Sustainable Farming (Week #5)

"Sustainable" farming is maximizing the irrigation efficiency...so basically trying to use as much of natural fertilizer as possible in the soil as possible.  Natural fertilizer doesnt require as much energy to produce, but we have to be careful because if we used a natural fertilizer that contains cow manure, well...cows are a ruminant so they expel methane gas.  Methane gas is a greenhouse gas.  I try to buy as much organic products as possible, some are not as beneficial as others or cost effective.  There are basically 3 companies that fill every aisle in our grocery store.  There's a large interest barrier to compete with these companies, making it nearly impossible for "sustainable" farming to exist in our social and economic environment.  For financial reasons, "sustainable" farming wont succeed as we would wish.  To my personal experience, orgnaic foods don't last as long.  This is one of the reasons why I don't buy some foods organic, but we do for the most part buy orgnaic, and this could be another factor playing a role on "sustainable" farming with others buying.

I feel connected to the current food system but surprisingly, there's a lot of people who aren't as connected and know as much as what is needed to know about this system.  There's definitely more that I could know!  I would be more interested in growing my own fruits and veggies on my own property as opposed to FGCU campus.  If I were living on campus, that would most definitely be an interest of mine.