What is sustainable agriculture? These 8 steps illustrate the basic concepts and show Kerr Center projects which incorporate them.

1. So, how do you “do” sustainable
agriculture?

2. In the 1990s Kerr Center identified 8
components of sustainable ag
• Healthy Soil
• Water Quality & Conservation
• Responsible Waste Management
• Adapted Crops

3. • Biodiversity
• Ecological Pest Management
• Energy Conservation
• Profitability

4. • Steps Outlined in-depth in
this 2001 classic primer on
sustainable agriculture
• Authors:
• Kerr Center President and
CEO Jim Horne
• Communications Director
Maura McDermott

5. Soil:
Conserve and Create

6. Good Soil:
The foundation
of a sustainable
agriculture
Microorganisms in one
spoonful of soil outnumber the
people on earth
Sustainable Ag
Soil

7. Erosion: still a threat
Erosion threatens the productive
capacity of nearly one of every
three cropland acres.
---Natural Resources Conservation Service

8. One solution: Keep the soil covered

9. Cover crops or green manures basis of
Kerr Center’s organic program

10. Cover crops like vetch also add nitrogen, a key
nutrient, to the soil.

11. George Kuepper,
Horticulture Manager,
mowing cover crop

12. The mowed material can be tilled in, or left on
the surface as mulch.

13. Create Healthy Soil with Compost

14. Compost tea...

15. Water:
2. Conserve and Protect
Its Quality

16. Protecting
Water Quality
Riparian buffers
on Kerr Ranch
Buffers can trap
70-80% of
sediment and
contaminants in
run off.

17. Drip irrigation in Kerr Center hort plots
conserves water

18. Organic Wastes:
Manage so They Don’t
Pollute

19. Industrial Sustainable
Agriculture Agriculture
• CAFOs concentrate
large amounts of
animal wastes in one
place, overloading the
ability of the area to
utilize it
• Smaller numbers of
animals are raised on
integrated farms
• Animal wastes provide
nutrients for growing
crops without polluting
watersheds;

20. Animals on the move: Kerr projects over
the years
Free range chickens Rotational grazing

21. Adapted to the
Environment:
Grow Locally-Adapted
Breeds and Varieties

22. Industrial Sustainable
Agriculture Agriculture
• With large amounts
of inputs, farmers
can raise non-adapted
crops
• Farmers raise animals
and plants adapted to
the existing
environment

23. 2010 -2012: heirloom sweet potato variety
trials at the Kerr Center...

24. Sweet potatoes are heat and drought tolerant

25. And well adapted to Oklahoma

27. Looking for the best tomato: Trials of heirloom
varieties

28. Heirloom Squash variety trial

29. Okra trial

30. Reports with results from all variety trials
are available free online.

31. A Good Mix for
Oklahoma
Angus X Senepol
Cattle
Senepol are heat-adapted,
and
resistant to
parasites. Angus
have good carcass
qualities.
Adaptability—Sustainable Ag

32. Pineywoods cattle: hardy heritage breed:
raised at Kerr Center for 15 years

33. 5. Encourage Biodiversity

34. Biodiversity
• Over 100 breeds of livestock and poultry are
endangered in U.S.
• With important genetic traits: adaptability,
hardiness, disease resistance
• Only 20 per cent of the maize varieties
reported in Mexico in 1930 are now being
grown

35. Kerr heirloom variety trial

36. Biodiversity Threatened
• Monoculture-- planting fence row to
fence row-- destroys habitat for native
plants and wildlife

37. Saving space for wildlife on the Kerr Ranch
• Wildflower Meadows & Plots Provide Habitat for
Diverse Pollinators

38. A native pollinator (sweat bee)

39. Wildlife on the ranch

41. Birds eat
millions
of insects
and
billions of
weed
seeds

42. Pests:
Manage Them with
Minimal Environmental
Impact

43. Industrial Ag--Chemicals
Environmental Consequences of Overuse of
Pesticides
• Resistance: 500 insect pests, 270 weed species,
150 diseases resulting in chemical treadmill
• Non-target pests often killed, too often
beneficial predators

44. Industrial Ag--Chemicals
Health Consequences
• Pesticide poisoning (worldwide)
• 10-20,000 deaths per year
• At least 3 million acute cases
• American farm workers the highest rate of
chemical-related illness of any group

45. Industrial Ag--Chemicals
Pesticide Use
• Rate of usage in agriculture more than
doubled since 1964—3/4 of usage in U.S.
• Share of farm budget for pesticides rose 35
percent in same period

46. .

47. Beneficial insects help control insect pests in
hort plots.

48. Without herbicides, controlling
bermudagrass is a challenge...

49. ...but sorghum-sudangrass, a summer cover
crop, outcompetes it

50. Energy:
Conserve Nonrenewable
Resources

51. We conserve fuel by using small-scale
equipment

52. Solar-powered fencing

53. Profitability:
Increase Profitability and
Reduce Risk

54. Consumers are driving change

55. Kerr Center supports
• Farmers’ markets
• Farm-to-school
• Community
gardens
• CSA farms
• Food cooperatives

56. Opportunities: Direct and local sales
• Higher per acre returns–
horticulture crops
• Direct sales: farmers get
100% food dollar
• Attractive to young,
women, minority and
beginning farmers

57. Farmers’ Markets
• Increase Access to
Healthy Foods,
Affordable
• 70 Farmers’ Markets in
Oklahoma (35 in
2007)

58. Farm-to-School
• Makes healthy foods
available to low-income kids
• Research says farm-to-school
programs significantly improve
eating habits
• 2007: 40 school districts in OK
• 2014: over 100 school districts

59. We Can Grow It in Oklahoma
• From A-Z, Asparagus to Zucchini

60. Tremendous
Progress
and
Many Challenges

61. When you’re right, don’t
run. Hoe your row out.
Robert S. Kerr