NINE MILE

Management Consulting

Sustainability of Agriculture
Impacts of the Industrialization Process
April 2013

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Copyright 2013. All Rights Reserved. The Nine Mile Management Consulting Group

Nine Mile Management Consulting Group

April, 2013

Sustainability of Agriculture
Within the industrialization process of land, considerations for its health and integrity must be taken into account before there can be any productivity or sustainability leveraged out of it. Factors currently threatening the integrity of land, and contributing to human health and demand for agricultural products surround soil and food quality: is the soil abundant in rich nutrients, enough to amplify the quality of the resultant food products? Are the products adequate and reliable? In other words, are the methods being used to protect food quality adding to their excellence or harm? The following definition of soil quality can impact the demand that investors possess when searching to purchase healthy plots of farmland. As the Soil Science Society of America (SSSA) has written on the topic of soil quality (Page 6, Managing Soil Quality, Challenges in Modern Agriculture, B.T. Christensen): Soil quality is the capacity of a specific kind of soil to function, within natural or managed ecosystem boundaries, to sustain plant and animal productivity, maintain or enhance water and air quality, and support human health and habitation. Therefore, the question of whether land can sustain itself under the long-term pressures of environmental changes or biological threats such as global warming or chemical contamination can therefore render the demand of land obsolete. In other words, three critical factors are currently influencing the concerns of investors when they are purchasing land for reasons surrounding soil quality, and they are:

Biological Productivity The Environment Human Health

Biological productivity encompasses capabilities that segments of land possess in order to determine their stability and efficiency during stress events, such as global warming, or other environmental changes, where the land is able to sustain its agricultural integrity in response to outside disturbances. Robustness, which is the resilience of a system in response to a perturbation or threat, can refer to the ecological sustainability of land. In other words, productivity is a combination of what the land produces in its current state, in addition to its ecological stability and resilience over time. This accurately defines the meaning of sustainability as it relates to the concept of biological productivity. (Page 7, Managing Soil Quality, Challenges in Modern Agriculture, B.T. Christensen). With regard to the environment, soil function and structural form are crucial when examining the environmental resilience and performance of land over time. Soil PH, total C and N, mineralizable N, Olsen P, bulk density and macroporosity, are some of the applied tests in order to measure risk and the presence of danger thresholds within all soil environments. Risks and danger thresholds include: production volumes, plant nutrient retention, health and safety for animal and human consumption, soil and plant resistance against pathogens, pesticides, and chemical contaminants. (Page 11, Managing Soil Quality, Challenges in Modern Agriculture, B.T. Christensen).

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April, 2013

Lastly, human health is measured in direct relation to soil fertility and soil health, and the frameworks for evaluating soil quality. Scoring algorithms that measure nutrient cycling, water infiltration and retention, contamination levels, waste management, and sanitization strategies are all vital and important since soil quality is a critical function of agricultural sustainability, and can impact the demand for present as well as future financial investment. In Ontario, the risk of finding sustainable techniques is clear, particularly with the impending threat of global warming and climate change, and last summers unseasonably warm temperatures causing draught. (Milla Petkovic, Metronews). This will ultimately impact future investment opportunities since health and environmental quality constraints reflect a risky and unsustainable set of variables. In addition to soil quality, sustainable agriculture can be measured using a broad class of environmental, financial, and education variables, observable in Figure 1.1. (Gerard DSouza, Page 160, Factors Affecting the Adoption of Sustainable Agricultural Practices). Figure 1.1 Definition of Variables Used in the Sustainable Agriculture Adoption Model Dependent Variable ADOPTER/NON-ADOPTER Description 1 if the producer adopts package of sustainable agriculture techniques; 0 if a non-adopter or conventional producer. 1 if the producer is over 55 years old; 0 otherwise. 1 if the producer has more than a high school education; 0 otherwise. 1 if the producer is aware that ground water contamination presently exists on the farm; 0 otherwise. 1 if the producer works more than 200 days off the farm; 0 otherwise. 1 if farm sales exceeds $10,000; 0 otherwise. 1 if the producer participates in government farm programs; 0 otherwise. 1 if the producer uses hired labor; 0 otherwise. 1 if the producers farm-related debt/asset ratio exceeds 10 percent; 0 otherwise.

AGE EDUCATION GROUNDWATER

EMPLOYMENT SALES GOVERNMENT PROGRAMS LABOR DEBT/ASSET

Figure 1.1.demonstrates the influence each relevant variable possesses within the complex value chain in order to determine the flexibility, performance, and sustainability of all decisions, strategies, and results. It uncovers important relationships between each relevant variable, including: impact of debt, contamination, labor, sales, groundwater and education, as they directly correspond with present and future financial performance. (Page 161, Sustainable Agricultural Practices, Dsouza). To conclude, the impacts of global warming, along with increasing levels of hazardous metal deposits and lethal soil contamination, have caused agriculture and the impurity of food quality to increase at an extraordinary rate. According to J.V. Lagerwerff, in an article entitled Contamination of vegetation with cadmium, nickel, lead, and zinc, the above-mentioned metals [especially cadmium] are routinely applied to soils and crops . (J.V. Lagerwerf, Contamination of Vegetation with cadmium, nickel, lead, and

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zinc, page 583). The results are frightening when you consider that cardiovascular disease has been related to both inhaled and ingested doses of these metals. Therefore, agricultural performance must be examined in direct alignment with sustainability, and the degree to which the human resources impact the environmental ones. With our latest and most innovative models, Nine Mile Management Consulting can provide a robust, flexible, and agile solution for your company. Our solutions have been used across the globe for such companies as: GE, Barclays, and Citibank.

(J.V. Lagerwerf, Contamination of Vegetation with cadmium, nickel, lead, and zinc, page 583) (Managing Soil Quality, Challenges in Modern Agriculture, B.T. Christensen, Page 7).

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