Industrial agriculture is the large-scale, intensive production of crops and animals, often involving chemical fertilizers on crops or the routine, harmful use of antibiotics in animals (as a way to compensate for filthy conditions, even when the animals are not sick).
What are the pros and cons of industrial agriculture?
What Are the Pros of Factory Farming?
- It keeps prices down for consumers. Factory farming allows for livestock products to be produce on a large economic scale. …
- It allows automation to help provide food resources. In the past, farming meant an intense amount of daily manual labor to produce a crop. …
- It improves production efficiencies. …
What is wrong with industrial agriculture?
The impacts of industrial agriculture on the environment, public health, and rural communities make it an unsustainable way to grow our food over the long term. And better, science-based methods …
What are the negative effects of industrial agriculture?
Industrial farming is bad for the health of workers, eaters, and downstream neighbors. Here are some of its costly health impacts: Pesticide toxicity. Herbicides and insecticides commonly used in agriculture have been associated with both acute poisoning and long-term chronic illness. Water pollution from fertilizer runoff contaminates …
What are the advantages of industrial agriculture?
Pros of Using Industrial Agriculture
- Industrial agriculture comes with a lot of benefits which are listed below.
- It increases agricultural production in lesser time.
- It makes life easier by bringing down the cost of agricultural produce.
- It boosts the economy.
- It creates employment opportunities for the skilled and unskilled.
What is industrial agriculture?
Industrial agriculture is the large-scale, intensive production of crops and animals, often involving chemical fertilizers on crops or the routine, harmful use of antibiotics in animals (as a way to compensate for filthy conditions, even when the animals are not sick).
What is an example of industrial agriculture?
Industrial agriculture, especially in the central United States, mostly produces commodity crops like corn and soybeans. These crops are used to make the processed foods that dominate the US diet, with serious—and enormously costly—health impacts.
What are characteristics of industrial agriculture?
Industrial agriculture refers to growing plants and raising animals at large scales for the purpose of maximizing food production. To achieve this goal, farms rely on synthetic chemical inputs to boost productivity and—when possible—mechanization of manual processes.
What is industrial agriculture quizlet?
industrial agriculture. Agriculture that applies the techniques of mechanization and standardization. … Benefits: it develops simple farming to an intensive method modern equipment, tools, structures and techniques.
Which of the following is also known as industrial agriculture?
Also known as conventional agriculture, industrial agriculture is a method of farming that involves use of synthetic fertilizer, synthetic pesticides, and machinery. Industrial agriculture is dependent on large investments in mechanized equipment powered mostly by fossil fuels.
What are the types of agriculture?
Top 12 Types of AgricultureSubsistence Farming: … Intensive Subsistence Farming (with or without Rice as a dominant crop): … Mediterranean Farming: … Commercial Grain Agriculture: … Arable Farming: … Shifting Cultivation: … Nomadic Herding: … Rudimentary Sedentary Tillage:More items…•
What are the benefits of industrial agriculture?
Industrial Agriculture ProsIncreased Food Production.Increased Employment Opportunities.Faster Market Readiness.Lower Consumer Costs.Innovation.Broadened Palates and Balanced Diets.High Worker Efficiency.Flexible Locations.More items…
What are the major goals of industrial agriculture?
Industrialized Agriculture: Uses heavy equipment and large amounts of financial capital, fossil fuels, water, commercial inorganic fertilizers, and pesticides to produce single crops. The major goal of industrialized agriculture is to steadily increase each crop’s yield—- the amount of food produced per unit of land.
What is required by industrialized agriculture?
Industrial farming requires large natural resources including; land, water, and energy to cultivate crops and raise animals for food purposes, which significantly contribute towards the degradation of land and other natural resources.
Which of the following is an effect of industrial agriculture?
Side effects of industrial agriculture include soil erosion, water pollution from inorganic fertilizer and pesticides, simplification of ecosystems, consolidation of small farms into large ones, and shipment of food over long distances requiring both energy and time.
