Importance of Sustainable Farming Practices

Discuss about the Importance of soil quality to health and sustainable.

Agriculture plays an essential role towards human survival thus making it a primary requirement each nation, community, and person must consider. The past few decades have seen the use of commercial methods of farming which have helped improve yields over the short term period but contributed towards land and environment degradation over the long-term perspective. With chemical fertilizers and pesticides affecting land resource negatively over the long-term perspective, it has become important for suitable farming approaches to be adopted.  Organic farming has therefore registered a rise in demand in recent years but scientists have also been placed under pressure to develop new technologies to address major concerns such as increased farm yields and pest control using harmless and organic solution, (Barh, Zambare & Azevedo, 2013). The report shall explore different approaches which can be used by farmers to improve farm production while addressing environmental norms. This will be achieved by developing a farm environmental plan highlighting the different approaches which can be used to improve production, retain farmland fertility and protect Flora and Fauna from harmful chemicals.

Agriculture management and conversation method stake multiple shapes and in many situations, the conservation option adopted by a farm will depend on the farm product.   Therefore require adopting a unique approach and conversation option which will ensure the farm maximizes its productivity. Multiple factors linked to the availability of irrigation water, gradient, type of soil as well as the crops and animals farmed will continue towards the development of the environmental plan. For this report develop an environmental plan for the North Pool Farm which covers a total area of 110 ha. The plan will address environmentally friendly farming approaches which the farm can adopt so as to ensure maximum profitability. The plan shall also divide the farm production into sections each focusing on different farming practicing and highlight the benefits of each approach, (OECD, 2006. The Plan shall address environmentally friendly and sustainable farming practices with relation to Nectar and pollen sources, winter food for seed-eating birds and Additional resources and habitats. These have been the hardest hit through the use of chemicals in Agriculture thus making it important for the farm to utilize biological and environmentally friendly approaches to cultivated crops and animals without damaging the environment. To maximize the benefits registered on the projects its critical for the environmental plan to be divided between the different sections and specific amounts of money allocated to each proposed plan. The investment towards the proposed plans will be recovered over a 5 year period thus allowing the developers invest more towards the development of the project thus helping to improve successful implementation.

Developing an Environmental Farm Plan

Option		Total area in hectares Save Time On Research and Writing Hire a Pro to Write You a 100% Plagiarism-Free Paper. Get My Paper	Total amount allocated	Remarks
AB1	Nectar flower mix	2 ha	£511	Located in the area with limited grassland levels.
AB8	Flower-rich margins and plots	2 ha	£539	Area allocated effected for ensuring effective nectar and pollen pollination
GS4	Legume and herb-rich swards	2 ha	£309	Essential for nitrogen fixation in the land to make more arable.
AB9	Winter bird food	4 ha	£640	Effective placed in accessible and visible locations of the farm
AB5	Nesting plots for lapwing and stone curlew	0.4 ha	£524	Effective placed in accessible and visible locations of the farm
AB6	Enhanced overwinter stubble	0.4 ha	£436	Effective for winter
AB11	Cultivated areas for arable plants	0.4 ha	£532	Good arable land efficiently
AB12	Supplementary winter feeding for farmland birds(per	0.4 ha	£632	For bird control management
	tonne for every 2 ha of AB9- Winter bird food)	0.4 ha
GS2	Permanent grassland with very low inputs (outside  SDAs)	0.4 ha	£95	For pasture grazing
GS17	Lenient grazing supplement	0.4 ha	£44	For farm animals
SW1	4m to 6m buffer strip on cultivated land	0.4 ha	£353	For control of soil erosion
BE3	Management of hedgerows	0.3 ha	£8/100m	Effective soil conservation
WT1	Buffering in-field ponds and ditches in improved grassland	0.3 ha	£201	For protection of soil management
WT2	Buffering in-field ponds and ditches on arable land	0.3 ha	£501	Soil control management practices
TOTAL		= 14.1 HA	= £4814

Pollinators play an immense role towards any farms success making it important to address insect and pollinator interests. This is due to their immense contribution towards pollinating crops which ensures successful fertilization and spearhead of pollen and genetic diversity. The nectar and pollen pollinators’ project would be distributed by dedicating 1% of the landmass to the pollinator’s project, (Miller, 2013). This would be distributed across the farms which would ensure even distribution of pollinators across the farms which would ensure even pollination of flowing plants. The project office and storage site would be located at the centre of the North Pool Farm thus ensuring even distribution of the resources and project development.

The primary insect encouraged for pollination at beside to their efficacy towards pollinating flowers and ability to produce honey which can be harvested and sold in the retail market. In addition to effective pollination and honey production, they are also tameable insects thus allowing farmers to house them at specific locations without the fear of losing the hive. This makes bees the ideas pollination insect but their honey productions required careful management. The honey flavour is directly influenced by the flower nectar the bees collect thus making it possible to manipulate and control the type of honey being produced by a hive, (Miller, 2013).This makes flower management important towards honey production as it influences the flavour and price directly.

