Agriculture

Relevance

Simply stated, we need to be able to produce enough food for our continuously growing population. However this is a lot more easily said than done.

Agriculture is strongly based on land use; and as we all know there is an ever decreasing supply of suitable farming land. The optimal land to use for farming has been in use for quite some time now, so as we expand the lands required for agricultural production, we are now using land that is marginal at best. Thus, as we increase our expansion of land used, we are getting less out of it and decreasing its production and our output per acre.

There are also considerable environmental impacts that have emerged due to the sharply increasing demand for food. Agriculture brings with it deforestation, soil erosion and degradation, air pollution (from farm equipment and machinery) and the harmful effects of pesticides, fungicides and biocides in general. There is a growing fear for the harmful impacts these biocides might cause. Year after year different biocides are needed, which are particularly stronger, to combat the elements that might affect crops and these might prove to be extremely harmful to human health.

Optimist

Environmental optimists with regards to agriculture will, as expected, praise the advancement of technology. One key point is that progression in technology will help aid in the implementation of intensification of production. Technology will allow for society to receive higher food output from each acre of farm land.

Pessimist

There are many growing concerns over the impacts of agriculture in its current state, both environmentally and logistically. One of the first major concerns is that, from a global perspective, we already cannot feed the world population. What will happen with our global population growing as fast as it is? Currently, we globally produce enough food for everyone on earth to have an adequate diet. Yet still between 750 million and 1 billion people suffer from insufficient nutrition. These problems need to be addressed but how?

Growing concerns over biocide (pesticide, insecticide, fungicide, etc.) use is also prevalent. Farmers are seeing a growing trend of biocide adaptation to the repellant chemicals placed on crops. Once farmers see that their biocides are becoming increasingly less effective, they have two options: increase the amount they use on crops or acquire a stronger type of biocide. However, this now confronts pessimists with an interesting dilemma: do you advocate the use of potentially human hazardous biocides to produce more output, or oppose their use and lose output?

The most common solution put forward is that of sustainable agriculture. This is where the agriculture system does not degrade the environment and there is a respectable level of output. The bottom line remains that in the pessimist mind frame, things need to be changed for the future.

References

Optimist Pessimist Debate | Population | CO2 Emission | Fossil Fuel Reserves | Renewable Energy | Free Trade | Agriculture