As the earth’s swelling population makes increasingly intense demands on our overtaxed ecosystems, the need to merge farming practices with green initiatives becomes even more critical. Ethical Living contributor Tina Kessinger investigates two schools on opposite sides of the world that are championing a new model of agriculture with student-run, commercially viable, sustainable farms. This, they hope, is the new generation of farming.

The University of Western Australia and Warren Wilson College in the U.S. are on the forefront of the ‘clean, green and ethical’ movement, teaching a new generation how to operate self-supporting farms using the latest ‘best practices’ in farming.

Unlike high-chemical farming models in which crop yields and profits are the primary (and often sole) consideration, ‘best practices’ farming minimises the negative impact on the environment, using sustainable, ecologically sound methods, while maximising crop yields.

While most people think that sustainable farming is primarily focused on growing organic crops, ‘best practices’ encompasses the complete agricultural model; water conservation; humane animal production; watershed health; air quality; and sound labor practices.

The scale of the two university farms is vastly different, but their agricultural practices aren’t. The University of Western Australia’s Future Farm 2050 (named for the year the earth’s population reaches nine billion) occupies1,600 hectares (approximately 4,000 acres) near Pingelly, about 90 minutes from Perth. Future Farm is focused on being a self-supporting enterprise and a model of sustainable agriculture, achieving carbon neutrality by the year 2020.

Warren Wilson College is a small liberal arts school on 1,100 acres in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina. Their curriculum incorporates what they call the ‘triad’ model of education, with academics, work and community service forming the three sides of the learning equation. Students are expected to work on-campus and perform community service for a specified amount of time each week. Many students work on the college’s 275-acre farm helping to raise sustainably and ethically grown crops and livestock. The college’s environmental initiatives have earned it a wide variety of accolades and awards.

With the earth’s population mushrooming towards nine billion hungry mouths by the year 2050, the need for a more effective means of agriculture on less acreage is obvious. Some might say that an impending food shortage means we should continue to value quantity over environmentalism. After all, no one can deny that using vast amounts of petroleum based pesticides and fertilizers and consolidating family farms into corporate agri-business monoliths has increased production per acre, and allowed fewer farms to produce more food than ever before. Ditto for the factory model of livestock production that cranks out a seemingly boundless supply of relatively cheap meat and poultry, allowing us to consume more high protein food, no matter what the humane and ethical considerations. What’s the problem with that approach?

“We have to feed fifty percent more people by 2050 with diminishing resources. We are optimists, but we prefer not to gamble on the possibility of another green revolution,” UWA’s Future Farm director Graeme Wilson said.

“Being green is essential or else our food-producing resources will disappear even faster, making our task even tougher. The fact is that clean, green and ethical management is not less productive than current practices.”

Warren Wilson’s farm manager Chase Hubbard agrees that using sustainable farming practices is the only way to meet the increased demand for food.

“Agriculture uses a huge amount of fuel and water, so we have to continue to adapt to the reality of limited resources,” Mr Hubbard said.

Future Farm purchased the Pingelly acreage three years ago and is in the process of getting the operation up and running. Their plan is to grow sheep for wool and meat, as well as canola and wheat.

“It was fairly run down, so time is required to rebuild infrastructure. While we develop infrastructure that will help us achieve our goal of an ideal farm for 2050, we lease out the cropping and animal enterprises to a neighbour and develop other parts of the farm a bit at a time. Over the next three to five years, we expect to take 100% control,” Mr Wilson said.

Future Farm doesn’t receive any subsidies or grants, so it must be run as a commercial enterprise. Very few students actually participate in the farm’s operation, but UWA agriculture classes do take place there, as well as graduate level research programs which will explore new sustainable farming initiatives.

Warren Wilson’s primary crops are grass-fed cattle, hogs, eggs and poultry, as well as organic vegetables and herbs. Shitake and oyster mushrooms are cultivated in their forested areas. Their crops form the basis of their food services menu, as well as being sold at their roadside produce stand. Beef and pork are sold twice yearly to the public. Of the approximately 900 students at the college, roughly 28 work in livestock production and 20 growing vegetables.

If you’re still unconvinced about the necessity for a global shift toward best practices farming, take a look at these alarming facts:

• Synthetic agricultural pesticides and fertilizers are the world’s largest source of water pollution. They’ve been found in the deepest and most remote ocean reaches and at the North and South Poles.
• Agriculture currently uses approximately 70% of the world’s fresh water. Experts predict a looming water shortage crisis in the near future, with global demand increasing 40% in the next 10 years.
• In addition to poisoning the environment and raising health concerns, the 2.5 million tons of pesticides used annually worldwide has had the opposite effect on crop yield than intended. Crop loss from insects has doubled in the last 70 years, despite the heavy use of these poisons.
• Half of the antibiotics sold in the U.S. are pumped into commercial livestock. The overuse of antibiotics is attributed to the increase of antibiotic-resistant bacteria which is fast becoming a global health risk.

The good news is that these two school-based farms are among the many venues championing the shift toward ‘clean, green and ethical’ food production that just might be our hungry planet’s saving grace.

Tina Kessinger is a writer trying her best to live ethically in the U.S.A.

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