In Modern farming besides high yield four important things need to be considered:at
a) What happens to the land?
b) What happens to its produce?
c) What happens to the human who consumes it and
d) The community which loses out?
S.No | Cause | Effects |
1 | Nitrate run-off | About half the percentage of nitrate used in crops as artificial fertilizers run off the soil during rain and contaminates the water course. |
2 | Animal Slurry | Lot of animals packed in indoor pens, results in quick accumulation of manures. These are poured into lagoons, gets leaked into water course contaminating with disease causing organisms and algae boom |
3 | Biocide sprays | Weeds and pests are controlled only by chemicals. Most crops absorb this chemical before harvest. |
4 | Land Exhaustion | Constant use of artificial fertilizers and lack of crop rotation, reduces the soil fertility year by year |
5 | Repeated deep ploughing is used to turn over the ground, heavy rain takes away the top soil and leave the ground useless for cultivation | |
6 | Artificial fertilizers are applied in large quantity for high yield, instead of maintaining the natural soil fertility | |
7 | Stubble burning | When stubble is burned, large amount of useful organic matter disappear in clouds of polluting smoke |
8 | Threat to animal breeds | Native animal breeds lose out to exotic species and hybrids. |
9 | Contaminated Food | Both animal and plant food products, leaves the farm contaminated with the chemical that were used to produce it |
10 | Habitat Destruction | Agricultural farming demands that anything which stands in the way of crop production is uprooted and destroyed. Wild animals and plants which were once a common sight around farms are deprived of their natural habitat and die out |
11 | Control of Agricultural inputs and foods distribution channel | Supply and trading in agricultural inputs and produce is in the hands of a few large corporations. This threatens food security, reducing the leverage and importance of the first and last part of the supply chain – the farmer and the consumer |
Modern Farming and its effects on environment
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Oleh
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