娱乐影响. 但是，支持农民采用以617888九五至尊娱乐为基础的可持续做法的政策和工具可以使农业更具弹性和适应性, 确保农民和我们的粮食供应能够抵御617888九五至尊娱乐挑战.
Related resources
How Long Has The Farm Bill Been Expired?
What’s Wrong with Fossil Fuel–Based Fertilizer?
Cropland Repurposing in California
