As the global population approaches more than 9 billion people by mid-century, there are simply too many mouths to feed. Consequently, the concerns associated with large-scale farming will be as much about efficiency as sustainability.
Charles Mitchell is no stranger to sustainable farming practices. He grew up drinking milk from dairy cows that were fed on locally grown corn and grass on his family farm — about as close to sustainable and organic as one could get back then.
On the sustainable farming issue, he considers himself an optimist, albeit a qualified one. He points with a sense of pride to the headway row-crop producers have made in the last quarter century introducing sustainable practices on their farm — an effort to which he has contributed as an Alabama Cooperative Extension System agronomist and as a professor in Auburn University's Department of Agronomy and Soils.
Likewise, within the last decade, aspiring organic farmers have made great strides developing specialized markets for their produce.
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