What is Sustainability?
Sustainable food is produced with good practices that minimize the impact on the environment. The term is often used in relation to fishing, but sustainability is also an important issue for farming.
“Sustainability is the ability of our food system…to continue into the future without bankrupting the environment,” say George Miller and Katharine Reeve, authors of The Rough Guide to Food.
Sustainability encourages a lower-intensity farming culture and is mindful of finite resources such as oil and the damage that farming can do to local wildlife or delicate ecosystems such as our wetlands. Methods used in organic farming – such as crop rotation and maintaining healthy soil – are often called sustainable, and help to preserve our food heritage.
The term ‘sustainability’ can also cover social and economic benefits, such as trading fairly with suppliers and growers, as well as providing jobs, education and clean water for workers and their families. If a farm is sustainable it should build up the community in which it is a part.
The Fairtrade Foundation and Ducks Unlimited are two of the bodies that support producers and certify growers and farms that use sustainable practices. Reuben Nesom, manager of Townsend Home Farm in Manitoba, says: “Sustainability is good for the soil, good for the animals and crops, and ultimately good for the consumer.”
Why should I have to worry about these things? Can’t shops just sell the right stuff?
It’s important to be aware of the issues so you can decide what to buy. Townsend deep concern in this area, and we have worked hard to take the guesswork out of ethical shopping, so you can choose food that; is good, does good, and tastes good. In fact, sustainability and great quality go hand-in-hand – for example, slow-reared meat has more flavour and heritage breeds tends to be of a higher quality.
Townsend encourages all its suppliers to protect the natural environment, promote high standards of animal welfare and provide the best possible conditions for workers.