Certain flowers also have the ability to repel pest’s insects while still attracting bees. One such flower which has been classified as environmentally friendly in organic farming is the marigold species. They produce an abundance of flowers and nectar for bees while at the same time has been known to repel many pest insects from farms surrounded by marigold plants, (Dicks et al. 2014). This makes it critical for the pest insect repelling flowers to be grown on plot blundering which will help repel pest insects from damaging crop plants without the use of chemical insecticides.

It is also essential to encourage the growth of Legume and herb-rich swards which continue towards farm animal health. Animal husbandry is a major part of many farms and similar to crop production the demand for organic farmed animal’s products is on the rise, (Parliament, 2013). By encouraging the growth of Legume and herb-rich swards farm animals can consumer healthy organic food which would continue toward healthier and most resilient animals and animal’s products

Pollinators and their Importance in Farming Practices

Birds were until recently classified as farm pests but organic farming has demonstrated the importance of birds towards sustainable environmentally friendly farming practices. Worms are a perfect example of this contribution made by birds. All farmers know that earthworms contribute towards building solid fertility and do no damage crop plants thus they are encouraged on farms. On the other hand, caterpillars are notorious for damaging crops and bird’s area natural remedy for caterpillar management (Williams, Pople, & Showler, 2013). While birds may consumer some crop yields their contribution towards managing caterpillar infestations plays a bigger benefit to organic farmers as compared to the amount they consume. This makes it important to manage bird pollution and provide winter food for birds so as to encourage the birds to roost on the farm even during the winter months.

The location of the winter food for the birds will be suited at North pool Farm at various places so as to allow birds to feed on any worms ad caterpillars which will be reared so as to protect the seeds from being eaten by the seed eating birds. Locations for growing winter food  are shown below in the table;

In addition to crops and animal husbandry, it’s also important to consider other aspects linked to environmental degradation such as soil erosion. Soil erosion occurred due to the implementation of poor cultivation techniques but can easily be managed and brought under control. To do this an effective soil management plan must be developed and soil erosion strategies implemented to prevent further soil loss which also contributes towards soil fertility depletion.

Australia is made up of a vast arid landscape with limited water resources above ground. This results in making the majority of Australia un-arable and non-arable for crop farming. While Australia has been termed as being among the driest places on the planet, there is an abundance of underground water resources in any part of the country. This makes it possible for farmers to implement environmentally friendly farming techniques to grow crops and rare animals, (Swaminathan, 2017). This has been a farming strategy which has been adopted by both the United Kingdom and India which is well known for the green revolution.

In Western Australia, EMS activities are being directed by the department of Agriculture and are being implemented by the Land Management Society. The Agriculture department is an EMS working group which incorporates various stakeholders from meat sector, dairy farm, grain farm, wool rearing, trade partners, industry players and other relevant stakeholders in adoption of best farming practices and usage of codes of practices. Further the Agriculture department, has developed an Environmental Farm Plan in developing EMS products which is more specifically associated with QA product chain , SQF 2000.

Legume and Herb-Rich Swards and their Impact on Animal Health

South Australia is in progress of developing proposals on EMS for agricultural industry. Various sectors have been developing EMS for their respective places so as to equip themselves with ISO 14001 standards.

In Victoria State, the agriculture department are in continuous progress of working on EMS and its implementation in various stages. Farmers are being encouraged to implement farm polices which have environmental management principles, which include usage of least partial restoration and water balance. Further farmers are provided information of range of farm planning techniques and schemes which they choose to follow.

Generally in Australia, agriculture farming is slowly embracing ISO 14001. Projects such as the role of on farm quality assurance and environmental quality in achieving sustainable agriculture and land use management has been adopted. The increased overall increase and demand for productivity has led to one of the most urgent concerns of environmental management. With the changing environment and past farm management practices, focus is now shifting on use and management of water, chemical use management, erosion, animal welfare, greenhouse gas emission animal welfare among others.

India is well recognized for its efforts towards promoting suitable farming and turning arid land into arable farming land whereby Regions like Rajasthan which was majority classified as Desert has been converted into arable farmland.

Despite this efforts there has been numerous challenges faced such as pollution. Air, water, land and air contamination are cross-sectional in the land. Huge expose has been contaminated with pollutants. Further natural resources, biodiversity and ecosystems have been degraded, leading to poor soils, depleted aquifers and limited forests. The costal zone management has been encroached by. Climate change has highly impacted India which has been contributed to high poverty levels, high population and high reliance on natural resources and water.

