How to be an Eco-Friendly Farm

How do you become an eco-friendly farm? Though it’s a long process that requires time and effort, converting your farm to one that prioritizes sustainability can help you produce more products, prioritize your farmworkers and save money in the long run. There are  various ways you can to turn your agricultural operation into a greener business.

Keep reading for more information on eco-farming, why it’s important to pursue an eco-friendly property and how to adopt more thoughtful techniques to foster sustainability.

What Is Sustainable Farming?

Sustainable farming is an agricultural approach that prioritizes the long-term health of ecosystems and the people who depend on them for food.

What Does It Mean to Have an Eco-Friendly Farm?

The American agricultural and food industries contribute over $1.5 trillion to the national GDP and employ over 20 million people — 10% of all employees in the United States. Farmers worldwide are producing trillions of dollars worth of food, but hundreds of millions of people have still experienced high levels of acute hunger in recent years.

To feed a hungry world, farmers may use solutions that boost short-term crop production, such as using chemical fertilizers or washing away topsoil from inefficient irrigation. These methods don’t protect the land for long-term use, negative effects of modern agricultural practices contribute to pollution, soil depletion, poor working conditions for farmworkers, higher production costs, excessive water consumption and declining harvests.

Having an eco-friendly farm means you need to switch from certain modern farming strategies to techniques that consider the long-term effects of agriculture on the land and its resources. In short, it means working with nature and not against it. Consider how your farming approach affects the area’s soil, water and pollution in the area. If your business employs farmworkers, think about how to improve their working environment on your farm and train them in sustainable agricultural practices. Aim to use resources efficiently so surrounding ecosystems and future generations can continue to enjoy their benefits.

Changing farming practices to work toward sustainability preserves the future of your business and contributes to a healthier planet.

14 Steps to Achieve Eco-Friendly Farming

When farmers adopt sustainable practices and create more eco-friendly production, they reduce the negative impacts on the planet and its people while enjoying long-term productivity. Turn your farm into a more sustainable operation by integrating some of the following changes.

1. Recycle Plastic Waste

Depending on their production levels and size, plastic creates a significant source of farm waste. A few agricultural plastics include:

• High-density polyethylene (HDPE): HDPE is commonly found in plastic nursery pots and pesticide containers.
• Low-density polyethylene (LDPE): LDPE is typically used for flexible products, such as bale wrap, greenhouse covers, haylage or silage bags, silo covers and mulch bags.
• Polypropylene (PP): Agricultural businesses use PP to construct tarps, nursery pots and row covers.
• Polystyrene (PS): PS is a durable, rigid material found in nursery flats, pots and other containers

Disposing of these products can be difficult. Some farmers burn them, but doing so releases furans and dioxins into the air, contributing to pollution, harming human and animal health and contaminating water and soil. Alternatively, farmers may toss these plastics into landfills, but recycling is a better option. HDPE is a recyclable material your farm can arrange for local recycling service collection.

The nonprofit Ag Container Recycling Council (ACRC) heads a national effort to reduce HDPE plastic waste in landfills by offering recycling programs around the country. Each year, the organization collects and recycles 11 million pounds of HDPE from agriculture chemical containers. After recycling, the waste can be turned into other agricultural products, such as nursery pots, landscape edging, drain pipes, industrial pallets, fence posts and cinder blocks.

When your farm recycles even some of its plastic waste, it can reduce how much goes to a landfill, protecting the environment from toxins and contributing to a growing recycling industry.

2. Choose Efficient Lightbulbs

Switching lightbulbs from incandescent bulbs to energy-efficient light-emitting diodes (LEDs) saves energy while extending the life span of the bulbs. LEDs use 75% less electricity to produce the same light compared to incandescent bulbs. Additionally, LED lights last up to 25 times longer than incandescent bulbs and up to five times longer than compact fluorescent lights (CFLs).

The reason LEDs are so energy efficient comes from their lack of heat production. Comparatively, incandescent lights waste 90% of their energy in heat production, and CFLs release 80% of their energy as heat instead of light. LEDs emit minimal heat, making them more efficient and a better option for lighting temperature-sensitive areas of your farm. By upgrading to LED lights, your farm’s lighting will last much longer and use less electricity.

3. Support Pollinators

Bugs that pollinate, such as bees, wasps and butterflies, help maintain an eco-friendly farm. Protect them as much as possible by avoiding pesticides that can kill them and damage their habitats.

These insects need habitat space and flowers to feed on. In unused areas of your farm, plant flowers for them based on your business’s region. These flowers encourage bees and other pollinating insects to visit your farm. They are helpful creatures that pollinate the plants and encourage natural growth.

