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asmith6 asmith6
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11 years ago
what are some long term potential dangers of industrial agriculture?
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11 years ago
some long term potential dangers of industrial agriculture are:
*Damage to Natural Systems
It uses huge amounts of water, energy, and chemicals, often with little regard to long-term adverse effects. But the environmental costs of agriculture are mounting. Irrigation systems are pumping water from reservoirs faster than they are being recharged. Toxic herbicides and insecticides are accumulating in ground and surface waters. Chemical fertilizers are running off the fields into water systems where they generate damaging blooms of oxygen-depleting microorganisms that disrupt ecosystems and kill fish.
*Economic Costs
Estimating the economic costs of industrial agriculture is an immense and difficult task. A full accounting would weigh the benefits of the somewhat lower prices consumers pay for food and the profits of agri-business giants, including fertilizer and pesticide manufacturers, against the health and societal costs of environmental pollution and degradation, for instance.
*Agriculture at a Crossroads
It is time to transform agriculture into a sustainable enterprise, one based on systems that can be employed for centuries--not decades--without undermining the resources on which agricultural productivity depends. The question is how to do it. The choices are to stick with the current system and adjust around the edges or to fundamentally rethink it. UCS is aiming for the long-range transformation of US agriculture to a system that is both productive and environmentally sound.
*Social Costs
Industrial agriculture also has complex social ramifications in terms of where and how people live. One effect of decreasing the number of farmers is to deprive rural America of its population and base of economic activity. As farmers leave the farm, rural towns and cities lose ancillary services like cafes, equipment manufacturers, gasoline stations and car dealerships. Currently, the Great Plains states are facing rapidly declining populations as a result of changes in agriculture.
*Use of Monoculture
Industrial agriculture relies on monoculture, the planting of one crop in mass amounts. This decreases biodiversity within the ecosystem within both plants and animals.
*High Reliance on Artificial Pesticides/ Fertilizers
Industrial agriculture utilizes mass amounts of cheap synthetic fertilizers and pesticides to produce high yields. These pollutants greatly reduce the use of the land and causes topsoil degradation. This causes the extreme pollution of local rivers and water sources.
*Poor Soil Quality
Industrial agriculture also leads to soil erosion, which has reached a dangerously high rate; soil is being degraded much faster than it is being replenished, which deprives the land of fertile soil and nutrient richness.
*Extreme Water Consumption and Pollution
Industrial agriculture consumes water very quickly and in mass amounts. This is highly unsustainable on a global account. Industrial agriculture also releases mass amounts of pollutants through it's irrigation systems into nearly by lakes, rivers, and groundwater systems which causes major problems worldwide.
wrote...
11 years ago
It becomes the victim of its own success and removes people so from from agriculture that they get really stupid ideas in their heads and then vote to cripple the industry that is feeding the 99 % of poeple that dont work in ag.
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