The agricultural technique known as "Wild Farming"
is a growing alternative to "factory farming". Wild farming consists
of planting crops that are highly associated and supportive to the natural
ecosystem. This includes intercropping with native plants, following the
contours and geography of the land, and supporting local food chains. The goal
is to produce large crop yields, while still promoting a healthy environment.
Wild farming is a backlash against the dominance of factory farming. Up until
the mid 20th century, agricultural crop yields relied on natural inputs such as
rainfall patterns, natural soil resources, recycling of organic matter, and
built-in biological control mechanisms. Currently, agricultural practices have
been conventionalized to include large monocropped fields and use of
synthetics: pesticides and fertilizers. Avoiding the conventional farming
practices, wild farming adopts many practices from sustainable agricultural
systems such as agroecology, permaculture, forest farming, and greywater
systems. The four basic guiding principles of the wild farming movement are:
Direct
managers to develop long-term vision for future of landscape
Basic
recognition of ecosystem processes.
High value on
biological diversity.
To consider
the quality of life of the community as well as the self.
Why is this important
As human population constantly rises so does the need for a
sustainable food supply. Wild farming is a way to maximize crop yields while
ensuring that future generations also have the resources to feed themselves.
Currently, the largest future threat to sustainable agriculture is the scarcity
of fresh water. Between 1950 and the turn of the century the amount of
agricultural land that is being irrigated rose from 8,000 to 120,000 km². One
of the top priorities for wild farming is to help promote and preserve
biological diversity among plants and living organisms alike. At the moment
only a dozen varieties of plants create 80% of the modern world’s crops.This is
a major concern for conservation biologists as many forested areas that are
home to many unique species continue to be clear-cut using slash and burn
methods. This poses a threat to many of the world's species living in tropical
rain forests.
Organizations
The largest organization involved in the study and promotion
of wild farming is the Wild Farm Alliance. The objective of the WFA is to
implement a vision of a “healthy, viable agriculture that helps protect and
restore wild Nature”. The WFA has created a platform that other farmers,
farming organizations, and conservation groups can adhere to. The WFA fights
for the rights of the small-scale farmer who does not rely on the techniques of
factory farming. Their platform has been endorsed by 74 organizations across
the U.S., and the types of organizations include communities of sustainable
farmers, California Certified Organic Farmers Foundation, conservation groups,
advocacy groups, and suppliers of organic/sustainable food. The WFA helps
spread education by sharing success stories of farmers around the nation. For
example, the WFA website contained a story of a farmer in Belgrade, MT who was
raising sheep. To protect the flock from predators like wolves, they raised a
guard llama with the sheep; because the llama grew up with the sheep they
bonded and the llama protected them from native predators.
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