Hives on your farm also offer the benefits of the honey the bees produce. It’s a sweet reward for helping your business and the local ecosystem.

4. Get Rid of Expired Pesticides and Herbicides

Expired agricultural chemicals may not work properly, and keeping outdated pesticides and herbicides on your business’s property presents an environmental hazard. Leaks in containers could cause the products to contaminate the soil and groundwater. Check with your business’s local agriculture extension to see if there’s an eco-friendly agriculture chemical disposal program in the area.

5. Apply Integrated Pest Management

Integrated pest management is a four-step approach to sustainable pest mitigation:

1. Set action thresholds: Set standards for the pest populations or conditions that could threaten your farm’s economic well-being. It’s important not to do more harm than good by applying pest control methods for tiny populations that pose no real danger to your farm.
2. Monitor and identify: Some insects and weeds that look like pests are harmless — even helpful. Save resources by identifying each organism correctly so your farm doesn’t use unnecessary or incorrect pesticides.
3. Prevent: Manage your crops to stop pests before they become a problem. Crop rotation, planting pest-resistant varieties and choosing pest-free rootstock can help.
4. Control: If pests have passed your action threshold and preventative measures haven’t stopped them, try the least-risky pest control methods first. For example, use targeted pheromones to prevent breeding or mechanical traps for larger pests. If these methods fail, consider targeted pesticides, with broad pesticide spraying as your farm’s last line of defense.

6. Reduce Tilling the Soil

Decreasing soil tillage could positively impact the environment. Because soil traps carbon in the form of soil organic carbon (SOC), regular soil tilling releases SOC into the atmosphere. As a solution, organic farming raises the SOC stocks naturally while improving overall soil health.

In a study of European farms, researchers compared SOC stocks on organic farms with reduced tillage increased by 1.7% and 3.6% to farms with standard tilling. The study concluded that reducing tillage has the potential for raising stocks of SOC when paired with organic farming practices, protecting the atmosphere from excessive carbon releases from the soil.

7. Rotate Crops

Instead of planting the same crops on the same plot of land year after year, change what your farm grows and where. Changing crop positions reduces problems with pests that favor one type of plant. Additionally, it improves the health of your farm’s soil, especially when planting nitrogen-fixing crops, such as legumes.

Some combinations of crops, like sugarcane and potato, produce higher yields of both plants when rotating them than dedicating the soil to either crop alone.

One study found that starting a plot with velvet beans and switching to maize later in the season produced up to 100% greater maize yields compared to a plot that only grew maize. Additionally, the plots with legumes and their residue incorporated into the soil rotated with maize could reduce or eliminate the need for additional nitrogen fertilizer.

When planning the products to grow for the season, be sure to rotate each crop properly.

8. Plant Companion Crops

Some combinations of plants thrive and yield more produce when farmers grow them near each other. Like crop rotation, companion planting makes the most of the natural relationships between different plants and the soil that supports them for enhanced productivity and sustainability.

The key difference is that crop rotation involves switching between different crops in the same soil. Companion planting means planting compatible crops within two to three rows of each other or even in the same row at the same time.

Examples of companion plant combinations include:

• Asparagus with tomato, basil or parsley
• Beans with most other vegetables and herbs
• Cauliflower, kale or broccoli with beets, corn, onions or spinach
• Cantaloupe with corn or sunflowers
• Celery with onions, cabbages or tomatoes
• Corn with Irish potatoes, English peas or cabbages
• Eggplant with beans or marigolds
• Potatoes with beans, corn, cabbages or peas
• Squash with corn, radishes or nasturtiums
• Strawberries with beans, spinach or lettuce

9. Implement Intercropping

Intercropping applies the same concept as companion planting at a larger scale. It means planting companion crops in rows and strips for mechanical harvesting and choosing pairings for maximum profit over time.

In contrast, companion planting normally describes smaller-scale farming and gardening strategies to optimize space with companion plants. The underlying idea of harnessing the natural synergies between plants is the same in intercropping and companion planting.

Companion planting or intercropping can be combined with crop rotation, alternating between compatible pairs of crops. For example, rotate between a cauliflower and beet crop and a kale and spinach crop. All three methods can help sustain soil fertility and enhance yields while reducing weed and pest problems.

10. Plant Cover Crops to Protect Soil in the Off-Season

Between growing seasons, plant cover crops to enrich the soil, prevent soil erosion and stop weeds from taking hold. Depending on your business’s cover crops, your farm could even save the cost of buying haylage for livestock by letting the animals graze on cover crops like alfalfa hay, wheat or rye.

