EDITORIAL: Reshaping agriculture

Agriculture is an important component of this island’s economic landscape, as it creates employment, generates and saves foreign exchange and provides a comfortable livelihood for many people.
At the same time some of our agricultural practices also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions because of water and energy use – in addition to levels of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide.
Most of our farms depend on power generated by the electric company to run their farm equipment, and diesel to fuel their equipment and vehicles.
This demand for and use of energy in agriculture is an important factor in the line of production. Indeed, it has long been so. The sugar industry used wind, livestock and steam energy for many years and was an innovator in what is now popularly called green energy.
Our farmers, large and small producers, also used various forms of renewable energy to keep their lands eco-friendly while producing either foodcrops or livestock. The use of renewable energy is something we need to restore to our agricultural production, even in these modern days when the focus is on cost efficiency with a consistently high output.
Agriculture has an inter-locking relationship with most other industries and offers opportunities for a range of renewable energy applications: solar heat collectors, solar drying systems, wind turbines and photovoltaic panels, water usage and reduction of chemicals. Some of what is required also involve low-tech, low-cost practices.
We need to promote the greater use of drip irrigation, which applies precise amounts of water to the plant roots instead of spraying water over plants. Watering crops using “greywater” – or water used in domestic activities like dishwashing, laundry, and bathing – can also reduce water use on farms, particularly small-scale and backyard  operations. Practices such as using animal manure rather than artificial fertilizer, mulching rather than dumping in our landfill, as well as the planting of trees on farms and in our neighbourhoods to reduce soil erosion, all hold huge potential for us all.
The country needs, especially in an area such as the Scotland District, to consider organic farming which can provide a wide range of benefits, including a reduction in our exposure to harmful chemicals now suspected to be the root cause for many deadly illnesses.
Compared with conventional farming methods, organic farming is much healthier for a farm’s entire ecosystem.
It is heartening to know that the Barbados Agricultural Society will be placing some emphasis on renewable energy when it stages its annual exhibition, Agrofest, this month.
We need to see the ideas not just for renewable energy and its linkages and benefits to agriculture. Rather, we need to have sustainable agriculture to help in reshaping attitudes and approaches to this important but often overlooked sector.