What is "sustainability"?

The driving force to developing this blog is my upcoming participation in "The Sustainability Initiative", which is a pilot program of the Agricultural Counselor's Office of the Dutch Embassy in Washington, D.C.  The project "is designed to generate discussion among frontrunners in agricultural sustainability and innovation, with a particular focus on the uses of social media as a communications tool", according to the organizers.  I am honored to be included in the project's trip to the Netherlands, October 23 to 30.

The word "sustainability" is frequently used throughout agriculture, and the term is extremely subjective.  That's fine; what is sustainable to one person isn't necessarily to another.  I'm not going to try to define the term, but it often includes practices that reduce a company's environmental impact, or carbon footprint.

I work with greenhouse crops, so common objectives for floriculture crop producers are to reduce energy use, use renewable energy sources (e.g., solar, wind, and geothermal), conserve use of water and fertilizers, recycle plastics and other materials, and use local inputs.  At the same time, sustainable practices also have to be economically viable.  One of my interests is to reduce energy consumption through efficient production of crops and technological greenhouse improvements.  Some of the ways that greenhouse energy can be minimized are presented on our Greenhouse Energy Resources website.

It will be intesting to learn more about how others, especially Dutch greenhouse producers, are becoming more sustainable.  I look forward to sharing my thoughts and experiences in the days to come.