Take the term organic for example. Despite a decade-long and costly effort among the organic community to gain credibility and consistency by leveraging the power of the USDA to define the word organic in a 600+ page document known as the USDA Organic Standard, there has recently been an effort to establish a new standard known as “The Real Organic.” This new definition claims to re-define organic as it was originally intended.
It seems that when we start to argue about definitions, the agriculture community becomes more fractured, and meanings eventually become meaningless, despite the massive struggle and cost of attempting to get everyone on the same page. Ultimately, this does not serve us well.
No matter the terms you’ve decided best describe your operation, I think all agricultural producers are trying to accomplish the same goal. Every producer I know wants to raise the best and most profitable product possible within their unique operation by maximizing the resources available to them. That’s why I believe there is one term which most appropriately describes the goals of our entire industry today; Resource Positive Agriculture.
Why Resource Positive Agriculture?
Many industries rely upon the natural resources of our world to enhance society; and nowhere is this more apparent than in farming and food production. At the very core, our industry takes the abundant and free energy of the sun in concert with soil, rainfall, and human intelligence to consistently produce more with less, delivering the very sustenance of life for the human race. Farmers are in fact the original environmentalists. No other industry relies on the environment like agriculture does.
Now more than ever, as our global citizenry seeks to respond to and mitigate climate change, agriculture is at the center of the discussion of how we will satisfy the needs of our growing world.
Now is the time to think differently about what we do. We should rally around our own capabilities, our knowledge to ensure our livelihood indefinitely. Resource Positive Agriculture describes what we all want: an agriculture system which makes full and responsible use of the natural world and honors the scientific and societal advances we’ve achieved.
Resource Positive Agriculture has no negative baggage, by definition. Resources take into account soil, water, and carbon for sure, but also the human and community resources our industry requires as well.
Positive means greater than zero. We are moving in a positive direction, no matter how small the steps may seem sometimes, we are getting better. We are not settling for the status quo. We are preparing our world to meet the future with joy, productivity, and health. In soil, water, the environment and in people and relationships too.
Agriculture is the industry which feeds the world. It also represents a way of life and a livelihood for millions of people around the globe
Resource Positive Agriculture represents all of us.
I know this is a conversation worth continuing. I invite you to follow along as today we launched the Resource Positive Agriculture podcast brought to you by the Potato Sustainability Alliance. Download episode 1 from your favorite podcasting platform and don’t forget to subscribe to hear the latest episodes each month. Stay positive!