Focusing on Sustainability During National Agriculture Week

Mar 22, 2023

Did you know that it’s National Agriculture Week? Agriculture is the world’s largest industry, employing more than one billion people, and creating more than $1 trillion in food every year. Did you know that 50% of our planet’s habitable land areas are devoted to pastureland and crops? Agriculture is also a leading producer of pollution through pesticide, fertilizer, and other chemicals. Massive, large scale farming has caused a significant impact on our environment. As a result, we need to be more concerned with sustainability than ever before, and support critical restoration and preservation of habitats, clean and protect global watersheds, and improve overall soil health and quality. Without sustainable agricultural practices, our planet would lose a significant source of food, shelter, and natural resources that support our wildlife and humanity!

There are “4Rs of Sustainable Farming: Right source, right rate, right time, and right place.” By ensuring that we are mindful of what crops we plant, taking advantage of local climate and nutrients, and choosing to plant cover crops instead of leaving open fields of soil, we can help improve economic and environmental impacts! Sustainable agriculture is a series of practicies to reduce environmental impact and improve soil health, water quality, and create both resilient and profitable models of agriculture. Things such as crop rotation, crop diversity, reducing or eliminating tillage to reduce erosion, planting cover crops during off-season, and managing our farms as ecosystems in and of themselves will vastly improve our planet’s overall health. The Illinois Sustainable Agriculture Partnership is making great strides in supporting healthy soil, clean water, and diverse and resilient farm communities!

We’re so proud to live in the state of Illinois, where nearly 75% of the land here is devoted to Agriculture! Sustainable agriculture is important to all of us here in Illinois, and we’re a state that is committed to improving economic, social, and natural resource sustainability across all areas. Thanks to our fertile soil, farmers here in Illinois can grow everything from oats to sorghum to fruits and geggies and even specialty crops like mushrooms! It’s also a very big industry for employment, with nearly 1 million people employed in the food and fiber industries, We’re also leading the nation in production of soybeans, corn, and swine. We’re also the top producer in food manufacturing, with $180 billion dollars of sales in processed foods! Illinois is a vital part of the food production industry here in the United States, with more than 72,000 farms across our state covering 27 million acres. Farms of all sizes contribute to the local economy here, and by creating sustainable systems we ensure a strong financial future for generations to come!

It’s not just our farmers of crops and livestock that drive the global effort for sustainability, though. Did you know that the automotive industry is also taking measures to reduce their carbon footprint and improve sustainability on a global scale? Automakers are working collectively to minimize production waste and reduce environmental impact of the production and manufacturing process. Decreasing the dependency on things such as fossil fuels, depending on green energy from wind and solar for manufacturing, and developing more fuel efficient hybrids and electric vehicles will all make a big difference towards environmental conseravtion and green sustainable living.

At Classic Auto Group we are proud to support not just our local farmers and sustainable agriculture, but also our auto manufacturers efforts to join the cause!