Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
The environmental impact of agriculture is the effect that different farming practices have on the ecosystems around them, and how those effects can be traced back to those practices. [1] The environmental impact of agriculture varies widely based on practices employed by farmers and by the scale of practice.
Examples of environmental impacts of animal agriculture: Meat production is a main driver of deforestation in Venezuela; Pigs in intensive farming; Testing Australian sheep for exhaled methane production to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture; Farms often pump their animal waste directly into a large lagoon, which has environmental consequences.
The observed adverse impacts on livestock production include increased heat stress in all but the coldest nations. [6] [7] This causes both mass animal mortality during heatwaves, and the sublethal impacts, such as lower quantity of quality of products like milk, greater vulnerability to conditions like lameness or even impaired reproduction. [3]
[211] [212] A study summarising a number of impact studies of climate change on agriculture in Latin America indicated that wheat is expected to decrease in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay. [212] Livestock, which is the main agricultural product for parts of Argentina, Uruguay, southern Brazil, Venezuela , and Colombia is likely to be reduced.
Pollutants from agriculture greatly affect water quality and can be found in lakes, rivers, wetlands, estuaries, and groundwater. Pollutants from farming include sediments, nutrients, pathogens, pesticides, metals, and salts. [1] Animal agriculture has an outsized impact on pollutants that enter the environment.
Food loss and waste is a major part of the impact of agriculture on climate change (it amounts to 3.3 billion tons of CO 2 e emissions annually [5] [6]) and other environmental issues, such as land use, water use and loss of biodiversity.
Besides the impact on air quality, burning of agricultural waste in fields also has a negative impact on soil fertility, economic development and climate. [24] The absence of environmentally friendly agricultural waste management further leads to animal suffering, water pollution, fertilisation, and decline in biodiversity, among others. [25]
The environmental impact of pig farming is mainly driven by the spread of feces and waste to surrounding neighborhoods, polluting air and water with toxic waste particles. [1] Waste from pig farms can carry pathogens, bacteria (often antibiotic resistant), and heavy metals that can be toxic when ingested. [ 1 ]