Extract from a news release by SARE (5/15/2023).
Sustainable farming emphasizes the need to consider the environmental, economic and social impacts of agriculture. For decades, sustainable agriculture research has focused more on environmental stewardship and profitability than on personal and social issues. SARE’s newest bulletin, Resilient Farmers, Ranchers and Communities: Social Sustainability in Agriculture, describes how an increasing number of farmers and ranchers are realizing that addressing social issues is crucial to making farming systems more prosperous, resilient and sustainable.
Figure 1. New SARE bulletin ‘Resilient Farmers, Ranchers and Communities: Social Sustainability in Agriculture.
The purpose of this bulletin is to draw special attention to social sustainability in agriculture. It describes how we can think of social sustainability, outlines some of the most pressing personal and social challenges facing all of us who are engaged in agriculture, and offers some suggestions for how we can begin to make ourselves, our employees, our families and our communities more prosperous, resilient and sustainable.