What are the five factors that affect soil formation quizlet?
Five Factors of Soil Formation: Climate, Biological Activity, Topography & Time Parent materials. Climate. Biota. Topography. Time.
Which of the following irrigation methods is most likely to result in salinization?
Drip irrigation is readily used in large-scale farming because of the low cost associated with this method. Flood irrigation is often used in agricultural fields, however, it increases surface erosion and salinization of the soil.
What is industrial agriculture?
Industrial agriculture is all about controlling nature, curating the land for human use, and choosing which plants are valuable. Although much of biodiversity loss is a secondary result of farming techniques (think: habitat loss or unintended chemical runoff), plants are often eradicated on purpose (think: weeds).
How have individuals and groups responded to industrial agriculture?
Individuals and groups have responded to industrial agriculture by using their purchasing power to support sources of locally grown food. One manifestation is ‘community-supported agriculture’ (CSA), in which individuals purchase ‘shares’ in a particular farm’s annual crop.
How are food systems dependent on fossil fuels?
Industrial agriculture and food systems are largely dependent on fossil fuels for the production of food by way of machinery and mechanization, agrichemicals, transportation, food processing, food packaging, assimilating waste, etc . (Shiva et al., 2017; Neff et al., 2011 ). In the United States, fossil fuel and the energy used by the food system is substantial ( Canning et al., 2017 ). The energy used for food accounted for over half of the total increased energy use in the United States between 1997 and 2002 ( Canning et al., 2017 ). In an era where oil reserves will dip and extracting new resources is not only expensive but also has a detrimental impact on the natural environment, reducing energy use by food systems is imperative ( Neff et al., 2011 ).
How does industrial agriculture affect the environment?
Side effects of industrial agriculture include soil erosion, water pollution from inorganic fertilizer and pesticides, simplification of ecosystems, consolidation of small farms into large ones, and shipment of food over long distances requiring both energy and time. Individuals and groups have responded to industrial agriculture by using their purchasing power to support sources of locally grown food. One manifestation is ‘community-supported agriculture’ (CSA), in which individuals purchase ‘shares’ in a particular farm’s annual crop. Each week during the growing season, each shareholder is entitled to a basket of produce from the CSA farm they support. Groups like the Food Trust (Philadelphia, Pa.) have pioneered CSAs and other innovations include local farmers’ markets, urban community gardens and farms, schoolyard gardens, and farm-to-school and farm-to-campus programs that provide students with locally grown food while offering local farms a reliable market for their crops. Despite the great wealth of the United States, hunger and malnutrition remain widespread. Groups such as the National Food Security Coalition (Portland, Ore.) are developing food security coalitions and food policy councils around the country, aiming to make sure everyone has access to reasonably priced local food, particularly in areas considered, ‘food deserts’ where there are few or no grocery stores. Local organizations such as the Food Project (Lincoln, Mass.) and Isles (Trenton, N.J.) bring healthy, locally grown food into low-income communities by training and engaging young people in techniques of sustainable agriculture. Around the country, other groups such as Appalachian Center for Economic Networks (Athens, Ohio) are providing commercial-scale kitchens and business incubators to spur locally based food businesses that rely on locally grown food.
What is the goal of organic farming?
As time passed, the organic farming movement shifted into a ‘sustainable agriculture’ movement with three goals: farming practices compatible with natural systems, using organic fertilizers and few or no chemical pesticides; achieving food security, emphasizing locally grown foods; and maintaining rural economies that could sustain, and be sustained by, relatively small-scale farms.
How has industrial agriculture helped the world?
Industrial agriculture has had great success in producing abundant, low-cost food. World hunger has been declining for decades, and food production per capita has increased sharply since the 1960s. But this success has come with costs that raise questions about the sustainability and the unintended effects of the global “rationalization” …
When were pesticides introduced?
