How do you become an eco-friendly farm? Though it’s a very long process that requires much time and effort, converting your farm to one that simply prioritizes sustainability can help you produce more products, prioritize your farm workers and save money in the long run. You can take numerous steps to turn your agricultural operation into a greener business and practice sustainable farming in the USA.
What Does It Mean to Have an Eco-Friendly Farm?
Having an eco-friendly farm means switching from certain farming strategies to the modern techniques that consider the far-reaching impacts of agriculture on the plot of land and its resources. Consider how your farming approach impacts the soil, water, and pollution in the area. If you employ farm workers, and train them in sustainable agricultural practices.
When you change your farming practices to work towards sustainability, you preserve the future of your farm and contribute to a healthier planet.
Steps to Achieve Eco-Friendly Farming:
When farmers adopt the sustainable practices and create more eco-friendly production, they help to reduce the negative effects on the planet and its people while also enjoying long-term productivity. Turn your farm into a sustainable operation by integrating some of the following changes:
Source: Freepik
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Recycle Plastic Waste:
Depending on the production levels and size, plastic creates a significant source of farm waste. A few agricultural plastics include:
High-density polyethylene (HDPE)
Low-density polyethylene (LDPE)
Polypropylene (PP)
Polystyrene (PS)
Disposing of these products can be challenging. Some farmers burn them, but doing so releases dioxins into the atmosphere, which contribute to pollution, harm human and animal health, and contaminate water and soil. Alternatively, the farmers may toss these plastics into landfills, but a better option always exists in many communities.
The farm collects and recycles almost 11 million pounds of HDPE each year from agriculture chemical containers. After recycling process, the waste can be transformed into other agricultural products like nursery pots, landscape edging, drain pipes, the industrial pallets, fence posts and cinder blocks.
When you recycle even a little of your farm’s plastic waste, you can reduce wastage to a landfill, protecting the environment from the toxins and contributing to a growing recycling industry.
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Choose Efficient Light Bulbs:
Switching your light bulbs from existing incandescent bulbs to energy-efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs) saves your farm’s energy use while extending the lifespan of the bulbs. LEDs use 75% lesser electricity to produce the same light as incandescent bulbs. Additionally, the LED lights last up to 30 times longer compared to incandescent bulbs and up to five times longer than the compact fluorescent lights (CFLs).
The reason LEDs are highly energy efficient comes from their lack of heat production. Comparatively, incandescent lights waste 90% of their power in heat production, and the CFLs release 80% of their power as heat instead of light. LEDs don’t generate heat, making them more efficient and a better option for lighting up the temperature-sensitive areas of your farm.
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Support Pollinators:
Pollinating bugs, such as bees, wasps, and butterflies, are the key to sustainable farming in the USA. Protect them as much as possible by avoiding the use of harmful pesticides that can kill them and damage their habitats.
These insects require habitat space and flowers to feed on. In the unused areas of your farm, plant popular, native flowers based on your region. These flowers encourage bees and other pollinators to visit your farm to pollinate your plants and promote natural growth.
If you can set up hives on your farm, you also benefit from the honey the bees produce. It’s a very sweet reward for helping your farm and the surrounding ecosystem.
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Get Rid of Expired Pesticides and Herbicides:
Expired agricultural chemicals may need to be fixed, and keeping expired pesticides and herbicides on your property presents a major environmental hazard. Leakages in containers could lead the products to contaminate the soil and groundwater. Check with your local agriculture extension to find out if there’s a safe agriculture chemical disposal program in your area.
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Reduce Tilling the Soil:
Decreasing soil tillage could very positively impact the environment. Because soil traps the carbon in the form of soil organic carbon (SOC), regular soil tilling releases SOC into the atmosphere. Organic farming, as a solution, raises the SOC stocks naturally while improving the overall soil health.
In a study, researchers compared SOC stocks on organic farms with reduced tillage, which increased by 1.7% and 3.6%, to those on farms with standard tilling. The study concluded that reducing tillage has the potential to raise stocks of SOC when paired with the organic farming practices, protecting the atmosphere from excessive carbon releases from the soil.
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Rotate Crops:
Instead of planting the same variety of crops on the same plot of land year after year, alter what you grow and where. When you change the crop positions, you’ll have fewer problems with pests favouring one plant type. Additionally, you improve your soil health, especially if you plant nitrogen-fixing crops like the legumes used for nitrogen fixation in soil.
Additionally, the plots with legumes and their residues incorporated into the soil layer rotated with maize could minimize or eliminate the need for additional nitrogen fertilizer.
When planning what you want to grow for the season, incorporate a method for rotating each crop properly.
If you looking for adopting the best practices for sustainable agriculture, get in touch with our experts at SoilOptix® now!
