"Industrialized agriculture, sometimes referred to as agribusiness, is farming on a large scale. Cultivation and harvesting are done with large, fossil fuel-driven machinery. Large quantities of irrigation water and synthetic fertilizers boost crop yield, while chemical pes-ticides reduce competition from weeds and damage from pests. As opposed to small- and midsize farms, which are typically operated by their owners, farms using industrial agri-culture generally feature absentee owners, usually shareholders of corporations. Business objectives include reducing costs and development of national or international supply chains."This is my least favorite form of farming in my opinion at least. It's understandable that this method of farming is the current upgraded model of farming and the most productive in its class. Yes, this class of farming produces more crop than that of the Organic farming but it also the worst in terms of how healthy the food is. Think about it, the owner's of these companies aren't even present while these mass producing machines are making their crops, they just hand everything down to their shareholders of the company. These companies care more about how fast they can get their crops down rather than how nutritious and healthy their food is.
MLA (Modern Language Assoc.)
Robertson, Margaret. Sustainability Principles and Practice. Routledge, 2017.
APA (American Psychological Assoc.)
Robertson, M. (2017). Sustainability Principles and Practice. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
"Another common example of GMOs is a line of products called “Roundup-ready crops” engineered by Monsanto, the corporation that manufactures the herbicide glyphosate under the trade name Roundup. Roundup is the most commonly-used herbicide, widely used on crop fields. Roundup-ready soybeans, corn, cotton, and canola plants are not visibly affected by glyphosate, so farmers can spray Roundup at any time without killing their crops. Over two-thirds of US soybean, corn, cotton, and canola harvests now consist of genetically-modified plants. Critics observe that these plants promote increased use of herbicide, and that herbicide-resistant weeds are beginning to evolve." I've never felt comfortable eating anything that has been sprayed by chemicals. Imagine, you understand what exactly is going onto these plants, the chemicals are listed on majority of the products, we know they aren't safe but because there's no visibly effects, its deemed safe for everyone. It's crazy how to this day there are people that are still convinced that these chemicals we spray onto the weeds don't effect the crop. I'd rather the crop be picked and put into a process where the crop is cleaned thoroughly through a machine that would be able use water or any other substance to thoroughly clean off any pests or anything else that is harmful for consumers. Obviously we have the technology to create but the quicker and more efficient way is always going to be pesticides."
MLA (Modern Language Assoc.)
Robertson, Margaret. Sustainability Principles and Practice. Routledge, 2017.
APA (American Psychological Assoc.)
Robertson, M. (2017). Sustainability Principles and Practice. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
"Crops are grown using several methods at a range of scales. One method is known as organic agriculture. This is agriculture that does not use synthetic fertilizers or pesticides; instead, it relies on biological approaches. Organic farms return nutrients to the soil in the form of compost made of decayed plant matter. They use biological methods of controlling weeds and insect pests and techniques of crop rotation that prevent soil from becoming exhausted without the need for applying massive amounts of fertilizer. They may use manure recycled from the same farm. All food was grown organically before the advent of chemical fertilizers and pesticides in the twentieth century." I grew up based on this tradition of farming, majority of the items in the kitchen were straight from the farm we had in the backyard or the actual farm. I can say personally this is not the most efficient way to get food but it is the most nutritious and healthy. There's just something different about the food that I am used to at home compared to the same food's that I get from my local grocery store, you can tell that the food is processed and not naturally grown. I feel that since we are in this technological generation, there has to be more of a focus on how we can improve the quality of farming overall. We don't want to wait too late until we don't have the technology to improve upon it. Even if there's not a technological way to improve upon it, we're in a employment crisis right now, creating more farming opportunities could improve upon the quality of food and create more jobs as well.
MLA (Modern Language Assoc.)
Robertson, Margaret. Sustainability Principles and Practice. Routledge, 2017.
APA (American Psychological Assoc.)
Robertson, M. (2017). Sustainability Principles and Practice. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge.
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