how does industrial agriculture affect the environment

Industrial farming yield a relatively small amount of food like fruits, vegetables, meat, and dairy products but produce staggering quantities of greenhouse gases and wastes that pollute air, water and soil. This contributes to climate change, biodiversity loss, coral reef degeneration, land and water degradation, acid rain and deforestation.

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What are the negative effects of industrial agriculture?

 · Environmental issues associated with industrial agriculture include deforestation, climate change, irrigation problems, pollutants, soil degradation and waste disposal. Industrial agricultural practices have negative effect on the ecosystem with wide range of environmental impacts on water quality, carbon sequestration, soil retention, nutrient cycling and biodiversity …

What are the environmental impacts of industrial agriculture?

 · Reducing Industrial Agriculture Pollution Agriculture—including how we grow, raise, transport, process, and even store food and nonfood crops and agriculture products—has a profound effect on the…

What are the pros and cons of industrial agriculture?

 · Intensive farming causes soil degradation and leads to the expansion of new lands. In particular, forests are cut for the sake of new fertile and productive areas. The problem scope becomes clear with illustrative figures. Thus, modern industrial agriculture is to blame for 80% of global deforestation.

What are the advantages of industrial agriculture?

 · Agriculture can have a massive impact on the ecosystems surrounding it. This environmental impact of agriculture is the effect of various farming practices, and it can vary …

How does the agriculture industry affect the environment?

Agriculture is the leading source of pollution in many countries. Pesticides, fertilizers and other toxic farm chemicals can poison fresh water, marine ecosystems, air and soil. They also can remain in the environment for generations.

What are two environmental problems with industrialized agriculture?

Environmental issues associated with industrial agriculture include deforestation, climate change, irrigation problems, pollutants, soil degradation and waste disposal.

What are 3 environmental effects of industrial agriculture?

Industrial agricultural inputs and risks Nitrogen and phosphorus from agriculture, predominantly due to runoff, contaminate water sources, harming aquatic ecosystems and making water unfit for human consumption and exposure.

Is industrial agriculture bad for the environment?

The industrial agriculture system consumes fossil fuel, water, and topsoil at unsustainable rates. It contributes to numerous forms of environmental degradation, including air and water pollution, soil depletion, diminishing biodiversity, and fish die-offs.

What are the disadvantages of industrial agriculture?

As you can see, industrial agriculture provides some benefits, though there are many drawbacks as well….It increases the risk of animal cruelty. … It negatively impacts small business agriculture. … It creates environmental concerns. … It contributes to health problems. … It can produce low-quality food.

Why is industrial agriculture bad?

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.

How industrial agriculture affects our water?

High quantities of nutrients in water from industrial crop fertilizers and animal waste cause excessive aquatic plant growth — a process known as “eutrophication,” which, in turn, causes “hypoxia,” or water that is low in oxygen. Harmful algal blooms (or HABs) occur when aquatic algae grow rapidly out of control.

How does agriculture pollute the environment?

Pollutants from agriculture greatly affect water quality and can be found in lakes, rivers, wetlands, estuaries, and groundwater. Pollutants from farming include sediments, nutrients, pathogens, pesticides, metals, and salts. Animal agriculture has an outsized impact on pollutants that enter the environment.

How does industrial agriculture cause deforestation?

As we rely on industrial agricultural commodities such as palm, soy, and industrial produced meat and dairy, we are losing forests and accelerating a climate and ecological emergency. Some 80% of global deforestation is a result of agricultural production, which is also the leading cause of habitat destruction.

How has industrial agriculture had an effect on the world and its population?

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.

How does factory farming cause global warming?

Fossil fuels are used to produce fertilisers for factory-farmed animal feed. And when applied to fields, these fertilisers release harmful nitrous oxide greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

How does industrial agriculture affect the environment?

From fertilizer runoff to methane emissions, large-scale industrial agriculture pollution takes a toll on the environment.

How has agriculture increased?

In the thousands of years since, agriculture has undergone tremendous horizontal growth, meaning that humans have set aside more and more land to grow food. In fact, the amount of land used for agriculture increased nearly sixfold in just a few centuries, between 1700 and 1980. In recent decades, we’ve also radically industrialized our methods and developed more resilient (and productive) crop species. It’s this growth in productivity—also called vertical expansion—that’s been credited with skyrocketing yields and reducing the cost of food. But many of the tools enabling this high-input, high-volume commodity agriculture have also contributed massive amounts of agricultural pollution.

