2014 Texas Envirothon

Sustainable Agriculture/Locally Grown

Key topics

1. Understanding the three pillars of sustainable agriculture and the indicators of sustainable farming.
2. Understanding how ecosystems function and the services they provide. Good soil health is the foundation of a healthy ecosystem.
3. How sustainable farming practices enhance and protect soil health, water quality and water quantity, biodiversity, manage insect pests, disease, and weeds.
4. The importance of local and regional foods systems to sustainable agriculture.

Learning Objectives

1. Define sustainable agriculture. Understand the importance of moving toward these farming systems to conserve natural resources, mitigate climate change, reduce erosion and protect water quality and quantity and promote pollination. 
2. Basic knowledge of soil science including its physical, chemical and biological processes and its vital role in sustainable farming.
3. Comprehension of farming practices that build soil organic matter such as composting, crop rotations, cover crops, conservation tillage, and management intensive grazing systems.
4. Understand irrigation best management practices that reduce water use such as conservation tillage, cover crops, plant selection, precision agriculture, water re-use, and sub-surface drip irrigation.
5. Knowledge of the role pollinators play in farming and ways to attract them.
6. Understand integrated pest management and biological pest control techniques used to prevent insect pest, disease, and weed problems.
7. Define organic agriculture as an example of a sustainable agriculture system. Give specifics on why it is sustainable and how it might not be. Describe the growth in organic production since the late 1990s.
8. Enumerate ways farmers can reduce their reliance on fossils fuels by increasing farm efficiency and using alternative fuels.
9. Describe the economic, social, and environmental benefits of sustainable agriculture to local communities.
10. Learn the ways farmers market their food locally and regionally. Understand the meaning of CSAs, food hubs, farmers markets and farm to school.

Current Issue Background

• Carolyn Steel: How food shapes our cities (Video)
• Dan Barber: How I fell in love with a fish (Video)
• How buying heirloom seeds defends our habitat from invasion
• Marla Spivak: Why bees are disappearing (Video)
• Michael Pollan: The Omnivore's Dilemma (Video) – Recommended reading: Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Pollan
• Polyface Farm (Video)
• SARE Poultry Waste Projects
• SARE Promoting Local Food Systems
• SARE Researching Alternative Fuels
• Southern Region SARE Addresses Water Quality
• Southern Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education (SARE)
• Square-foot Gardening
• The Healthy Farm: A Vision for U.S. Agriculture
• The Howdy Farm at Texas A&M University
• Toward a Sustainable Agriculture
• Trap Cropping in Vegetable Production: One Tool for Managing Pests
• Urban Harvest

NAE Resources

• Agroforestry: Sustaining Native Bee Habitat for Crop Pollination
• A Whole-Farm Approach to Managing Pests
• Building Soils for Better Crops
• Indicators of Sustainable Agriculture
• Organic Production Systems
• Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food Compass - The What and Why of Local and Regional Foods

Additional Resources for Aquatics

• Fishery and Aquaculture Statistics (PDF)
• Global Aquaculture Production – This site summarizes definition of aquaculture, types of aquaculture, and statistical summaries of the global numbers in output, aquaculture types, etc.
• Polyculture of Fishes in Aquaponics and Recirculating Aquaculture (PDF) – Polyculture is an important topic when considering sustainable practices. This paper explains polyculture and why it works.

• Envirothon Soils
• Law Ranch Cattle Company
• Sustainable Agriculture: The Urban Setting
• Sustainable Aquaculture
• Understanding Texas' Coastal Wetlands

Supporting Materials

• Grow Cover Crops for the Best Garden Soil
• Managing Cover Crops Profitably, Third Edition (PDF)
• USDA NRCS: Soil Health