Despite to these challenges, the government has made tremendous efforts in attempting to reduce the challenges occasioned by environmental hazards. The enactment of National Environmental policy has recognised on values of harnessing market forces and establishing green tribunal to manage environment litigations. The government further has enacted and promoted and inclusive approach on costal planning and management of hazard waste and ensuring there is conservation of land.

India further has been supported by partners such as World Bank, in developing a multipronged approach to address environmental issues. A program on sound knowledge of products has been rolled to promote utilization if environmental friendly solutions. Further capacity building initiatives for the farmers have been established so as to improve their resilience on farm practices.  Some of the active projects include the coastal zone management project, industrial pollution management on pollution and Ganga River basin conservation plan on water catchment areas.

Winter Food for Birds and its Role in Organic Farming

 In England, country side stewardship schemes have led to contribution of an estimate of £900 million in a period of 6 years. The program helps farmers and woodland managers in improving the state of existing woodlands, support preparation and management of plans, addressing health issues of trees and creation of new woodlands so as to ensure land is effectively used.

 The conservation management system has been used as a key tool to manage green assets and heritage of the people. The CMS is a panning based tool which is geared towards conservation tool. Conservation management practices in England has involved control of socio economic factors which entails efficient use of materials, recycling materials, restoration of derelict land and maintenance of capacity of ecosystems. However in the recent past focus has shifted on agriculture, fisheries, forestry, water conservation wild life and genetic resources.

The conservation management practices has played crucial role in forming linkages on environmental, social and economic aspects. Hence it focuses on restoration of conservation management and restoring the culture for sustainability efforts. England has also adopted a similar strategy by promoting organic farming strategies which have resulted in the farmers being able to produce healthier organic food which fetches higher prices from consumers.

Thus generally it is evident that Australia Environmental management systems is playing crucial role in ensuring that farmers are coordinated and assisted towards conservation management and tillage services. Various efforts further have been initiated in India, despite the negative state of climate, various programs and initiatives have been rolled out and various partners such as World Bank joining hands towards the same process. In UK, it is more philanthropist initiatives which seek to empower the farmers on best farming approaches which they cane utilised to ensure that farmers adopt to environmental friendly approaches.

Farm environmental planning plays a critical role towards farms and farmers long-term suitability. The use of chemicals in farming has had a negative effect on the environment and people who have consumed the food. While the chemicals help boost farm productivity, they have long-term effects which result in major losses for the farmers thus making it important to adopt environmentally friendly farming techniques, (Bezdeicek, Papendick & Lal, 1996).

Currently there is an estimated 60% ha of soils used for cropping are sodic and most of the farming practices are performed under dry land conditions. The yields often harvested in the sodic conditions are less than the actual potential output. Further a major problem which has been observed is dry land salinity of water, (Rengasammy, 2002).

Pest Control using Environmentally Friendly Approaches

Further an open opportunity for farming in Western Australia is precision farming methods which prioritise pad docking spatial and temporal management of atmosphere conditions. Thus opportunities are available in usage of precision farming which is aimed at improving control of input variables like the seeds, water usage, chemicals and fertiliser additions, (Cook & Bramley, 1998). The demand for agriculture land for use in field such as firewood avenues, food and fibber are increasing thus requiring urgent balance of conservation biodiversity. Thus measures and avenues such as land sparing and wild life friendly farming techniques are being adopted to meet this demand, (Derpsch et al, 2010).

In UK, environment schemes have led to improvement on farm management practices which include landscape management, improved soil profile, increased water quality and protection of natural environments. Research has shown that these schemes have significant contribution on the overall farmer’s income and offering high standards and good practices of environmental managements, (Courtney et al, 2012). These practices are applicable to farmers in Western Australia and are beneficial in improving their overall productivity which translates to increase income. The three tier stewardship namely Entry level stewardship, (ELS), Organic level stewardship (OELS) and Higher level stewardship (HLS), (ESS, Online 2018), are critical in ensuring that farmers adhere to effective farming practices which improves the overall productivity. Adoption of such system to Western Australia farmers is crucial towards ensuring sustainable environment.

The Entry levels scheme models are aimed at encouraging large number of farmers to offer simple and yet effective management practices on environment. Payouts often go for £30/hectare, to an estimate of £60/hectare in organic levels which go for a period of 5- 10 years, it requires a threshold of 30 points in an hectare of land calculated through average weight age, (Raymong et al, 2016). Farmers are given options of choosing management practices which entails hedgerow management, minimum input of grassland and soil management practices earning 100 points in total venture, (Dobbs & Pretty, 2008). All this schemes when effectively implemented, ensures that the environmental is positively taken cared of and ensures proper management practices. This model is applicable for farmers in Western Australia as it will lead to sustainable land use and ensures that farmers agree to contractual terms which conserve the environment.

