For those of us who live in cities, farming is probably not an activity that we can easily relate to, even when we can’t go without farm products for a single day. Few would argue that agriculture is the most important human activity that sustains our species with everything from food to biofuel to raw materials like cotton and wool.
As the agricultural sector strives to meet the needs of an ever growing world population, it has done a remarkable job in boosting production and reducing financial costs. However, under the “cheaper food paradigm” driven by modern, industrial-scale farming practices, the biggest loser is none other than the environment.
Modern farming places a huge stress on the environment and the following are its major impacts, which are all interrelated and often reinforce each other in a way that causes a vicious cycle.
Agriculture is a major source of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, second only to the energy sector. Global livestock, in particular, accounts for 14.5% of total anthropogenic GHG emissions, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO).
While farming produces carbon dioxide in all stages of operations from manufacturing fertilizers to powering machinery, it also churns out about half of all anthropogenic methane emissions and about three-quarters of anthropogenic nitrous oxide.
The top producer of methane is enteric fermentation of ruminant livestock (cattle, sheep and goats), followed by flooding of rice paddies. The biggest agricultural source of nitrous oxide, which is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide as a GHG, comes from over-application of fertilizers.
The main reason for much of the deforestation in the tropics is to clear land for farming, sometimes illegally. In Southeast Asia, oil palm plantations have supplanted huge tracts of rainforests. In the Brazilian Amazon, the production of beef and soy is driving over two-thirds of deforestation.
To meet the rising global demand for meat, at least 70% of all soy ends up as livestock feed instead of being directly consumed by people.
Forests are cleared not just by chainsaws but also by fire. When a forest is burned down, not only does it lose the ability to produce oxygen and absorb carbon dioxide, it also releases the carbon stored in the trees.
The large-scale conversion of natural habitats to farmland has led to a loss of biodiversity, with victims that range from the iconic orangutan to unnamed species yet to be discovered by humans. Of the 28,000 species at risk of extinction, 24,000 are threatened by agriculture.
In modern industrial farming, monoculture or the cultivation of a single crop on a large tract of land year after year essentially reduces the land to a “green desert”. On the other hand, pests and diseases spread quickly among a single crop, increasing the risk of outbreaks.
Industrial farming for both crop and animal production is addicted to agro-chemicals such as herbicides, insecticides, synthetic fertilizers and antibiotics. Agricultural runoff containing those chemicals pollutes freshwater and marine ecosystems and depletes oxygen in the water.
The use of pesticides leads to the colony collapse of honey bees, which pollinate 80% of all flowering plants, and 70 of the top hundred human food crops. Food contaminated with harmful chemicals also threatens the health of humans and other species.
Apart from chemicals, organic materials such as animal waste also pollute water and the air.
Even though food waste at the consumer and retailer levels is a well-known problem, little has been mentioned about unharvested and discarded produce at the farm level, which is estimated to make up 30% of total food loss.
Fruit and vegetables are often left unharvested when prices drop to a point where they can’t cover the costs of picking, packing and shipping. Some produce never leave the farm simply because it fails to meet retailers’ cosmetic standards on shape, size, color, etc. During COVID lockdown, farms that catered to restaurants lost their buyers and were forced to dump perishables such as milk and eggs.
About 70% of the world’s freshwater withdrawals go to farming activities, and some produce requires much more water than others. It takes 13,000 liters of water to produce a kilo of beef, but only 1,250 liters for the same amount of lentils. Given the ever-increasing demand for crops and meat products, especially water-intensive ones, water shortage is bound to exacerbate.
Many parts of the world rely heavily on groundwater for agricultural and potable uses. Compared to the rate of extraction, the replenishment of groundwater is a very slow process, making it basically a non-renewable resource that is being quickly depleted.
Considering that soil is the foundation of terrestrial life, we should be doing everything we can to take care of it. However, the reality begs to differ as the quality and quantity of our soil are both declining, with a third of the soil on Earth already moderately to highly degraded.
Healthy soil teems with life, but the use of agro-chemicals and monoculture reduce its microbial biodiversity. Overgrazing and heavy tilling expose the nutrient-rich topsoil, accelerating soil erosion. Over time, the soil may get so depleted that it becomes totally unproductive.
Genetic modification has remained a controversy since its inception decades ago. Even as the technology has made great advances and become widely applied in agriculture, its long-term effects are still unclear.
While genetic modification has its own benefits, it has also created problems such as the “pesticide treadmill”, when more and stronger chemicals are needed as pests and weeds build up resistance.
GMOs are controlled by a handful of biotech giants that are increasingly dominating the agricultural input market. More than half of the seeds in the world are now controlled by only four corporations.
Given the enormity of the environmental impacts of farming, major changes are needed to steer the sector towards sustainability. As consumers, we can do our part to help reduce those impacts by making better choices.
Being at the bottom of the food chain, crops generally require only a fraction of resources compared to livestock, besides having a much lower carbon footprint. Algae such as seaweed are a highly sustainable food source since they require little input, grow very fast and also store carbon.
The expanding variety of meat/ dairy/ egg substitutes certainly makes it easier to shift to a plant-based diet. For those who are not ready to give up animal products yet, it helps to replace red meat with white meat (preferably pasture-raised) which is less carbon-intensive and more efficient in feed conversion.
Buying local farm products shortens the supply chain which means less refrigeration, transportation and spoilage, not to mention more freshness. Embracing “ugly food” with unconventional shapes and sizes helps prevent wasting perfectly edible food. We should also support producers who adopt nature-friendly and regenerative practices, such as organic farming, planting according to season, polyculture and reduced soil tillage.
Nothing is more sustainable than growing your own food. If you have a yard at home, you can start your own permaculture garden. Even if you don’t have the space, you can grow bean sprouts in jars and herbs in pots. You may also try to find or found a community garden in your neighborhood.
Growing your own food is a great way to connect with nature, and helps you bring out something that the world desperately needs—a little more appreciation and respect for food that is so often taken for granted.
https://www.fao.org/3/cb3808en/cb3808en.pdf
https://foodprint.org/issues/the-problem-of-food-waste/#easy-footnote-bottom-14-1309
https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/soil-degradation.html
https://www.foodandwaterwatch.org/2021/03/02/gmos-plant-seeds-corporate-control/