Why are antibiotics used in farm animals?

The regular use of these drugs in the food and water of farm animals to (poorly) help them survive the often crowded, unsanitary, and stressful conditions on CAFOs contributes to the rise and proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

How do antibiotics affect animals?

The widespread use of antibiotics in meat production in animals that are not sick is contributing to the public health crisis of antibiotic resistance. Two-thirds of antibiotics important to human medicine in the U.S. are sold for use in livestock, not people. The regular use of these drugs in the food and water of farm animals to (poorly) help them survive the often crowded, unsanitary, and stressful conditions on CAFOs contributes to the rise and proliferation of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These bacteria can then spread from CAFOs via air and water, including water used to irrigate crops, and can end up in animal waste used to fertilize crops. Contaminated meat and farmworkers’ clothing and shoes can also spread these antibiotic-resistant bacteria into our communities. Resistant bacteria can even “teach” other bacteria resistance, and this process can take place anywhere bacteria are found, including in our homes and guts. The exposure of workers and farm-adjacent communities is particularly high.

How does manure affect humans?

Livestock and their manure pollute our air, too: Manure management alone accounts for 14 percent of all agricultural greenhouse gas emissions in the U.S. Manure emits ammonia, which combines with other air pollutants, like nitrogen oxides and sulfates, to create tiny (and deadly) solid particles. We humans then inhale these particles, which can cause heart and lung disease and are said to account fort least 3.3 million deaths each year globally. Additionally, hog waste in particular has been called out by people living near CAFOs for its foul smell.

Where does manure grow?

To make matters worse, before it is applied it to land, the manure usually sits on-site in vast manure lagoons that can grow to the size of a football field . The lagoons contain a toxic stew of antibiotics residue, chemicals, and bacteria decomposing the waste, a medley that can take on a sickly hue.

What animals produce manure?

Cows, pigs, chickens, and turkeys do what all other animals do: poop. In 2012 livestock and poultry grown in the largest CAFOs in the United States produced 369 million tons of manure, or almost 13 times the waste of the entire U.S. population, according to an analysis of USDA figures done by Food & Water Watch.

What are the benefits of industrial agriculture?

Benefits Of Industrial Agriculture. The main advantage of intensive farming is its increased performance when higher yields are harvested from smaller territories. This brings economic benefits to landowners and provides food for the growing population. Intensive agriculture fully satisfies the market demand even in densely inhabited 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 crop monitoring?

Crop Monitoring is all-in-one farming software which allows more accurate and, thus, cost-effective decision-making to industrial agriculture practitioners. It provides credible information for everyday agricultural routine, including weather analytics, data on vegetation state, productivity, efficient distribution of resources, and overall field inspection.

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.

How does field monitoring help agriculture?

Field monitoring with drones and satellites enable industrial agriculture landowners to grasp the situation in real time day and night while historical data for profound analysis is available on online agro platforms. Even the most remote farms can be inspected as the scale of internet connectivity expands. Locally, field sensors accurately report the state of things. For example, trunk diameter sensors in almond trees signal the urge for irrigation. Another significant discovery for intensive agriculture is GPS providing the exact location data and thus enabling to distinguish separate areas.

What does reduced diversity of crops mean?

Furthermore, reduced diversity of crops due to this fundamental industrial agriculture practice means better pest establishment and development of their resistance to controls applied. This results in extreme use of chemicals (often critical to humans and nature) and stronger option introductions.

What are the effects of monocropping?

Monocropping of high-yield species like rice, soybeans, corn, or wheat provokes high pest establishment and soil depletion. Particular pests attack particular crops; intercropped cultures act as barriers since they are non-host plants. Furthermore, reduced diversity of crops due to this fundamental industrial agriculture practice means better pest establishment and development of their resistance to controls applied. This results in extreme use of chemicals (often critical to humans and nature) and stronger option introductions.

What are the effects of agriculture on the environment?

Pollutants such as pesticides are also a major part of agriculture that negatively impacts the environment. It is self-explanatory; these products are chemicals that can have a long-lasting effect on soil and plants if used continuously.

What are the environmental impacts of agriculture?

This environmental impact of agriculture is the effect of various farming practices, and it can vary greatly depending on the country we are looking at. Many critical environmental issues are tied to agriculture, such as climate change, dead zones, genetic engineering, pollutants, deforestation, soil degradation, waste, and many others.

Why is irrigation important?

