Sustainable Agriculture

Sustainable agriculture supports farmers, communities, and farming and ranching practices that produce quality food while preserving open space and biodiversity.

In the North East, locally grown produce and other agricultural products can be obtained throughout the year from farms in Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. From blueberries to cheese to maple syrup, North East farmers can offer a range of fresh and delicious food choices to those of us right next door.

Why Buy Local?

Strengthen regional economies by supporting small businesses.
Allow farms to survive urban sprawl and development, preserving open spaces.
Provide high-quality, fresh foods by decreasing "shelf time" from field to table.
Community growth is fostered when consumers and producers are neighbors with common interests.
Shorter distances from farm to table lead to fresher, high-quality food and reduced transportation-related pollution.

Unfortunately, the foundations of farming in the North East are being shaken as family farms struggle to stay in business and often sell their land in response to extreme pressure from developers. In fact, the American Farmland Trust's 1997 report "Farming on the Edge" identified four critical Northeastern farming areas currently under dire threat from nonfarm development.

To learn more about locally grown produce in Massachusetts visit The Pioneer Valley Growers Association. For national information on locally grown products, including restaurants, farmers markets, and co-ops where they can be obtained, see Local Harvest.

Organic farming embodies many tenets of sustainability, in particular those relating to environmental preservation. For example, organic food is produced without using most conventional pesticides; fertilizers made with synthetic ingredients or sewage sludge; bioengineering; or ionizing radiation. Organic meat, poultry, eggs, and dairy products come from animals that are given no antibiotics or growth hormones. Before a product can be labeled "organic," a Government-approved certifier inspects the farm where the food is grown to make sure the farmer is following all the rules necessary to meet USDA organic standards. Companies that handle or process organic food before it gets to your local supermarket or restaurant must be certified, too.

Why Buy Organic?

Organic growing methods benefit the environment by reducing water, soil, and air pollution that occurs with the abundant use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers in conventional agriculture practices.
Farms that use organic standards tend to be in sync with nutrient cycling which promotes soil preservation for the next growing season and reduces damaging nitrogen and phosphorous run-off into local water bodies.
The same benefits of organic growing methods accrue to consumers and communities, who are encounter fewer toxic materials as exposure to pollutants through local ecosystems and the foods they eat is reduced.

Market prices for a wide variety of agricultural products have been diven extremely low as a result of over production and the demise of international pricing boards. As a result, farmers around the world can no longer support themselves and their families through sales of their goods, sparking humanitarian crises in many regions. Fair Trade is an innovative, market-based approach to sustainable development that aims to ameliorate these crises without the need for humanitarian aid. The "Fair Trade Premium" included in the cost of each unit of Fair Trade coffee, tea, chocolate, or fresh fruit purchased by consumers is paid directly to farmers and producers so that they can not only earn a living wage, but invest in the health of their communities.

Why Buy Fair Trade?

Improved quality of life for farm families: The Fairt Trade price ensures the high quality of traditional farming methods and means that farmers can feed their families and send their children can go to school.

Care for the environment: Most Fair Trade certified coffee, tea and chocolate in the US is also certified organic and shade grown, so purchasing these products helps maintain biodiversity, provide shelter for migratory birds and protect against further global warming.

Community Impact: Fair prices for crops lead to higher family living standards, thriving communities and more sustainable farming practices. Empowered by the economic stability provided by Fair Trade, members of coffee growing cooperatives throughout Central and South America are preventing cultivation of crops used in the production of illicit drugs in their areas, are sending local kids to college for the first time, investing in medical facilities, and assisting other growers to transition to certified organic production.

Overfishing and destructive fishing practices have severely damaged world fisheries like Chilean sea bass, orange roughy, and Atlantic trawled cod. Fish farming can be a welcome alternative to depleting wild fisheries, but farming certain species such as Atlantic salmon can pose its own set of environmental problems.

However, there are plenty of great tasting, ocean-friendly seafood choices available. You can make a difference by choosing seafood caught or farmed in a way that minimizes harm to the ocean creatures and the environment. By learning more about the current state of fisheries and identifying which fish are facing the largest pressures from over fishing and environmental degradation, you can begin to make choices that are good for you and better for the planet.

The following list of fish to enjoy or avoid, along with a great deal of other information on supporting sustainable fisheries, can be found on The Fish List.

ENJOY!	AVOID!
These seafood choices are better for ocean ecosystems.	These seafood choices are associated with ecological harm to our oceans.
Catfish (farmed) Caviar (farmed) Clams (farmed) Crab: Dungeness, Snow (Canada), Stone halibut: Pacific Mussels (farmed) Oysters (farmed) Sablefish/Black Cod (Alaska) Salmon (wild from Alaska)* Sardines Scallops: Bay Striped bass (farmed and wild) Sturgeon (farmed) Tilapia (US farmed)	Caviar (wild) Chilean Sea Bass/Toothfish Cod: Atlantic Grouper Halibut: Atlantic Monkfish/Goosefish Orange Roughy Salmon (farmed or Atlantic) Shark Shrinp (imported, farmed, and wild) Snapper Sturgeon (wild) Tuna: Bluefin
*Fresh or canned, including chinook (king), coho, sockeye, pink, and chum salmon. Elevated levels of mercury, PCBs, dioxins, or pesticides spur health concerns.	Elevated levels of mercury, PCBs, dioxins, or pesticides spur health concerns.

For more information on sustainable fisheries and environmentally responsible fish choices please visit The Blue Ocean Institute or the Seafood Choices Alliance.