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Sustainable Agriculture

Today's state of agriculture relies largely on pesticide-heavy, unsustainably industrial methods of food production. We looked into several key regions of agricultural research and analyzed controversial areas, including biofuels and GMOs and developed methods of integrating these into a net beneficial solution.

Depending on the characteristics of the region, we recommend a customized set of sustainable agriculture solutions. Select the characteristics of the region below and click "Go", and we'll highlight the programs recommended for this region.

Step 1:

Select location / soil grade

Urban: An area of high population density.

Rural (Grade 1): An area of low population density featuring extensive arable cropping (e.g.  bulbs, vegetables, roots and cereals) and no forestry.

Rural (Grade 2): An area of low population density featuring extensive arable cropping, rotational grassland (e.g. cereals, oilseed rape & beans or grass leys for dairy cows, beef, sheep), and hardwood forestry.

Rural (Grade 3): An area of low population density featuring rough grazing often with rock outcrops (e.g. principally summer grazing with hardy sheep breeds and hill cattle) and limited softwood forestry.

Step 2:

Select climate

Tropical: A climate where the temperatures are high year round and frequent amounts of rain.

Temperate: A climate characterized a significant amount of temperature fluctuation.

Arid: A climate characterized by dry land.

Step 3:

Select water availability

Least Vulnerable: Greater than 2500 cubic meters per person per year.

Vulnerable: 1700-2500 cubic meters per person per year.

Stress: 1000-1700 cubic meters per person per year (stress).

Scarce: 0-1000 cubic meters per person per year (scarce).

Step 4:

Select condition of technology accessibility in agriculture

Heavily Industrialized: Regions have the ability to farm on a large scale (roughly greater than 1000 acres) based on availability of highly technological resources including mechanized farming equipment, vertical systems of production (direct connections between farming institutions and food processing institutions), and high yield crops.

Industrialized: Regions have the ability to farm on large scale, more farms are medium sized (roughly between 1000 and 500 acres) but are less industrialized. Farms are mechanized, but the available equipment is less effective than that of a highly industrialized region. Irrigation systems and fertilization systems are in use but not highly technical.

Mechanized: Regions have difficulty farming on a large scale due to a moderate lack of industrialization. Mechanized equipment is most effective at supporting small to medium sized farms (roughly between 500 and 100 acres).

Minimal: Regions have low levels of technology available for agriculture. Medium sized farms are difficult to sustain based on available farming resources and small farms (less than 100 acres) are prevalent. Irrigation and fertilizer use is not optimized and is not necessarily common.

Traditional: Regions have little to no agricultural technology available and a large portion of farms are extremely small (less than 20) acres. Most equipment is non mechanized and farms are mainly maintained by hand.