Impacts of Large Scale Farming Practices on Environment and Food Security
Introduction:
Farming generally refers to the activity of growing crops and raising livestock. Livestock farming is the major attraction of most of the people of the present era. Livestock's are domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. Livestock farming is the act of raising livestock's for commercial purposes. Livestock farms have been benefiting us in many ways for ages - they provide us with eggs, honey, meat, milk, etc. The skins or hides and even hair of these animals have been used to make blankets, clothing, shoes and the like. The hoofs and horns of these farm animals have been used to make common items like buttons and combs.
Large scale farming:
While there are no strict definitions, large scale farming refers to a modern type of agriculture which requires high inputs of money, fertilizers and advanced technology in case of crop production. In case of animal production, it is characterized by a dense population of animals raised on limited land and requiring large amount of food, water and medical inputs. Animal production has gotten so far from traditional methods of farming and is continuing towards its commercialization. In large scale animal farms, scientific methods are applied to operate the farm which reduces the cost of production and also saves labor and time to some extent which results in reduction of prices of final goods than as produced by small scale farm. Beyond these advancements in large scale farming, it has created a negative impact in the welfare of animals. Animals are confined within a small boundary with no or little access to sunlight and fresh air.
Large scale animal farming has some remarkable impacts on environment and food security scenario some of which are discussed below.
Impact on environment:
Large scale farming includes large numbers of animals which would produce massive amounts of solid waste. Moreover, different machines are also operated to carry on the works efficiently which would produce harmful gases to the atmosphere. When thousands of animals are geographically concentrated, their environmental and health impacts are concentrated too. Workers, area residents, and the communities located down-stream or down-wind of the animals may find themselves with a lot of problems on their hands. The greatest environmental and health challenges are odor, air pollution, surface and ground water pollution, and antibiotic resistance. Many animals generate wastes which can be used as manure in land to build organic matter in the soil. But when it is excessively used it causes water pollution. Raw manure contains up to 100 million fecal coliform bacteria per gram as well as nitrate, phosphorus and other which can contaminate soil and water in high concentration. These compounds have created a dead zone in aquatic habitat and aquatic life has been smothered from lack of oxygen. Another study found that high concentrations of nitrate in drinking water can cause blue baby syndrome and may contribute to the defects in developing foetus or miscarriage in pregnant woman. The piling of excessive wastes can also cause air pollution which increases the susceptibility of various air borne diseases. Spraying large amounts of manure sends dust particles into the air that can penetrate the lungs of humans nearby. The particles carry toxic gases such as ammonia, which can impede the lungs from clearing dust particles, and hydrogen sulfide, which can prevent cells from using oxygen and causes loss of consciousness, coma, or death at high exposure levels. Animals living closely together are also at high risk of spreading diseases, so many livestock company feed their animals with low antibiotic doses as preventive measures. This increases the antibiotic resistance capacity of animals and put human health at risk as they cause various diseases which cannot be cured by other antibiotics. Some of the greenhouse gases such as carbon-dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide are also produced from large scale farms which has high potential to cause global warming.
Farming generally refers to the activity of growing crops and raising livestock. Livestock farming is the major attraction of most of the people of the present era. Livestock's are domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to produce commodities such as food, fiber and labor. Livestock farming is the act of raising livestock's for commercial purposes. Livestock farms have been benefiting us in many ways for ages - they provide us with eggs, honey, meat, milk, etc. The skins or hides and even hair of these animals have been used to make blankets, clothing, shoes and the like. The hoofs and horns of these farm animals have been used to make common items like buttons and combs.
Large scale farming:
While there are no strict definitions, large scale farming refers to a modern type of agriculture which requires high inputs of money, fertilizers and advanced technology in case of crop production. In case of animal production, it is characterized by a dense population of animals raised on limited land and requiring large amount of food, water and medical inputs. Animal production has gotten so far from traditional methods of farming and is continuing towards its commercialization. In large scale animal farms, scientific methods are applied to operate the farm which reduces the cost of production and also saves labor and time to some extent which results in reduction of prices of final goods than as produced by small scale farm. Beyond these advancements in large scale farming, it has created a negative impact in the welfare of animals. Animals are confined within a small boundary with no or little access to sunlight and fresh air.
Large scale animal farming has some remarkable impacts on environment and food security scenario some of which are discussed below.
