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overall CoNClusioNs

In document Agroecology - Gliessman (Page 125-128)

Carol Miles, David Granatstein, David Huggins, Steve Jones, and James Myers

5.5 overall CoNClusioNs

Agriculture represents a critical land use throughout the Pacific Northwest. It makes important contributions to the region’s economy and to the nation’s food supply. As in many other regions of the United States, adverse environmental impacts, pres-sure from urbanization, and chronic lack of profitability are serious sustainability challenges for Pacific Northwest agriculture. Soil degradation and soil loss due to agricultural practices are especially prevalent throughout the dryland wheat produc-tion zone and may be the greatest factors limiting future producproduc-tion in these areas.

There are no simple strategies for reversing these trends as each change in produc-tion management has far-reaching impacts on multiple producproduc-tion factors. As farm-ers throughout the region develop and test new sustainable practices, wider adoption may be achieved by increasing the visibility of sustainably produced agricultural products in the marketplace through ecolabeling. Ecolabels are provided by pro-grams such as Food Alliance and Salmon Safe and use third-party verification of sustainable farming practices.

Throughout the Pacific Northwest region, important gains are being made in soil and water conservation, biocontrol and pesticide reduction, organic farming, and direct marketing. Genetically engineered crops and livestock have yet to have a major presence in the region, unlike in the Midwest where herbicide-resistant soybeans and Bacillus thuringiensis corn raise other issues in regards to sustainability. Agriculture in the region, as elsewhere, is heavily reliant on fossil fuels for field operations, fertilizer, transport, and processing. Opportunities for bioenergy production are being explored to both reduce this dependence and create new value-added opportunities for farms and rural areas. Factors such as climate change are likely to impose new sustainability challenges in the future. Given the natural attributes of the Pacific Northwest, agricul-ture will most likely find ways to adapt and sustain itself for fuagricul-ture generations.

aCkNoWledGmeNTs

The authors thank anonymous and named contributors who provided background information and knowledge that may not otherwise appear in printed sources. In addition, we thank the many colleagues and lab members who took the time to criti-cally read the chapter content as it was being developed and offered suggestions for its improvement.

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The Conversion of

In document Agroecology - Gliessman (Page 125-128)