Not coming from the sustainable food movement directly, I can easily see how many people (maybe even most people) do not have a clear idea what is meant by sustainable food, or sustainable agriculture. Organic, I think many people understand as the absence of “bad” things like pesticides, chemical fertilizers, animal hormones, etc.. But that is far from the whole picture. The beauty of sustainability is its a larger umbrella that covers care for the environment, social justice for workers, fair equity return for the farmer, respect for the people who eat the food (eaters), and the strengthening of local food economies.
Here’s a brief sampling of definitions for sustainable food from around the web:
Sustainable Table:
Sustainable agriculture involves food production methods that are healthy, do not harm the environment, respect workers, are humane to animals, provide fair wages to farmers, and support farming communities.
BBC News:
Rather than steaming ahead at the current rate, with little thought for future generations, sustainability is about seeking ways of providing food, water and energy that are long-lasting and have less of an impact on the environment.
Yale Sustainable Food Project:
We say that “a practice can be called sustainable if and only if it can be continued indefinitely without degrading the systems and resources upon which it relies.”
National Sustainable Agriculture Information Service (ATTRA):
Sustainable agriculture is one that produces abundant food without depleting the earth’s resources or polluting its environment. It is agriculture that follows the principles of nature to develop systems for raising crops and livestock that are, like nature, self-sustaining. Sustainable agriculture is also the agriculture of social values, one whose success is indistinguishable from vibrant rural communities, rich lives for families on the farms, and wholesome food for everyone.
Slow Food
We believe that the food we eat should taste good; that it should be produced in a clean way that does not harm the environment, animal welfare or our health; and that food producers should receive fair compensation for their work.
The fiery Carlo Petrini, founder of Slow Food International, and the poet-philosopher of the sustainable food movement gets to the soul of the matter in these brief snippets pulled from a talk last year in Portland, Oregon. For those who like to consume their information whole, the entire talk is available here: From Fast Food Nation to Slow Food Nation
What does sustainable food or sustainable agriculture mean to you?
6 Comments
Wow, I’m impressed with all the fascinating and diverse answers. Sustainability certainly has it’s confusing array of answers. This has also got me thinking about what it means, in accordance with food as well as with lifestyle.
I like Colleen’s answer. If we grew our own food and/or were dependent upon local growers to supply us with what we can’t grow, there’s a sense of balance there.
But then how do these issues fit into our needs to have fresh pineapple and grapes when they don’t grow nearby?
This is my definition of sustainable:
A product can be considered sustainable if its production enables the resources from which it was made to continue to be available for future generations. A sustainable product can thus be created repeatedly without generating negative environmental effects, without causing waste products to accumulate as pollution, and without compromising the well being of workers or communities.
@amy I agree with you, sustainability is the ability to survive over time. And, definitely not short time frames measured in wallstreet quarterly earnings marks.
@Kathleen Definitely, good, wholesome food has to be affordable for everyone, not just people of means. In my opinion, if the food movement is to transform our industrial food system into sustainable local and regional food economies, somehow, even those without means still need access to good food. The world is getting smaller, and we are all in this together.
You have to be able to imagine your great grandchildren eating this same food you are when there’s no more fossil fuels, so that means learn to like the stuff that grows near you and grow some yourself.
I would add that sustainable food means that everyone has enough to eat, and that what they get to eat is healthy. And that people cooperate to make this happen, so that an overly-heavy burden doesn’t fall on any one person, family, or organization.
To me, sustainability in in food is no different that sustainability anywhere else; it has to be “sustainable” economically as well as socially and environmentally.
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[...] ones that will do you and the environment the most good. (A good discussion of what the terms “sustainable”, “humane” and “organic” mean can be found on this site and at the Sustainable Table). I [...]