Irrigation, the process of applying controlled amounts of water to plants, can also create various problems for the environment. It can lead to the depletion of underground layers of water that are crucial for the environment.

What is deforestation caused by?

Farmers often cause deforestation by clearing land for their crops. Most of the deforestation happens because of slash-and-burn farming.

How does the Earth’s ability to absorb light and heat affect biodiversity?

What this means is that the ability of the Earth to either absorb or reflect light and heat can change drastically. This leads to radiative forcing, which is the difference between the absorbed sunlight and the reflected energy.

How does deforestation affect agriculture?

Because of deforestation, many animal species lose their habitat, and as previously mentioned, it leads to climate change. Climate change and deforestation are the two biggest and most important ways through which agriculture impacts our environment.

What are the two things that agriculture releases?

Various types of agriculture also use fertilization and pesticides, which releases phosphorus and nitrate in the air , among other things. Various types of agriculture also use fertilization and pesticides, which releases phosphorus and nitrate in the air, among other things.

How does farming affect air quality?

Industrial farming operations reduce air quality in varying ways and also contribute to greenhouse gases. Each farm’s operations and management play some role in controlling emissions, and each farm (depending on its type) has different pollutants of concern.

How does farming affect the atmosphere?

The industrial model of farming crops in the US also contributes to air emissions. Soil plowing or tilling releases carbon into the atmosphere, as does burning fossil fuels to power farm machinery. Fugitive pesticide emissions can harm farm workers and impact nearby fields. Air emissions associated with large-scale animal waste application can …

How can we improve air quality?

Practicing sustainable agriculture in the field can help maintain air quality by reducing the use of (and need for) chemicals that could pollute our air and water. Cover crops can help retain soil and moisture, avoid greenhouse gas emissions and in some instances help increase available nutrients for cash crops.

How can sustainable farming help the environment?

Sustainable farming practices can help mitigate air emissions and ensure that farm workers and animals are not exposed to harmful airborne pollutants. Sustainable agricultural practices, in particular, offer an alternative to industrial agriculture by working with natural ecosystems to make farming and ranching more sustainable and resilient. Agroecology uses a set of principles that can be suited to the unique physical and social contexts of a given location, particularly for certain growing conditions. To improve air quality, sustainable and organic practices keep animals on pasture where the manure does not concentrate and can break down aerobically, thus reducing emissions.

How does dust affect agriculture?

Dust and dirt are stirred up in industrial animal and crop operations. Animals in concentrated operations under dry conditions cause dried animal waste, dirt and dust to fly into the air. In feedlot conditions, cattle movement can trample vegetation and create dusty conditions that can lead to respiratory nuisances. Indoor-confined environments (e.g., poultry operations) can vent out particulate matter that can travel beyond the farm’s boundary and into the lungs of nearby residents. The extensive tilling of industrially raised crops can also cause particulates to enter the air, and can lead to soil erosion, making dust-ups even more common.

How do CAFOs affect the environment?

CAFOs also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, adding to the problem of climate change. Resulting agriculture pollution like air emissions and odors can harm the health of people working on a farm and in the surrounding communities, as well as the farm animals themselves.

How to reduce air pollution?

What You Can Do 1 Shop for meat from smaller (and sustainable) farms, which generally do not pollute the air. 2 Look for the Animal Welfare Approved label, as emissions are part of the assessment. Find out more about food labels using our Food Label Guide. 3 Eat more local, seasonal and organic foods grown from nearby farms using agricultural methods that are less polluting.

How does chemical farming affect the environment?

The long-term effects of excessive chemical farming have been disastrous for the health of the soil and for human health, for our social relations, and for the natural environment. As the same crops were planted and fertilized synthetically year after year, the balance of the ecological processes in the soil was disrupted; the amount of organic matter diminished, and with it the soil’s ability to retain moisture. The resulting changes in soil texture entailed a multitude of interrelated harmful consequences — loss of humus, dry and sterile soil, wind and water erosion, and so on.

How did the Green Revolution affect agriculture?

This practice of single-crop monoculture entailed high risks of large acreages being destroyed by a single pest, and it also seriously affected the health of farm workers and people living in agricultural areas.

Why is organic farming sustainable?

Organic farming is sustainable because it embodies ecological principles that have been tested by evolution for billions of years. Organic farmers know that a fertile soil is a living soil containing billions of living organisms in every cubic centimeter.

What are the effects of monocultures on the environment?

