- 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.
- It lowers consumer costs.
- It encourages technological development and innovation.
- It creates employment opportunities.
- It lengthens food availability.
What is the point of industrial agriculture?
While the point of industrial agriculture is lower cost products to create greater productivity thus a higher standard of living as measured by available goods and services, industrial methods have side effects both good and bad.
What are the effects of industrial agriculture on the environment?
So, strong industrial agriculture practices make lands weaker as they significantly interfere with natural soil processes. In particular, chemical pesticides destroy earth-dwelling microorganisms that ensure composting and proper organic matter incorporation. Impact on natural habitats.
How did agriculture change during the Industrial Revolution?
Finally, industrialized agriculture also involved changes in both which plants were grown and how they were grown. New varieties of staple crops like wheat, maize (corn), and rice were developed to respond well to fertilizers and other industrial inputs.
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 are the goals of industrial agriculture?
The aim of the operation is to produce as much meat, eggs, or milk at the lowest possible cost. Food and water is supplied in place, and artificial methods are often employed to maintain animal health and improve production, such as therapeutic use of antimicrobial agents, vitamin supplements and growth hormones.
What is the main point of agricultural industrialization?
The industrialization of agriculture is said to have achieved two goals: to “free” Americans from farming so they could join the labor force in offices and factories, and to make food and farming cheaper so Americans could afford to buy the products offered by new industries.
What are the major parts of 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 are 3 benefits of industrial agriculture?
The Pros and Cons of Industrial AgricultureIt increases food production. … It lowers consumer costs. … It encourages technological development and innovation. … It creates employment opportunities. … It lengthens food availability.
What are characteristics of industrial agriculture?
Industrial agriculture is currently the dominant food production system in the United States. It’s characterized by large-scale monoculture, heavy use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and meat production in CAFOs (confined animal feeding operations).
What are the impacts of industrialized agriculture?
Industrial agriculture pollutes the air, water, and soil with toxic agrochemicals and livestock manure. It is a major source of pollution, accounting for more than twenty-percent of total greenhouse gas emissions even more than transportation.
What do you mean by 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.
What are three major problems of industrial agriculture?
Industrial agriculture has led to several public health concerns such as antimicrobial resistance, impacts on occupational and community health, and transfer of zoonotic diseases to humans (Marshall & Levy, 2011).
What is the goal of intensive agricultural practices?
Productivity (Yield/Hectare) Unsurprisingly, because the goal of intensive agriculture is to maximize the productivity of land, the yield per hectare is higher than that of farms that utilize extensive methods.
What are the benefits and tradeoffs of industrial agriculture?
Industrial Agriculture ProsIncreased Food Production. The first benefit, of course, is increased food production across the whole globe. … Increased Employment Opportunities. … Faster Market Readiness. … Lower Consumer Costs. … Innovation. … Broadened Palates and Balanced Diets. … High Worker Efficiency. … Flexible Locations.More items…
How can agriculture industries benefit the economy?
Agriculture plays a major role in economic growth and development. As the provider of food it is a cornerstone of human existence. As a furnisher of industrial raw materials it is an important contributor to economic activity in other sectors of the economy.
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 …
How did agriculture contribute to the Industrial Revolution?
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 raised indoors, reducing their exposure to adverse natural elements. The discovery of antibiotics and vaccines facilitated raising livestock in concentrated, controlled animal feed operations by reducing diseases caused by crowding. Chemicals developed for use in World War II gave rise to synthetic pesticides. Developments in shipping networks and technology have made long-distance distribution of agricultural produce feasible.
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 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 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 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, …
Why do industrial farms use antibiotics?
Industrial farms overuse antibiotics, feeding large amounts of the drugs—often the same ones used to treat human illnesses—to healthy animals to help them survive in crowded, dirty CAFOs. Low-level exposure to antibiotics creates the perfect breeding ground for superbugs, those pathogens that antibiotics can’t kill.
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.
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.)
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.
What is a factory farm?
The term “factory farm” is commonly used to refer to large, industrialized facilities raising animals for food, but it isn’t a legal or scientific term. The official name for these facilities is concentrated animal feeding operations, or CAFOs.
What is vertical integration in agriculture?
In recent decades, consolidation in the industry has intensified as agriculture has undergone what is known as “vertical integration,” a transition from small, …
What is industrial agriculture?
Industrial agriculture refers to a process of mechanizing the growing, harvesting, and processing of food. Subsequently, question is, what are the major goals of industrial agriculture?
What are the characteristics of industrial agriculture?
It’s characterized by large-scale monoculture, heavy use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides, and meat production in CAFOs ( confined animal feeding operations). Click to see full answer.
Why are industrial farms important?
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. It lowers consumer costs. It encourages technological development and innovation. It creates employment opportunities. It lengthens food availability. …
What are the goals of sustainable agriculture?
Ambitious sustainable agriculture goals should be focused on eliminating water quality impacts, avoiding water overuse and mitigating greenhouse gas emissions in supply chains. Your goals should target these impacts in all your major crops that are critical to the production of your final product as an ingredient (e.g., row crops are feed for livestock) or as the product itself (e.g., almonds).
When are time bound goals for agriculture?
