Understanding Sustainable Agriculture Piloting it in Universities

The word 'sustainable' is now ubiquitous and used as free-for-all adjective even for profits and wealth. 'Sustainable Profits' has entered in many corporate reports. That, however, is not the only reason to understand and differentiate between such terms and 'sustainable agriculture'. The benefits of Sustainable agriculture are critically related to survival of farmer and even survival of the mankind and the well-being of the planet.

Sustainable agriculture is integral part of the Sustainable Development which, The Brundtland Commission defines as "Development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own". Sustainable development practices are applied across all sectors related to the ecosystem of our planet - climate change, bio-diversity, land, oceans, rivers.

Objectives of sustainable development:

• Economic growth – To build a strong, competitive and resource efficient economy, by ensuring that resources are used in the sustainable manner to support growing population
• Environmental protection – To contribute to protecting and enhancing our ecosystem , while helping to conserve biodiversity, use natural resources efficiently , minimizing waste and pollution, and adapting to and mitigating climate change so that global shift to low-carbon economy takes place in timely manner as per IPCC ( Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) .
• Social inclusion – To support strong, vibrant and healthy communities by ensuring equity, justice and peace.

Sustainable Agriculture

70 per cent of the total rural population are engaged in agricultural activities. 85 per cent of the farmers are small and marginal farmers. 118.7 million farmers in India account for more than half of its population that depends on agriculture as its primary source of income.

Indian economy has diversified and has seen a major growth in past few decades, but some major concerns have emerged. The decline in contribution of agriculture in overall GDP is one of such concern. The agriculture sector has made India self-sufficient, but the food-production is still resource intensive, cereal focused and regionally biased raising a serious issue about diversity and sustainability. Rise in stress on the water resources, desertification, and land degradation, are some major threats to the agriculture sector of our country. The shift from 'green revolution' led productivity to 'green methods' led sustainability is the kind of transformation required in the agricultural landscape.

​Defining sustainable agriculture

As per FAO, sustainable agriculture is that :

• satisfies needs of present and future generation
• conserves land, water, plant and animal genetic resources,
• environmentally non-degrading,
• economically viable and
• socially acceptable.

There are many farming strategies and pathways that are used that help make agriculture more sustainable.

Benefits of sustainable agriculture 

Apart from benefiting the environment and preserving natural resources, it follows natural soil nutrient cycles while avoiding excessive use of agricultural chemicals. Sustainable agriculture strives to help the environment and save cost by:

• Reducing agricultural runoff;
• Preventing pollution of lakes and rivers;
• Saving water;
• Naturally maintaining soil fertility by recycling nutrients on farm;
• Enhancing carbon sequestration by soils and perennial vegetation;
• Promoting energy efficiency of farming operations;
• Decreasing emissions of air pollutants and greenhouse gases;
• Creating habitats for pollinators and beneficial insects;
• Ensuring welfare of farm animals but also providing space for the respectful coexistence with native wildlife .

Emerging area in sustainable Agriculture

1. Bio fertilizers
   Biofertilizer is the substance that contains microbes which include mycorrhizal fungi, blue-green algae, and bacteria that helps in promoting the growth of plants, trees by increasing the supply of essential nutrients to the plants.
   
   
2. Neem-coated urea 
   Neem-coated urea increases the land fertility capacity leading to higher production of crops. The oil coating of neem mixes up gradually with the land and get soaked by the crop according to the need, resulting in higher yields.
    
3. Natural Pest Control 
   Many birds and animals are natural predators of pests that plague and destroy the crops. Sustainable farming ensures the habitation of these birds and animals on the farms, thereby keeping the number of pests in check.
   
   
4. Minimizes energy use
   Sustainable agriculture minimizes energy use at all levels of production. By eliminating the use of fossil fuels and reducing energy use, sustainable farming helps in reducing greenhouse gas emissions, thereby playing a significant role in combating climate change.
   
   
5. Conservation of water
   Sustainable agricultural systems use several techniques to conserve water, such as drip irrigation and mulching and focuses on planting perennial crops with deep roots that don't require a lot of water.
   
   
6. Crops with resilience
   Sustainable agriculture plays a vital role in reducing greenhouse gas emissions as well as conserving energy and water. It focuses on growing a variety of crops as opposed to single breed crops to ensure that the soils remain healthy and provide the required minerals for the plants.
   
   
7. Harmony with nature
   Sustainable agriculture works in harmony with nature and emphasis on natural productivity by relying on the regenerative aspects of the natural environment.
   
   
8. Supporting local communities
   Sustainable agriculture is generally localised and places a lot of emphasis on domestic food production and the localised food system enables farmers to reinvest their money within their communities where it circulates, and this ultimately uplifts the living standards of community members while also creating rural jobs.

