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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.
A farm that can "produce perpetually", yet has negative effects on environmental quality elsewhere is not sustainable agriculture. An example of a case in which a global view may be warranted is the application of fertilizer or manure , which can improve the productivity of a farm but can pollute nearby rivers and coastal waters ...
Despite this, all agricultural practices have been found to have a variety of effects on the environment to some extent. Animal agriculture, in particular meat production , can cause pollution , greenhouse gas emissions , biodiversity loss , disease, and significant consumption of land , food, and water.
A recent study testing the effects of Bt corn pollen dusting nearby milkweed plants on larval feeding of the monarch butterfly found that the threat to populations of the monarch was low. [12] The use of GMO crop plants engineered for herbicide resistance can also indirectly increase the amount of agricultural pollution associated with ...
Livestock produces the majority of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture and demands around 30% of agricultural freshwater needs, while only supplying 18% of the global calorie intake. Animal-derived food plays a larger role in meeting human protein needs, yet is still a minority of supply at 39%, with crops providing the rest.
Therefore, any comprehensive plan of adaptation to the effects of climate change, particularly the present and future effects of climate change on agriculture, must also consider livestock. [33] [34] Livestock activities also contribute disproportionately to land-use effects, since crops such as corn and alfalfa are cultivated to feed the ...
Food vs fuel is the debate regarding the risk of diverting farmland or crops for biofuels production in detriment of the food supply on a global scale. Essentially the debate refers to the possibility that by farmers increasing their production of these crops, often through government subsidy incentives, their time and land is shifted away from other types of non-biofuel crops driving up the ...
The vulnerability of agriculture to climatic change is strongly dependent on the responses taken by humans to moderate the effects of climate change. [ 6 ] Changes in crop and livestock viability are forcing the farmers to find better choices of crops and animals, capable of adaption to temperature changes and water availability.