The common agriculture practices are the high usage of agriculture chemicals deep tillage and hazardous irrigation methods which depletes the soil fertility. The interrelated problems associated with environmental problems linked to soil degradation, soil erosion and green house effects, (Bastida et al, 2008). The soil degradation occurrence is associated with loss of soil fertility. Further farmland fertility has been exonerated with the continuous drainage of wasteland waste on the land.

Soil Management for Soil Fertility and Erosion Control

One of the biggest benefits linked to sustainable farming has been linked to land fertility management. Utilizing natural organic farming techniques ensure soil remains fertile and healthy from the long-term perspective. While productive may remain lower than chemically treated farms, the yield is higher when compared over the long-term perspective. Chemical treatment of farmland delivers large benefits over the short term period but damaging the soil composition and biology which results in destroyed soil over the long-term period, (Caldwell & Wilton, 2017).  Adopting suitable farming techniques such as rotational farming allows for the plots to be utilized growing different crops thus allowing for different nutrients to be extracted from the solid. One cycle also involved the introduction of livestock to the paddock which feeds on the foliage and in turn drop manure on the paddock. This a traditional but effective paddock management strategy which can be further improved with modern technology and research to deliver higher yields, (Antil et al, 2005).

There is need to further enhance organic amendments on farming practices, as it plays a crucial role in climate change mitigation through carbon sequestration process. Further there is need for long term application of compost materials which ensures that the soil organic content is raised by 90 % through storage for the purposes of mineralization process in the planting seasons, (Abbott & Murphy, 2007).

It is also important to keep in mind the natural flora and fauna found in a region requires be protecting and preserving. Irresponsible farming techniques have resulted in several plant and animal species facing extinctions imply due to them not being economically viable to farmers, (Daehler, 2003) It’s critical for farms to segregate a portion of their landmass towards natural flora and fauna. North Pool Farm will be dedicating 2% of its total landmass towards this cause and would implement necessary measures to protect the flora and fauna falling within these sections. It’s important to retain natural plants and animals despite them not delivering any final benefit to and the farm as a contribution made by the farm towards nature, (Jones, 2010). The protected areas must not be disturbed and a natural flora and fauna allowed growing undisturbed within the paddocks. This natural growth would require being monitors and documented with seeds collected for storage or distribution to areas where the flora and fauna may require an introduction.

Further the native flora and fauna is crucial in ensuring that soil erosion is controlled and land degradation minimised. Further it improves the salinity of water and provides a conducive habitant of unique biodiversity and rare species, (Lockwood, Walpole & Miles, 2000). Evidence has suggested that the benefits of the native flaura and flora are great for the farmer and catchment values attached. The benefits flaura and flora has on the individual include improvement of economic outcomes through improvement on land value, production increase and reduction of management waste, (Morton et al., 2002). In improving production outcomes in increases production yields, improving pasture and increase in terms of stock weight and increase in fertility rate. Further it improves of pollination of crops, maintenance of water and landscape and reduction in pest usage and reduced management actions. Further it restores native vegetation through protection of vegetation and reversal of negative effects habitat fragmentation, (Caberry et al., 2002).

Efficient Use of Water Resources in Farming Practices

Farmland management requires proper management where farmers must be able to implement certain soil management measures to prevent soil loss and damage. Soil erosion has also been identified as major contributors towards soil health depletion making it important for effective soil management approaches to be put in place so as to retain soil within the farm, (Renard, 1997). This would require a detailed survey to be performed on the farm to determine affected regions after which effective plan can be developed to address the concern, (Tucker & Hargreaves, 2009). This is not limited to soil erosion mitigation measures and managing farm resources which can be used to improve farm productivity as well as produce energy to be utilized on the farm.

In a study conducted in Manaus, Brazil on application of organic fertilizers and charcoal towards increasing nutrient levels. it assessed on carbons supplied through chicken manure, compost, charcoal and forest leaves and tested under two forms of sorghum and rice, (Recosky, 2003). The carbon mix provided through the chicken manure resulted to high p-value and further enhanced levels of soil Ph, calcium levels and magnesium. Further it showed that charcoal manure showed improved levels of grain volume production on farms, (Sierra et al., 2003).

Further ensuring that there is balanced use of chemical fertilizer is of essence in faming, this can sustain the quality of the soil. Evidence has shown that excess usage of fertilization could lead to stimulation of bacterial in the soil, thus a rational strategy on application of fertilizer is of essence, (Xu, Li & Bowker, 2017).

Conclusion

With more hue and cries being registered across the globe regarding environmental concerns, farmers must also be able to adopt environmentally friendly farming techniques. This is essential due to the adverse effect conventional commercial farming method shave on both the environment and consumers thus prompting the need to safer strategies and techniques to utilized on farms keeping in mind the environment as well as the high yield for maximum profitability

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