Specialized Sustainable farming models

Sustainable farming system doesn't have to be only organic agriculture. The following sustainable farming methods and practices are just a few examples practiced in different parts of India showing the many ways that we can achieve a much more sustainable agriculture:

1 Permaculture :
Permaculture is a design system that applies principles that are found in nature . It helps in development of human settlements, allowing humanity to live in harmony with the natural world.

2 Biodynamic farming:
Biodynamics incorporates ecological and holistic growing practices where farmers are encouraged to manage their farm as one living organism where cultivated species intertwine and support each other's health. This include
s raising animals on a farm in a way that they help replenish soil fertility and enhance plant growth.

3 Hydroponics and aquaponics:
These innovative farming techniques involve the growing of plants without soil, nourishing the plants through specialized nutrients that are added to water. In hydroponic systems, crops are grown with the roots directly in a mineral solution or with the roots in an inert medium like gravel or perlite. Aquaponics combines the raising of aquatic animals (such as fish) with the growing of hydroponic crops with the water containing the waste material from the aquaculture fish is used to nourish the hydroponic plants.

4 Urban agriculture:
Many innovative and sustainable growing techniques are already being used in cities, including backyard and balcony farms and gardens, community gardens, rooftop farms, growing crops in urban greenhouses, indoor hydroponic farms, and perhaps even growing food inside urban farm towers someday.

5 Agroforestry:
Agroforestry involves the growth of trees and shrubs amongst crops or grazing land. Agroforestry systems can combine both agriculture and forestry practices for long-lasting, productive, and diverse land use when approached sustainably.

6 Polycultures: 
Polyculture farming involves growing multiple crop species in one area. These species are often complementary to each other and aim at producing greater diversity of products from one plot while fully utilizing available resources.

7. Popularization of traditional varieties of crops
The traditional varieties of crops have qualities is often supreme. It was these varieties that have nourished our ancestors, and therefore, contributed to who we are today. They deserve to be preserved because their unique traits may help us in establishing future climate-resistant varieties that will nourish our children.

8 Natural animal rearing
Sustainable animal farming is possible and is better for everyone. Not only that it is good for the environment and our nutritional needs, it is also good for the animals. Animals that are raised on the pasture or in their preferred environment live under less stress, closer to their natural way of living. Allowing animals to graze and live in pasture is much healthier for animals than confined animal feeding operations are.

9 Natural pest management
One of the main aims of sustainable agricultural practices is the prevention of the use of synthetic pesticides and other chemicals that should suppress pest infestations and pathogens.

10 Mulching, groundcovers, and manual weed control
Farmers and other growers can dramatically reduce the growth of weeds and conserve soil moisture by covering the soil around their plants through the use of mulching and ground covers. By naturally suppressing weed growth, these practices greatly reduce, or in some cases even eliminate, the need to apply herbicides to kill weeds. 

Youth and Educational Institutions in sustainable agriculture

Considering that youth of today are the torchbearers of tomorrow and that many of them studying in various educational institutions across the globe, an initiative has been started by TERRE Policy Centre (terrepolicycentre.com), a not-for-profit organisation, supported by UNESCO Paris. It is global digital network of the educational campuses -Smart Campus Cloud Netowork ( sccnhub.com) of universities, colleges and schools to share the results of their practical work in campus that has contributed towards United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

This project, primarily, engages the students and the faculty to carry out practical and UNSDGs linked activities within the campus i.e. clean energy, energy efficiency, green buildings, smart-grid, water conservation, healthy sanitation, waste management, air pollution, zero-emission transport, conservation of biodiversity and green architecture. Each of the activities will have to be linked to the SDGs thereby contributing to the implementation of SDGs within the campus.

Agricultural Universities and colleges would benefit a lot from SCCN. The SDGs related to poverty and hunger eradication, life on land, access to water and affordable access to energy, clean energy, climate change, organic farming would be the priorities among others for practices of sustainable agriculture. Specific research on use of solar energy in agri-field, solar trees, solar cold stores, organic farming, Climate resilient farming for Small farmers, food processing can be initiated within the campus or in pilot fields. 

Secondly, the project deploys digital technology like IoT (Internet of Things), Big Data Analytics, M2M, Cloud Networking, AI for real time measurement, where possible, for monitoring the consumption of electricity, water and gas used in the campus.

Thirdly, the project digitally connects the campus-communities to share the information, on the activities performed by campus-communities and their results, through Cloud Network and its Dashboard, developed by TERRE. The discussion forum through special app allows the students and faculties to exchange the ideas and innovations.

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