Impact on environment:
Large scale farming includes large numbers of animals which would produce massive amounts of solid waste. Moreover, different machines are also operated to carry on the works efficiently which would produce harmful gases to the atmosphere. When thousands of animals are geographically concentrated, their environmental and health impacts are concentrated too. Workers, area residents, and the communities located down-stream or down-wind of the animals may find themselves with a lot of problems on their hands. The greatest environmental and health challenges are odor, air pollution, surface and ground water pollution, and antibiotic resistance. Many animals generate wastes which can be used as manure in land to build organic matter in the soil. But when it is excessively used it causes water pollution. Raw manure contains up to 100 million fecal coliform bacteria per gram as well as nitrate, phosphorus and other which can contaminate soil and water in high concentration. These compounds have created a dead zone in aquatic habitat and aquatic life has been smothered from lack of oxygen. Another study found that high concentrations of nitrate in drinking water can cause blue baby syndrome and may contribute to the defects in developing foetus or miscarriage in pregnant woman. The piling of excessive wastes can also cause air pollution which increases the susceptibility of various air borne diseases. Spraying large amounts of manure sends dust particles into the air that can penetrate the lungs of humans nearby. The particles carry toxic gases such as ammonia, which can impede the lungs from clearing dust particles, and hydrogen sulfide, which can prevent cells from using oxygen and causes loss of consciousness, coma, or death at high exposure levels. Animals living closely together are also at high risk of spreading diseases, so many livestock company feed their animals with low antibiotic doses as preventive measures. This increases the antibiotic resistance capacity of animals and put human health at risk as they cause various diseases which cannot be cured by other antibiotics. Some of the greenhouse gases such as carbon-dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide are also produced from large scale farms which has high potential to cause global warming.
Impact on food security:
Animal products are critical to the nutrition, food security, livelihoods and resilience of hundreds of millions of people throughout the world. Livestock products supply around 12.9 percent of calories consumed worldwide (FAO, 2009b) and 20.3 percent in developed countries. Even more important, perhaps, is their contribution to protein consumption, estimated at 27.9 percent worldwide and 47.8 percent in developed countries. In spite of recent growth in consumption, many people are still deficient in the nutrients that can be provided by animal source foods, which are complete, nutrient-dense and important for the high quality protein and bio-available micro-nutrients they contain, particularly for children and pregnant and lactating women. Even quite small amounts of animal source foods are important for improving the nutritional status of low-income households. Meat, milk and eggs provide proteins with a wide range of amino acids that match human needs as well as bio-available micro-nutrients such as iron, zinc, vitamin A, vitamin B12and calcium in which many malnourished people are deficient. Milk from cattle and goats, a good source of amino acids and Vitamin A, is widely consumed in all parts of the world. Milk and milk products are demanded in large quantity all over the world, which can be made available only from large scale animal farming. Besides this, livestock farming provides meat and eggs which are the rich source of protein. The demand of poultry meat is rapidly increased at present as it is affordable by almost all people. The commercial rearing of animals in large scale produces final outputs in large scale which results to easy access and available to normal people also. In addition to contributing directly to food supply through provision of their own products, livestock contribute indirectly by supporting crop production with inputs of manure and traction. The animals produces large amount of wastes which can be used in the field as source of fertilizer. This is beneficial as production of agricultural goods in a sustainable manner which finally contributes in food security.
Conclusion:
Large scale farms have remarkable impacts in uplifting the nutritional conditions of the country to ensure food security scenario as animal products are cheap, easily available and accessible to all. But if we analyze from environmental prospective, large scale farms have negative impacts to the environment. They cause pollution and also contribute to global warming. The sustainable solutions of these problems can be establishment of farms away from cities, proper management of animal wastes and the government should also implement its plans and policies to encourage eco-friendly livestock farming.
References:
1.Donham, K., S. Wing, D. Osterberg, et al. (2007). Community Health and Socioeconomic Issues Surrounding Concentrated Animal Feeding Operations and Environmental Health Perspectives.
2.Randolph T.F., Schelling E., Grace D., Nicholson C.F.,
Leroy J.L., Cole D.C., Demment M.W., Omore A., Zinsstag J.
& Ruel M. (2007). – Role of livestock in human nutrition and
health for poverty reduction in developing countries.
3.Steinfeld H., Gerber P., Wassenaar T., Castel V., Rosales M. &
de Haan C. (2006). – Livestock’s long shadow: environmental
issues and options. Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations, Rome.
4.Greenpeace Research Laboratories Technical Report (Review)
THANKS TO:
Name: Sahil Ojha
email: sahil.ojha1997@gmail.com
GPCAR
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