Induatrialized farming has many benefits, such as hardier crops, increased output of crops, etc. but it also has some drawbacks. One of the main drawbacks of industrialized farming, I would say, would come from the use of pesticides. The use of pesticides has increased dramatically on farms over the past couple years. From some studies, it was found that these pesticides can be liked to many brain diseases. I see this as being one of the main reasons why industrialized farming is very unhealthy for your body.
This type of farming also has negative consequences for the environment. First off, all the machinery causes a lot of pollution, which is terrible for the environment. And the machinery also depends on oil, which is a fossil fuel, but the supply of oil is beginning to run out. I found an interesting fact online, "at least half of the 2 trillion barrels of oil available has already been used and oil demand from China, India and other major developing countries which are industrialising fast is rising so sharply that production cannot keep up with demand, and permanent shortages of oil will kick in within a decade or less". Secondly, the machines used in industrial farming use lots and lots of water, and half a billion people today live in water-stressed areas. The amount of water used in agriculture today is extravagant! Another fact I found online was "US prairie farmers and East Anglian barley barons need 1,000 tonnes of water to produce 1 tonne of grain, plus 1 000 energy units are used for every 1 energy unit of processed food."
I don't know if there are ways to completely take back the "damage" we have caused, but I think there are still ways and little things we can do to improve farming today.
/www.organicconsumers.org/BTC/meacher091905.cfm
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I do agree with you, Jaden, pesticides are definitely a major problem linked with industrialized farming. Because the farmers are working extremely hard to create many crops, they need to take any measure that they can to protect their crops. Otherwise, bugs could come and cause a blight. One of the well-known blights is the potato blight in Ireland. That did not end well for many thousands of lives. Also, the pollution is definitely very harmful to the envirnoment. Since we no longer use manual labor and rely more on machines, the pollution levels must have increased, the amount of fossil fuel used also must have increases, and the the water, like Jaden said. I think one option to converting back to past years is by reverting to more manual labor.
ReplyDeletei so agree with erica and you had some pretty good facts nice job.
ReplyDeletePesticides were something i stressed in my blog. I cant believe that they are good for you at all. Industrial farming is also taking jobs and effecting the anviromnet in not so nice ways. Machinery gives off bad gas and also takes jobs. Newer farms give off more products but is it really better, i couldnt say. GREAT BLOG JK!
ReplyDeleteGreat post Jaden. I agree with charlie and erica when they talk about pesticides and how they are bad for people and can cause some serious problems. Machines are good at saving time and increasing outout, but thats about it, then they just get worse, pollution, gas, etc. Good work, nice info.
ReplyDeleteJarrden, your statement that said we can't take back the damage we have done is true. I also agree that we can improve farming techniques today. We need to do something about the machinery. I talked about that in my blog too. Not only are machines dangerous to the environment, but they are dangerous to farmers as well. Tractors especially, which may not seem dangerous, but are the leading cause of farmer fatalities. Spectacular jorb Jarden!
ReplyDeleteI agree with Nick when he said that one way to decrease the impact of industrialized farms is to do something about the machinery, but I think there also need to be changes in things like the use of pesticides and hazardous fertilizers.
ReplyDeletewow jaden, thanks for the info. i never knew that part that you found on line that half of the 2 trillion barrels of available oil is already gone.
ReplyDeleteStupendous information Jaden. Great job bringing up a negative effect that none of the other posts that I have read covered, the use of pesticides. I completely agree that those are not good for us or the ecosystem. Pollution and the use of our limited fossil fuels are also definite reasons to stop industrializing our farms. The oil and water statistics were "shocking," to quote Will Ferrell in Elf. But really, that is not good. Sounds to me like we are digging ourselves into a whole that we won't be getting out of any time soon. Thanks again for the post...very interesting.
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