Consumers are increasingly willing to pay more for foods they believe were sustainably produced, like free-range chicken, fair-trade coffee and pesticide-free wine. But what does “sustainable” actually mean?
“There’s not necessarily just one certification that people are going to find stamped on their food that says, ‘This is a sustainable food product,’” said Rob Myers, who is one of the directors of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program. “We don’t have that yet and we’re not likely to have it any time soon.”
The USDA’s definition of sustainable, which dates back to the 1980s, includes three broad goals: Sustainable farming means using practices that aren’t harmful to the nation’s land, air and water; that are economically viable; and that improve the quality of life for farmers, ranchers and their communities.
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