Time-bound goals need to keep agricultural realities in mind. Many corporate commitments have 2025 or 2030 timelines, recognizing that changes in agricultural supply chains take time. Often, agricultural producers can make investments in technologies, inputs or practices that will yield results after 5-10 years.
What are the goals of the supply chain?
For example, with corn or soy in the United States, the most common KPIs for these crops measure the percentage purchased from producers implementing conservation practices that reduce water quality impacts, use less water or mitigate greenhouse gas emissions.
What are ambitious goals?
While historically sustainable agriculture commitments have focused on getting “sustainable practices” on a certain acreage, ambitious goals should relate to climate and water outcomes that a company wants to achieve .
What are some examples of areas you could target?
Examples of areas you could target include: fertilizer optimization in fields or adoption of animal agriculture best practices to reduce enteric and manure emissions, optimize feed production and improve soil health.
Do you need to reinvent the wheel with your goals?
You do not need to reinvent the wheel with your goals, as many companies have already set agricultural commitments that you can use as a model and benchmark for industry norms. Some resources to assess or make commitments include:
Is agriculture a sustainable goal?
Sustainable agriculture goal should be aligned with your company’s other goals, such as those for climate and water. Agriculture is a major driver of climate emissions, therefore it can be a massive opportunity for meeting these goals. Companies should align their sustainable agriculture commitments into any preexisting climate goals. This requires including supply chain goals into baselines for your larger climate or water goal-setting, and integrating your agriculture supply chain progress into your existing climate goals. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations can help you learn more about “climate-smart” agriculture.
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 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 downsides of agriculture?
One important downside is the sustainability of agriculture water inputs. A lot of industrial agriculture draws in fossil water resources, which is water that has accumulated gradually over a long time, just as fossil fuels are fuels that have accumulated gradually over a lot of time. Fossil water is often in underground aquifers such as the Ogallala Aquifer beneath the United States Great Plains. The Ogallala has helped the Great Plains produce a lot of food, but the water is depleting, forcing farmers to farm differently.
Why do biologically diverse systems have more yield stability than monoculture?
Biologically diverse agricultural systems tend to have more yield stability than does monoculture. This is because when some event happens that could reduce yields, the event typically only affects some of the species within the system. For example, if rainfall is unusually low one year, but some of the crops planted are well-suited to low rainfall, then those plants will have high yields. If rainfall is high the next year, then those plants will have low yields, but other plants will have high yields, making up for it. So, no matter how much rain falls each year, there will be some crops with high yields, and thus a fairly stable total yield. In contrast, if the system has less diversity, and all of the crops are well-suited for one specific amount of rainfall, then the yield will be either very high (if that specific amount of rain falls) or very low (if some other amount of rain falls). Thus, less diverse systems have less stability.
What is the USGS?
The United States Geological Survey (USGS) is a scientific agency within the Department of the Interior. The USGS is very active on many aspects of human-environment systems including natural resources and natural hazards. The USGS employs many people with backgrounds in geography and related fields.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
How is industrialized agriculture supported?
Industrialized agriculture is supported by taxpayer subsidies overtly by way of artificially low grain prices and tax breaks. Animal feed, a key element of industrialized agriculture, is made from corn and soybeans that are cheap for feed companies to purchase owing to government subsidies.
Why did the US industrialize agriculture?
The rationale for the industrialization of agriculture was the need to ensure a cheap, safe food supply for a rapidly growing US and world population . In some ways, that goal has been met: Americans spend just 6.4 percent of their income on food, the lowest percentage in the world; we also export inexpensive food around the world, including to food-insecure areas. 4
How did farming change?
As farms and fields were consolidating and expanding, farming methods changed too, moving towards specialization, mechanization and ever-increasing reliance on fossil fuels. Tractors and other equipment got bigger; chemical fertilizers revolutionized crop yields; improved irrigation forced dry areas into production; animals were moved into controlled confinement; and seed genes began to be spliced.
Why are sustainable farms important?
Public Health. Without the use of hazardous chemical pesticides, sustainable farms are much safer and healthier for their farmers, workers and surrounding communities, and the food they produce is free of chemical residues.
How can agriculture help farmers?
A different kind of federal agriculture policy could help farmers and taxpayers, and curb many of the worst impacts of industrialization. A policy based on supply management, which creates a grain reserve (a common sense protection against low yield years) and a floor price for farmers, would not incentivize fencerow-to-fencerow planting, making it easier for farmers to take marginal lands (land not worth farming because it would not make enough money) out of production. A 2011 analysis by Dr. Darryl Ray at the University of Tennessee showed that if a farmer-owned reserve had been in place between 1996 and 2010, rather than the patchwork subsidy system, taxpayers would have saved more than $96 billion. The Food from Family Farms Act by the National Family Farm Coalition, is one example of a farm bill proposal to reinstate reserves and fair prices, along with ecologically sustainable planting and a more secure disaster program.
How does sustainable agriculture contribute to the ecosystem?
Sustainable agriculture produce s its own inputs (fertilizer from animals, feed grown on the land) and manages its outputs (crop waste, manure) in a closed loop cycle. It contributes to soil fertility, clean water systems, biodiversity and other ecosystem services, rather than depleting them .
What is sustainable agriculture?
However, sustainable agriculture, which uses methods that protect the environment, public health, human communities and animal welfare, is gaining traction .
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.