The ecological imbalance caused by monocultures and excessive use of chemicals also resulted in enormous increases in pests and crop diseases , which farmers countered by spraying ever-larger doses of pesticides in vicious cycles of depletion and destruction.

What are the consequences of warmer air?

Warmer air means that there is more energy and more moisture in the atmosphere, which can lead to a wide variety of consequences — floods, tornados, and hurricanes; but also droughts, heat waves, and wildfires. All of these consequences are threats to global food security.

What are the major problems of our time?

Today it is becoming more and more evident that the major problems of our time — energy, the environment, climate change, food security, financial security — cannot be understood in isolation. They are systemic problems, which means that they are all interconnected and interdependent, and they require corresponding systemic solutions.

How does agroecology help the world?

From a systems point of view, it is evident that agroecology is a systemic solution par excellence . If we changed from our chemical, large-scale industrial agriculture to organic, community-oriented, sustainable farming, this would contribute significantly to solving three of our biggest problems. It would greatly reduce our energy dependence, because we are now using one fifth of our fossil fuels to grow and process food. The healthy, organically grown food would have a huge positive effect on public health, because many chronic diseases — heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and so on — are linked to our diet. And finally, organic farming would contribute significantly to fighting climate change by drawing CO2 from the atmosphere and locking it up in organic matter.

How does industrial farming affect the environment?

The effects of industrial farming include diseases and disease transmission, with an increased potential for pathogens spreading from the animals to humans.

How has industrial farming helped the world?

It has also played a significant role in addressing food shortages in developing countries. Although industrial farming has helped to feed more people around the world, it has brought harm to both people and the planet as a whole.

Does genetically modified corn harm the environment?

Therefore, it has facilitated the harmful environmental consequences. Genetically modified seeds have been reported to cause devastating harm to the environment. An outstanding example is the destruction of monarch butterflies by pollen from genetically modified corn that was engineered by Monsanto (Friedlander, 1999).

Is genetically modified seed harmful?

For instance, there is evidence that some genetically modified seeds are harmful to the environment. Currently, industrial farming has adopted genetically modified crops to increase agricultural production. Therefore, it has facilitated the harmful environmental consequences. Genetically modified seeds have been reported to cause devastating harm …

What happens when fertilizer residues are washed into lakes?

When fertilizer residues are washed into lakes by rainfall, phosphorous and nitrogen in these residues favor a phenomenon referred to as eutrophication.

What are the environmental consequences of fertilizer?

According to Winson (2014), the increased application of fertilizers leads to high incidences of pests and diseases.

What is industrial farming?

Industrial farming involves all aspects of feeding, breeding, raising, and processing animals and crop products for the consumption by humans (Winson, 2014). This is a complex subject that involves individuals, private enterprises, large and small corporate consumers, the community, the state and federal regulators, and the general public.

How has agriculture increased?

Agricultural methods have intensified continuously ever since the Industrial Revolution, and even more so since the “green revolution” in the middle decades of the 20 th century. At each stage, innovations in farming techniques brought about huge increases in crop yields by area of arable land. This tremendous rise in food production has sustained a global population that has quadrupled in size over the span of one century. As the human population continues to grow, so too has the amount of space dedicated to feeding it. According to World Bank figures, in 2016, more than 700 million hectares (1.7 billion acres) were devoted to growing corn, wheat, rice, and other staple cereal grains—nearly half of all cultivated land on the planet.

What is the impact of livestock on the environment?

Agricultural livestock are responsible for a large proportion of global greenhouse gas emissions, most notably methane. In addition, overgrazing is a major problem regarding environmental sustainability. In some places, stretches of forage land are consumed so extensively that grasses are unable to regenerate.

What causes algae blooms in China?

Nutrient pollution is a causal factor in toxic algae blooms affecting lakes in China, the United States, and elsewhere. As excessive amounts of organic matter decompose in aquatic environments, they can bring about oxygen depletion and create “dead zones” within bodies of water, where nothing can survive.

What are the causes of the pollution of the soil?

The excess levels of nitrogen and phosphorus have caused the once-beneficial nutrients to become pollutants. Roughly half the nitrogen in synthetic fertilizers escapes from the fields where it is applied, finding its way into the soil, air, water, and rainfall.

How does nitrogen affect the environment?

