A question that the agricultural industry is faced with; and it becomes more demanding with the growing population, and the looming threat of global warming. What it comes down to, really, is convenience and profit versus health and the environment. Industrial agriculture is clearly the more efficient and profitable method of farming. With it, we rely on a few productive breeds of livestock and crops.
Only a select few crops are grown year after year to reduce production costs, thus creating a higher profit for the farmers. Growing certain, more productive crops in bulk is efficient, but it reduces the diversity of plants. The plants that are grown tend to get attacked by pests and weeds due to lack of crop rotation, and so more pesticides and fertilizers are needed. These chemicals go into the food that we consume, and run off into rivers and streams, causing harm to humans and the environment.
On farms where industrial agriculture is practiced, they have huge amounts of livestock. Like with the crops, they are farmed for speed, quantity, and profit, rather than quality. Animals are genetically modified to be fatter, and therefore worth more meat. These specialized animals are kept in filthy, crowded conditions, and are susceptible to disease. This is potentially harmful to us, and cruel to the animals. The most common example of this would be chickens. They are grown to unnatural sizes and so many of them are crowded in tiny spaces on these farms.
Why then, do we do it? Profit, of course, why else? The cheap products brought about by industrial agriculture benefits the farmer and the consumer – but only from a financial point of view. This is not a good enough reason.
Some have questioned if agriculture is going to be able to keep up with the steady increase in population. With the speed at which industrial agriculture produces, we are, in fact, overproducing some foods. The problem is not producing more food for today’s population, but sustaining our resources so that we can feed populations of the future, with natural products, grown from uncontaminated soil and water.
This is where sustainable agriculture comes in, the readily available alternative. The number of ways to produce and consume sustainable foods continues growing. Sustainable agriculture does not use the methods of industrial agriculture, such as genetically modifying plants and animals. Instead, plants are grown naturally, reducing the risk of contamination and using less harmful chemicals in the making. Sustainable techniques include using natural pesticides and no-till cultivation to prevent soil erosion, all benefiting the environment. The short term health benefits and long-term environmental advantages, outweigh the immediate convenience of industrial farming. When it comes to what we consume, and what we put into the environment, quality, not quantity, should be our first priority.
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The foods we eat could kill tons of other species!
Stop Before It's Too Late!
The foods we eat could kill tons of other species!
Stop Before It's Too Late!