Chemical pesticides, such as Paris Green, were introduced for insect control starting in the 1870s. In the 1930s, federal farm policies began rewarding farmers who could increase their per-acre crop yield and, to that end, the US Department of Agriculture aggressively promoted the use of inorganic fertilizers and pesticides, and the development of the rural infrastructure (transportation, communication) needed to support large-scale industrialized farming.
What is industrial agriculture?
v. t. e. Industrial agriculture is a form of modern farming that refers to the industrialized production of crops and animals and animal products like eggs or milk. The methods of industrial agriculture include innovation in agricultural machinery and farming methods, genetic technology, techniques for achieving economies …
What are the economic liabilities of industrial agriculture?
Economic liabilities for industrial agriculture include the dependence on finite non-renewable fossil fuel energy resources, as an input in farm mechanization (equipment, machinery), for food processing and transportation, and as an input in agricultural chemicals.
What is organic farming?
Organic farming methods combine some aspects of scientific knowledge and highly limited modern technology with traditional farming practices; accepting some of the methods of industrial agriculture while rejecting others. Organic methods rely on naturally occurring biological processes, which often take place over extended periods of time, and a holistic approach; while chemical-based farming focuses on immediate, isolated effects and reductionist strategies.
What are the three main goals of sustainable agriculture?
Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals: environmental stewardship, farm profitability , and prosperous farming communities .
What are the challenges and issues of industrial agriculture?
The challenges and issues of industrial agriculture for global and local society, for the industrial agriculture sector, for the individual industrial agriculture farm, and for animal rights include the costs and benefits of both current practices and proposed changes to those practices.
How does agriculture affect the environment?
Industrial agriculture uses huge amounts of water, energy, and industrial chemicals; increasing pollution in the arable land, usable water and atmosphere. Herbicides, insecticides, fertilizers, and animal waste products are accumulating in ground and surface waters.
What was the agricultural revolution?
The British agricultural revolution describes a period of agricultural development in Britain between the 16th century and the mid-19th century, which saw a massive increase in agricultural productivity and net output. This in turn supported unprecedented population growth, freeing up a significant percentage of the workforce, and thereby helped drive the Industrial Revolution. How this came about is not entirely clear. In recent decades, historians cited four key changes in agricultural practices, enclosure, mechanization, four-field crop rotation, and selective breeding, and gave credit to a relatively few individuals.
WHAT ARE THE CHARACTERISTICS OF INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE?
In either case, the hallmarks of industrial agriculture described below have far-reaching impacts.
WHERE IS INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE MOST COMMON?
The US is the birthplace of industrial agriculture and remains the global leader in industrial farming. Despite recent consumer interest in more humane and sustainable options, one study estimates that nearly 99% of all animals raised for food in the US still come from CAFOs. While the exact global extent of industrial farming remains unclear, the US model of high-input, production-oriented farming has been spreading to the rest of the globe since the 1950s, restructuring and weakening food systems around the world. [27]
WHY IS INDUSTRIAL AGRICULTURE PROBLEMATIC?
Industrial agricultural practices are often presented as necessary for feeding growing human populations around the world because they increase crop yields. But it is important to understand that a healthy food system is about more than producing large volumes of calories. It also matters what types of food are produced and how their production impacts the animals and people involved in farming. The high yields of industrial agriculture come with significant damage to animal, human, and environmental health and a host of negative consequences that threaten future productivity.
What Is Industrial Agriculture?
The concept of industrial agriculture implies increased use of farmlands to produce the highest yields possible to gain profit and support human food needs. The maximization is achieved through typical intensive farming practices like increased use of fertilizers, insecticides, abundant irrigation, heavy machinery land treatment, planting high-yield species, expansion of new areas, among others. This way, higher inputs in industrial agriculture condition higher outcomes.
How does industrial agriculture affect animals?
Apart from the expansion of new territories when wildlife loses its natural habitation areas, animals are greatly affected by chemical applications in industrial agriculture. While herbicides pollute natural resources, pesticides are rarely selective and kill beneficial species as well, like pollinators and soil-dwelling microorganisms contributing to its fertility. Recent researches report decreased farmland bird and bee populations due to heavy insecticides in industrial agriculture, being a significant threat to further farming business and ecology in general. Hormones mitigating plant diseases are another harmful issue of intensive farming.
