Food for Thought

I thought that I would touch a little bit on the history of sustainability and the EPA’s stance on Sustainability in Agriculture.

The words sustainable development, “has been widely used in scientific, business, and public institutions since it was first defined in the Bruntland Commission's "Our Common Future" in 1987” (EPA). “Our Common Future” was a call for environmental change on a global level.

The term, sustainability, is a relatively new one, but now we see it virtually everywhere. Although it’s everywhere, the Environmental Protection Agency realizes that many people don’t know all of the facts about sustainability. The EPA’s main goal for sustainability is to have the

“federal, state, tribal, and local governments working together to achieve environmental protection goals [which] will set the standard for cooperation between communities, businesses, and governments. This new collaborative decision making process will ensure better decisions, create more rapid change, and promote more sensible use of human, natural, and financial resources.” (EPA)

The ultimate goals for the EPA regarding sustainability are to change what we’re doing to the earth; to help save natural resources; to help our future generations live a healthy and safe life; and to help ourselves now reduce the pollution and energy that we are creating, but not putting back.

On the EPAs Sustainability Topics – Agriculture page, there are a plethora of links that are meant to help explain some of the actions that the government takes and that others can take to help with sustainability in agriculture (for example, Organic Farming and Composting are on the list).

There is even an entire page promoted to Food Safety on the EPA website. They mostly talk about the use of pesticides on food and what they are doing to ensure our safety as consumers. I do know though, that most organic farmers don’t use pesticides (unless highly needed), “Organic farming, by definition, does not use environmentally harmful chemicals that may contaminate rain and groundwater” (Whole Foods).

But I also know that the traditional way of farming is to use pesticides to be safe under all regulations from the government. According to the EPA,

“Chemical pest control plays a major role in modern agriculture, and has contributed to dramatic increases in crop yields over the past four decades for most field, fruit and vegetable crops. Pesticides have enabled growers to produce some crops profitably in otherwise unsuitable locations, extend growing seasons, maintain product quality and extend shelf life. Nevertheless, these chemicals also pose some risks if used improperly or too frequently” (EPA).

The EPA goes on to say how much and what kind of pesticide is allowed to be used by farmers, etc. Although I know that because of convenience I will buy most of my vegetables/fruits in grocery stores, I still can’t help but feel that the use of pesticides and the overabundance of food that we produce is not a good thing, it’s not helpful to the environment.

Overall, the EPA is committed to helping us eat safer and live better lives through their food regulations and the tips that they provide for us.

Another great place to look for more information about food and sustainability is the United States Department of Agriculture. I specifically chose to look at the ‘Food Quality’ section of the USDA site. They do have a way of grading fresh food (i.e. fruits and vegetables), but “Grading is paid for by user fees and is voluntary except for commodities that are regulated for quality by a marketing order or marketing agreement, subject to import or export requirements, or purchased by USDA or certain other Government agencies” (USDA). What does this mean for what we are eating? What this means is that, not everything we eat is being inspected – this goes directly back to Pollan and caring about what we are consuming.

This semester, I’ve learned so much more about food than I probably would have ever wanted to know, but now that I know more about the production techniques, I at least have the choice now for healthier alternatives to what we’re given. I think it’s incredibly important to learn about what goes into our food, because if you don’t know, then why would the people producing it care about what they’re doing to it?

Just some food for thought!

Take care,

Julia