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The Importance of Supporting Sustainable Agriculture
Sustainable agriculture, as a system, has been practiced forhundreds of years. The earliest farmers developed a reverence for the lands they cultivated, understanding the concept that stewardship translated into healthier soils and, ultimately, higher yields to feed their families and communities. As agriculture became more industrialized, the reverence was replaced with profitability. The credo became grow more, on less space, using chemical soil amendments to help feed a nation and, potentially, the world. The results have been devastating both to the environment and to the quality of the food we eat.

Sustainable agriculture is much simpler than you think. The pillars that support it are a system of production to achieve food self-reliance, a concept of environmental stewardship and a method for supporting rural communities much like our beautiful Rappahannock County. Though achieving these goals gets a little more intricate, small farmers everywhere are getting support from nonprofit educational groups, federal and state agencies and, most important, the public. As a result, some traditional farmers are modifying their practices by reducing chemical inputs, changing monoculture planting patterns and promoting biodiversity on their lands.

Radical change never happens quickly, but it will happen by and large thanks to people like you. By spending your time with us this weekend, you show that you have an active interest in finding out where food originates—beyond that of your local supermarket. In addition to attending our first annual farm tour, I encourage all of you to seek out those venues where you can support local agriculture within your community.These options include participation in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) or buyers’ club model, going to a producer-only farmers’ market in your community, putting a vegetable garden in your backyard or even buying weekly groceries from a retailer who purchases from local farmers. Environmentally, look at the waste that leaves your home. Recycle all that is possible and encourage your friends and neighbors to do the same. The goal is to be a little gentler on this Earth than we have been over the last 100 years so we have something to pass on to future generations.

For the next two days, enjoy your farm visits. Talk to the farmers and you will see the love they have for their land, their crops, and their animals. In doing so, we hope that you will leave Rappahannock County with the same passion that motivates us every day.

Michael Clune, Farm Director, The Farm at Sunnyside

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