Agricultural Sustainability

Of late I have been reading the archives of the deliberate agrarian. He's just a guy in upstate NY that has an interesting worldview and writes about it in an entertaining manner. I don't pretend to agree with everything he says, but there are enough thought-provoking gems to make it well worth the effort. In one of his posts, he quotes Cornell Professor Gary W. Fick regarding the elements that define agricultural sustainability. There are eight:

1) Relative independence from industrial and technological inputs

2) Decentralized or more local production and management

3) Community as opposed to a competitive orientation

4) Harmony with nature instead of control

5) Diversity instead of specialization of enterprises on individual farms

6) Restraint reflected through consideration of environmental and social costs and cautious application of new technologies

7) Quality of family life
8) Spirituality as motivation for the way they approach farming

The list made me think. You?