While these chemicals have helped double the rate of food production, they have also helped bring about a gigantic increase, perhaps as high as 600 percent, of reactive nitrogen levels throughout the environment. The excess levels of nitrogen and phosphorus have caused the once-beneficial nutrients to become pollutants. Roughly half the nitrogen in synthetic fertilizers escapes from the fields where it is applied, finding its way into the soil, air, water, and rainfall. After soil bacteria convert fertilizer nitrogen into nitrates, rainstorms or irrigation systems carry these toxins into groundwater and river systems. Accumulated nitrogen and phosphorus harm terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems by loading them with too many nutrients, a process known as eutrophication. Nutrient pollution is a causal factor in toxic algae blooms affecting lakes in China, the United States, and elsewhere. As excessive amounts of organic matter decompose in aquatic environments, they can bring about oxygen depletion and create “dead zones” within bodies of water, where nothing can survive. Parts of the Gulf of Mexico are regularly afflicted in this manner. Nitrogen accumulation in water and on land threatens biodiversity and the health of native plant species and natural habitats. In addition, fertilizer application in soil leads to the formation and release of nitrous oxide, one of the most harmful greenhouse gases.

Which country is the leading producer of nitrogen fertilizers?

They are particularly effective in the growing of corn, wheat, and rice, and are largely responsible for the explosive growth of cereal cultivation in recent decades. China, with its rapidly growing population, has become the world’s leading producer of nitrogen fertilizers.

How do cattle damage soil?

Cattle and other large grazing animals can even damage soil by trampling on it. Bare, compacted land can bring about soil erosion and destruction of topsoil quality due to the runoff of nutrients. These and other impacts can destabilize a variety of fragile ecosystems and wildlife habitats. Chemical Fertilizer.

How does agriculture affect the environment?

Agriculture affects the environment in multiple ways. One of the primary environmental concerns with modern agriculture has to do with the chemicals we put on crops and what happens when those crops end up in the watershed. Pesticides and other chemicals are often used to produce more crops, and these pesticides don’t just fall on …

What happens when we clear land for agriculture?

Forests, grasslands, and other ecosystems are converted for farmland. When we clear land for agriculture, we often lose some soil.

What is the result of eutrophication?

The result may be eutrophication, an excessive amount of nutrients in a body of water resulting in a substantial growth of plants, such as algae, and a lack of oxygen in the water because of this increase in plants. There is a finite amount of land on the planet, and agricultural practices take up a lot of land.

Where do fertilizers end up?

Fertilizers, while a nutrient for some plants, end up in streams and lakes in amounts higher than would occur naturally.

Does soil degrade over time?

Thus, the soil degrades over time. If we’re in areas with heavy rainfall, replacing forests with cropland often results in an increase in flooding. Another problem has to do with the amount of water some crops require. Agriculture is the industry with the largest water consumption.

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). It may also involve crops that are genetically modified, …

How do giant farms affect the environment?

Giant farms—whether growing crops or animals—often rely heavily on chemicals and produce waste that pollutes the water and air. As a result, the system we’ve designed to feed the planet also takes a serious toll on its health.

How much manure was produced in 2012?

In 2012 livestock and poultry raised in the largest CAFOs in the United States produced 369 million tons of manure, according to an analysis of USDA figures done by Food & Water Watch. All that waste has to go somewhere.

What are conventional farmers left to do to avoid pests?

What are conventional farmers left to do to avoid pests? Apply pesticides. That’s why monoculture and genetic modification tend to go hand in hand. Planting pesticide-tolerant GMO crops enables farmers to blanket the landscape with chemicals without damaging their corn or soy. (Speaking of corn and soy, many U.S. farmers rotate their fields back and forth between those two crops, leading to a duoculture that’s only slightly less damaging to the soil than a monoculture.)

Why is monoculture bad for the soil?

Monoculture also renders the soil prone to rapid erosion, since the practice leaves the soil bare outside of the crop’s growing season. Perhaps more problematically, repeatedly planting the same crop invites pests that prey on a certain plant to wait around the same spot for their favorite food to return.

Can GMOs be harmful to the environment?

From an environmental perspective, however, there can be problems with GMOs. One of the most common uses of genetic modification is to give corn or soy plants the ability to survive exposure to certain herbicides like Roundup, a glyphosate-based product, and 2,4-D. This way, farmers can spray herbicides on their fields and the only plants left standing will be the GMO crop.

Why do scientists raise transgenic plants?

Then comes the testing process. Researchers raise several generations of the transgenic plant to make sure the new genetic sequence is viable. They also make sure that the new gene is actually conferring a trait, like drought resistance, to the plant.