Sustainable food production is sometimes viewed solely through a environmental lens. Was this food grown, harvested and prepared in a way that will allow food to be produced on that land or in that water for generations to come? The answer to that question must be yes, as it gets to the root of why we take pains to eat more sustainably in the first place.
But another side of the sustainable food production coin is economic. Can the producers afford to keep generating this food for future markets? It’s one of the three legs of the oft-referenced sustainability stool: 1) Environment 2) Culture and 3) Economic sustainability. Without all three, many say, projects are not sustainable.
Long-term economic viability of any sustainable food enterprise happens in two ways: Existing customers pay more to cover ever-rising production costs or producers expand their market base to tap into the economies of scale.
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