Blue Ridge Center: Agro-Ecology

Blue Ridge Center for Environmental Stewardship

	Learning from the Land
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	Agro-Ecology

Agro-Ecology

SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE, LIVABLE COMMUNITIES
Your choice about the food on your table is an important expression of environmental stewardship. That's because sustainable agriculture touches many aspects of our lives and communities.

First, sustainable agriculture — especially organic agriculture — is better for the environment. It involves growing techniques that preserve rather than deplete top soil; it uses grazing practices that nourish the soil rather than pollute waterways; it reduces or eliminates the use of pesticides that are bad for the environment and harmful to human health; and, it relies on natural fertilizing techniques that don't harm streams and rivers.

Second, because "we are what we eat," eating locally grown food produced under the best practices means that you're getting the most nutritious, flavorful food available. It seems every day we hear people complain about how bland and flavorless fresh food has become. That's because the big industrial farms don't raise their products for their flavor and quality, they raise it for withstanding weeks of shipping over thousands of miles. Local food is better.

Third, eating locally grown products helps fight suburban sprawl. When farmers can make a living from their farming, they can stay on the farm — instead of having to sell their land for development.

That's why the Blue Ridge Center supports the Bolivar Growers Market in Bolivar, West Virginia. We're providing staff and expertise to help launch a market that will provide a vital link between people and the environment.

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