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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.
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.
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.
This can have a number of negative environmental impacts, including air pollution, water pollution, and loss of biodiversity. Intensive agriculture: This is the practice of using large amounts of inputs, such as fertilizers and pesticides, to produce high yields of crops.
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 amount of greenhouse gas emissions from agriculture is significant: The agriculture, forestry and land use sectors contribute between 13% and 21% of global greenhouse gas emissions. [2] Emissions come from direct greenhouse gas emissions (for example from rice production and livestock farming). [ 3 ]
There are numerous effects of climate change on agriculture, many of which are making it harder for agricultural activities to provide global food security. Rising temperatures and changing weather patterns often result in lower crop yields due to water scarcity caused by drought , heat waves and flooding . [ 5 ]
The environmental impact of agriculture involves a variety of factors from the soil, to water, the air, animal and soil diversity, plants, and the food itself. Some of the environmental issues that are related to agriculture are climate change, deforestation, genetic engineering, irrigation problems, pollutants, soil degradation, and waste.