11. Use Shade Structures to Protect Workers and Plants

Installing shade structures can help make your farm more sustainable by protecting workers from the intense heat of the sun. The covered areas are more comfortable to work in, which could increase employee productivity and improve working environments.

Additionally, your business’s plants benefit from shade structures that keep direct sunlight away. Plants that benefit from shade structures include:

• Seedlings
• Delicate plants
• Plants that require partial sun
• Plants that grow best in the shade

Only use shade structures with breathable materials to ensure adequate airflow that keeps the shaded area from becoming stagnant.

12. Switch to Low-Pressure, Efficient Irrigation

Use low-pressure dribble irrigation systems to reduce water waste. These systems drip smaller amounts of water into the soil instead of spraying them over the crops — water spray evaporates readily, especially when irrigating during the hottest part of the day. In comparison, drip systems use less energy for irrigation and lose less water through evaporation by not spraying the water over crops.

13. Consider Alternative Growing Methods

Some alternative growing methods may help your farm increase yields:

• Aquaponics and hydroponics deliver nutrients directly to plant roots via nutrient-dense water instead of soil.
• Permaculture replicates natural ecosystems within a farm to reduce the need for extra resources, improve yields and create more sustainable farming.
• Agroforestry, similar to permaculture, replicates natural habitats on a farm but uses a forest ecosystem for its model.

These methods can create sustainable growing methods, depending on what your farm produces and its location.

14. Choose Renewable Energy Sources

For centuries, wind and running water from rivers have been sources of energy to power windmills and watermills for grinding grain. Bring back the use of these or other renewable energy sources on your farm to make the operation more sustainable. For instance, install solar panels to generate electricity for heating or pumping systems. For maximum efficiency, your farm can have the benefits of shade structures and solar panels without using extra space by installing solar shade structures with built-in panels.

The Value of Eco-Friendly Farming

Choosing eco-friendly farming is good for your business’s bottom line, your farmworkers and the environment. The following are only a few of the benefits your farm and the world can gain from sustainable agriculture.

1. Improve Production Over Time

Environmentally friendly farming allows your farm to maintain or improve production with less waste and energy. Over the long term, farms that use sustainable practices have greater chances of maintaining production levels by protecting the soil from erosion and using water resources properly.

For example, crop rotation protects diversified farms from weeds and pests that impact single-crop farms. Additionally, cover crops protect and enrich the soil.

The productivity gains from sustainable farming make the world a better place in tangible ways. More productive agriculture feeds hungry people and makes for stronger future economies because of its sustainable profits.

2. Open Opportunities

Since sustainable farming practices produce the most food with limited resources over time, it creates opportunities for small and subsistence farmers. Using fewer resources, small sustainable farms can meet the needs of those who own and work them while reducing pressure on large farms to meet the global food demand.

3. Reduce Costs

Sustainable farms use less energy, less water and fewer herbicides and pesticides. Cutting back on these resources saves your business money, allowing your team to invest more into further improving your farm’s sustainability. The amount of money your farm saves depends on waste reduction and resource utilization on your property.

More energy-efficient lights and the use of sustainable energy also reduce your business’s reliance on electricity spending to keep your farm running. These savings further decrease expenditures and raise profit margins.

4. Decrease Waste

Farming naturally produces various forms of waste, from organic to inorganic. The amount of waste your farm produces and how it handles that waste impacts the time and money costs. Eco-farming cuts back on waste. For example, when your farm recycles HDPE or other agricultural plastics, it decreases the amount of waste that ends up in a landfill.

5. Protect Environmental Resources

The planet, your farm and future farming generations will benefit from the efficient use of environmental resources. Agricultural use accounts for about 70% of the world’s freshwater consumption. Environmentally sound practices such as drip irrigation reduce your farm’s freshwater use.

Combining better water management with soil protection methods, like reduced tillage, can also preserve soil nutrients while reducing erosion and the need for fertilizers. Less tillage also reduces carbon releases, helping to minimize harm to our atmosphere.

When your farm makes better use of environmental resources, the planet and your farm benefit by protecting these vital assets for future farming generations.

6. Prevent Pollution

Reducing waste is only one way of preventing pollution. When your farm converts to more environmentally friendly operations, your business cuts down on contaminants.

By recycling containers instead of burning them with trash, your farm reduces air pollution. Cutting down on soil tilling reduces carbon released into the atmosphere. Plus, your farm reduces the emissions engine-powered tillers would generate. Crop rotations that let your farm cut down on fertilizer help prevent water impurities caused by the runoff of fertilizers from the soil. Drip irrigation also reduces harmful water waste and runoff.