How does intensive farming affect the environment?
Intensive farming causes environment pollution and induces major health issues due to poisonous agents. In this regard, the impacts of industrial agriculture require serious attention and management of risks.
Why are bees and birds declining in agriculture?
Recent researches report decreased farmland bird and bee populations due to heavy insecticides in industrial agriculture , being a significant threat to further farming business and ecology in general. Hormones mitigating plant diseases are another harmful issue of intensive farming.
What are the disadvantages of industrial agriculture?
Traditional intensive agriculture neither aligns with the sustainability concept nor contributes to nature protection, so intensive farming problems require serious consideration. Deforestation.
Why are remote sensing and satellite data-based agricultural platforms important?
Remote sensing and satellite data-based agricultural platforms are greatly helpful to industrial agriculture supporters, too. They enable farmers to reduce chemical allocations only to affected areas.
Why do industrial agriculture practices make lands weaker?
So, strong industrial agriculture practices make lands weaker as they significantly interfere with natural soil processes.
What is the problem with industrial agriculture?
The Problem with Industrial Agriculture: Energy Intensive and Damaging to Social and Environmental Health. The mass industrialization of the US agricultural system can be traced back to policies promoted during the Nixon administration by USDA Secretary Earl Butz, encouraging farmers to “get big or get out.”.
How does industrialization affect agriculture?
Industrialization of the US agricultural system has resulted in increased chemical use, degradation of soils, poor animal welfare, and the death of the small family farm.
Why is monocropping important in agriculture?
In fact, monocropping requires increased chemical use because vast swaths of the same plant are more susceptible to pests, and a lack of crop diversity deteriorates soil health. The use of genetically engineered (GE) crops or GMOs in industrial agriculture further promotes this unsustainable system of monocropping and overuse of synthetic pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers.
How did the US agricultural system become industrialized?
The mass industrialization of the US agricultural system can be traced back to policies promoted during the Nixon administration by USDA Secretary Earl Butz, encouraging farmers to “get big or get out.” Support shifted from small family farms to large, highly mechanized mega farms dependent on vast monocrops and costly inputs. This system is proving to be unsustainable for farmers and highly damaging to the environment, polluting local ecosystems and contributing to global climate change.
What is green America?
Green America works with consumers, farmers, companies, and allies across the United States to encourage socially and environmentally responsible alternatives to industrial agriculture. We support the adoption of regenerative agriculture that complements natural processes, supports farms of all sizes, and provides healthy food for all Americans.
How has industrial agriculture impacted human life?
Industrial agriculture has substantially increased global agricultural productivity, leading to much more food for a growing human population. Industrial agriculture has also impacted human society in a variety of other ways and has had major impacts on the environment, many of which are harmful. Industrial agriculture is thus an important but complex topic worth considering in some detail.
What did we learn about early agriculture?
In short, early agriculture permitted more humans to live, to live with better health, and to engage in activities other than basic survival. These other activities have brought us no less than civilization itself. While there can be some civilization without agriculture, there couldn’t be nearly as much as we have today.
What is the Haber-Bosch process?
Ammonia is used as fertilizer to put nitrogen into soils for plants. Soil nitrogen is needed by most of our major staple crops, in particular, wheat and corn. The Haber-Bosch process, developed in the early 1900s, is thus crucial to all industrial agriculture, whether in wealthy countries or poor ones.
How much energy does the Haber-Bosch process use?
Given this and the large scale of global nitrogen fertilizer production, the process uses about 1% of total world energy consumption. Most of this energy is from fossil fuels. Fossil fuel supplies are limited, and any system dependent on them is unsustainable. If humanity’s agriculture remains dependent on the Haber-Bosch process and on fossil fuels, then, eventually, we may struggle to feed ourselves.
What is monoculture in agriculture?
