Sustainability is a word that you hear a lot of in the modern world, and it’s often thought to only really have one meaning, and that’s referring to environmental sustainability. While that’s absolutely important and something that your business might value, it could also refer to financial sustainability, as well as the sustainability of your growth.
These are all relevant terms for any business, but if the business that you’re in is a farm, you might find that these pertain to you to an even higher degree. Identifying some key areas can help you to plot a course ahead in this regard.
Environmental Sustainability
Depending on what kind of farm you operate, you might find this to be very difficult. Certain types of farming are often brought up when identifying the key causes of harmful emissions, and if you do fall into one of these brackets, you might look at solutions to limiting these emissions without damaging your business. However, obviously, this won’t always be possible, which can have you feeling as though you’re stuck in terms of directions to take here.
Trying, then, to build up partnerships with more sustainable brands so that you’re limiting your contribution to other areas that you might consider more harmful might help offset some of your own unavoidable emissions.
Financial and Environmental
There is room to balance these two considerations, as much as it might often feel as though the environmental path is one that’s bound to cost you more money and set you back in other ways. Through processes like secondary sedimentation, you might find that you’re able to limit your water usage, for example, reusing the water you’ve already used and making it go further. While there might be an initial cost involved with implementing this technology in the first place, the result is something that could ultimately lead to your farm being more sustainable and more efficient.
As with other businesses, there might also be times when you can make deals with local suppliers to get the goods you need for a lower price, making an alternative to what you would normally buy from overseas – cutting back on your air miles.
Pure Financial
Go back to your budget; where are you spending more than you need to? Does it still apply to your operations as they stand today? Maybe costs have gone up in some areas and down in others. Things don’t have to change very much for your budget to be thrown entirely out of balance – regardless of whether that’s because you’re doing better or worse than you were when you initially created it. Constantly tuning your budget so that it’s as relevant to your current situation as possible can keep you on the lookout for the most financially viable option at all times.
At times, this option might clash with the urge that you have to be more environmentally conscious, but that’s going to have to be a choice you have to make at the time – and compare that with how it affects your values and your audience.