Sustainable agriculture cuts down on pollution and waste, reducing impacts on the environment.

7. Preserve the Industry

More than a billion people depend on the agriculture industry directly for their livelihoods, which increases to nearly half the world’s population when including their households.

The world needs an approach to farming that allows production to continue and expand. Sustainable agriculture is the best long-term way for the industry to thrive and support those who depend on it for income.

8. Prevent Future Hunger

The global population is projected to reach 9.7 billion people by 2050. This means world agricultural production will need to increase by 50% or more, with improvements in food and resource distribution to prevent future hunger. Using sustainable practices will reduce the resources farms use today and protect land and water for the future. By being environmentally friendly, farms can help preserve resources needed to feed a future world and prevent hunger. Using sustainable practices will reduce the resources farms today and protect the land and water use for the future. By being environmentally friendly, farms can help to preserve resources needed to feed a future world and prevent hunger in later generations.

Shade Structures for Farms

Shade structures make your farm a more comfortable place to work and provide delicate plants with protection from excessive sun. Their many designs allow your farm to use them for practical and aesthetic reasons. The following are popular farming shade structures for greenhouses and other agricultural sites:

Solar Shade Structures

Solar power is a pathway to high-efficiency, sustainable eco-farming. Enjoy all the benefits of shade structures and solar power in a single structure by installing solar shade structures on your farm. These solutions shelter workers from direct sunlight while generating electricity — an efficient combination of protection and power.

Benefits of solar shade structures for farms include:

• Shifting to sustainable energy.
• Reducing strain on non-renewable resources.
• Offsetting utility expenses.
• Receiving potential federal tax credits for solar panels.
• Refreshing shelter for workers to boost productivity.
• Enjoying comfort for farm visitors.

Rectangular and Square Structures

Quality rectangular and square shade structures are the most budget-friendly options for various agricultural shade needs. Rectangular and square shapes fit perfectly over nursery rows of plants, particularly those your farming business is growing to encourage the presence of pollinating insects. They also offer shade over working areas or walkways to shelter people from the sun. Options for different colors and roof designs offer flexibility when choosing the perfect shade solutions for your farm.

Cantilever Structures

Maximize space efficiency by using cantilever shade structures on your farm. These solutions only require one or two support posts. They work best for areas that don’t have enough space for full four-post structures or where the extra posts would get in the way. Cantilevers create ideal cooling areas for farmworkers to avoid direct sunlight during the day. hey also work in greenhouses and parking areas. If your farm has only a handful of parking spots or needs space for vehicles to drive up to a loading area, install a cantilever shade solution. The use of support posts on just one side maximizes space under the structure for parking or loading a vehicle. Larger cantilevers can protect several vehicle spaces or walkways from sun and heat exposure.

Multi-Sided Shade Structures

If your farm needs shelter for a large or irregularly shaped area, explore multi-sided shade structures in various shapes, from hexagons to octagons. The versatility of multi-sided shade solutions designs and sizes makes them popular options for protecting commercial operations, including farms, from the sun.

Striking shapes such as triangular structures or five-point sails add a modern look to any space. Your farm may benefit from the appealing style these systems offer, especially if consumers visit for tours, to buy produce or for pick-your-own purchases.

Larger multi-sided designs protect large areas up to 60 feet across. If the options for rectangular solutions are too small, find the coverage your farm needs from a multi-sided design. Smaller multi-sided formats, such as hexagonal or octagonal designs on single posts, work well for picnic areas, farmworker rest sites or greenhouse exteriors.

Customized Designs

Customized shade solutions give your farm sun protection over unusually shaped spaces or create an eye-catching design to attract consumers. Your farm may have a different layout than standard shade structure designs can fit. A great solution is customized shade structure options, which allow choices in the style of shade cover, the coverage area, coloring, material and much more.

To experiment with the possibilities of customized shade structures, try USA SHADE’s free and simple product builder tool to create your own design and request a free quote.

For your farm, customized shade structures give you sun protection over unusually shaped spaces or create an eye-catching design to draw attention to your farm and make it more beautiful.

Choose USA SHADE Structures for Eco-Friendly Farming Efficiency

Installing shade structures around your farm contributes to a more efficient and eco-friendly facility. Find a variety of permanent shade structure options for gardens and farms from USA SHADE. Whether you’re interested in providing sun coverage for plant growth or shaded areas for farmworkers, our shade solutions can help your farm meet its sustainability goals.

We offer turnkey services at USA SHADE to help your farm obtain the shade structures it needs. We assist from the design stage through to installation. Contact USA SHADE to request a quote for sustainable shade structures or check out our product catalog to see even more shade options for your farm!