One concern often voiced about industrial agriculture, whether it’s the Green Revolution or otherwise, is that industrial agriculture generally involves monoculture. Monoculture is agriculture in which only one type of crop is grown. It thus has very low biological diversity. Monoculture is well-suited to industrial agriculture because it’s much easier to use heavy farm machinery when the machinery can be customized for one crop. The monoculture-machinery system can be seen in this image of an industrial agriculture landscape:
How did potato blight affect the Irish?
The potato blight caused a great famine, affecting a large portion of the Irish people. By the end of it, the island’s population fell from 8 million to around 6 million. About one million people died, and another million people emigrated to other places. Cities on the east coast of the United States, such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Baltimore, all gained large Irish populations which they retain to this day.
What are the disadvantages of monoculture?
But monoculture also has disadvantages. For example, when one crop is grown repeatedly in an area, it will deplete one set of nutrients from the soil. It was mentioned above that grain crops like maize and wheat deplete nitrogen from the soil, and that this depletion drives the usage of industrial nitrogen fertilizer as produced by the Haber-Bosch process. But some plants, such as legumes, fix nitrogen from the air and put it into the soil. Legumes include beans, peas, soy, and peanuts. When these plants are grown around grain plants, less nitrogen fertilizer is needed. This is beneficial because fertilizer can be expensive and can harm ecosystems. However, when different types of plants are grown together, it is more difficult to use heavy machinery.
How does industrial farming help?
Industrial farms are also helpful in reducing food costs and making food more accessible, even for consumers who have lower incomes. Industrial agriculture uses modern technology and equipment to process meat, eggs, milk, crops, and other food items in a quick and efficient way, reducing their overhead expenses while earning more revenue …
How does industrial agriculture affect our health?
It contributes to health problems. Industrial agriculture can be detrimental to our health in a few ways. One is through the pollution it produces, which is harmful to those who live nearby and makes them susceptible to illnesses.
Why do factory farms inject animals with antibiotics?
Factory farms inject their animals with antibiotics that are supposed to prevent them from getting sick in the unsanitary conditions they are kept in. However, bacteria can mutate and develop into illnesses that can’t be treated by antibiotics, and these illnesses are then transmitted to people who eat them. In addition to pesticide poisoning and animal-borne illnesses, the stressful environments in which animals are kept result in poor food quality as well.
What are the pros and cons of industrial agriculture?
Pros of Industrial Agriculture. 1. It increases food production. Large-scale industrial farms have an advantage over traditional farms when it comes to producing food fast and in larger amounts. This could be a good thing, considering that the world’s population continues to grow steadily. 2.
Why are cattle sprayed with pesticides?
Cattle, poultry, pigs, and other types of livestock are kept in controlled conditions that encourage rapid reproduction and weight gain, while food crops are sprayed with chemical fertilizers and pesticides to promote growth and eliminate insects and other organisms that could destroy them. There are some people—investors …
How do factory farms affect the environment?
These animals produce an overwhelming amount of waste and byproducts that are often dumped into nearby bodies of water, polluting them. The waste produced can even pollute the air, damage the ozone layer, and spread to the surrounding land, rivers, and streams.
Why are factory farms bad?
1. It increases the risk of animal cruelty. Factory farms keep animals in tight, confined areas where they don’t have the space to roam free and do what animals naturally do. In some cases, animals are kept in cages where they can’t move around at all.
What is industrial agriculture?
Industrial Agriculture is a large-scale commercial enterprise centered around agricultural goods and services. Or lots and lots…and lots of cows and chickens (for our town mice). The New World Encyclopedia probably explains it best.
What are the health risks of industrial agriculture?
Chronic diseases such as diabetes, cancer, heart disease as well as conditions such as obesity and hormone imbalance have all been highlighted to be the effects of consuming products that were grown by large-scale agricultural enterprises.
What are the fields of study that are unrelated to farming?
Even fields of study that are unrelated to farming (Information Technology, Accounting, etc) are feeding commercial farming’s almost insatiable demand for workers. Some large farms even spawn small towns and villages that birth entrepreneurs and other businesses that serve the farms’ spheres of influence.
How has technology improved agriculture?
Scientific advancements and technological innovations have facilitated the ability to maximize yields , grow crops in and out of their natural seasons, as well as carry out real-time data collection and analysis for rapid adjustment of environments. These are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the capabilities in modern agriculture. The result has been a boom in food production levels that would have been unthinkable just a few centuries ago.
What is farming base?
Farming Base ( farmingbase.com) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. This site also participates in other affiliate programs and is compensated for referring traffic …
Why is worker efficiency higher in farming?
Due to the high levels of specialization and job specification, work becomes routine for employees, which reduces losses. A large portion of the work is often carried out by machines which means consistency of output is less dependant on people, whose consistency levels can vary.
How does industrial agriculture affect obesity?
Industrial agriculture has also been alleged to play a role in the increased levels of obesity in modern society. Studies have identified that modern cereal grains have higher calorie counts compared to several decades ago. The use of a wide variety of chemicals, combined with genetic modification of produce, has muddied the waters as far as the overall impact on the human composition. The use of growth hormones and antibiotics in farm animals has long been suggested to carry risks of passing hormone imbalance to people who consume those animal products.
EXTERNALIZED COSTS
Industrial agriculture interests intentionally evade the true costs of production, foisting the bill onto other entities. If they accounted for these costs and liabilities, their businesses would no longer be economically viable and they would not be competitive with independent farmers and ranchers.
MYTH-BASED MARKETING CAMPAIGNS
Industrial agriculture interests would rather spend billions of dollars on lobbyists and myth-based marketing campaigns than alter their wealth-extracting supply chains. The falsehoods they perpetuate persuade consumers and policymakers alike that there is no other option.
Full Report
This report is a tool to educate policymakers, advocates, and the public about the impact industrial agriculture corporations have on the U.S. food and agriculture system.
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Overview
Industrial agriculture is a form of modern farming that refers to the industrialized production of crops and animals and animal products like eggs or milk. The methods of industrial agriculture include innovation in agricultural machinery and farming methods, genetic technology, techniques for achieving economies of scale in production, the creation of new markets for consumption, the applicati…
Historical development and future prospects
Industrial agriculture arose hand in hand with the Industrial Revolution in general. The identification of nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus (referred to by the acronym NPK) as critical factors in plant growth led to the manufacture of synthetic fertilizers, making possible more intensive types of agriculture. The discovery of vitamins and their role in animal nutrition, in the first two decades of the 20th century, led to vitamin supplements, which in the 1920s allowed certain livestock to be …
Challenges and issues
The challenges and issues of industrial agriculture for global and local society, for the industrial agriculture sector, for the individual industrial agriculture farm, and for animal rights include the costs and benefits of both current practices and proposed changes to those practices. This is a continuation of thousands of years of the invention and use of technologies in feeding ever growing populations.
Animals
“Concentrated animal feeding operations” or “intensive livestock operations”, can hold large numbers (some up to hundreds of thousands) of animals, often indoors. These animals are typically cows, hogs, turkeys, or chickens. The distinctive characteristics of such farms is the concentration of livestock in a given space. The aim of the operation is to produce as much meat, eggs, or milk at the lowest possible cost and with the greatest level of food safety.
Crops
The projects within the Green Revolution spread technologies that had already existed, but had not been widely used outside of industrialized nations. These technologies included pesticides, irrigation projects, and synthetic nitrogen fertilizer.
The novel technological development of the Green Revolution was the production of what some referred to as “miracle seeds.” Scientists created strains of maize, wheat, and rice that are generall…
Sustainable agriculture
The idea and practice of sustainable agriculture has arisen in response to the problems of industrial agriculture. Sustainable agriculture integrates three main goals: environmental stewardship, farm profitability, and prosperous farming communities. These goals have been defined by a variety of disciplines and may be looked at from the vantage point of the farmer or the consumer.