| Eighteen
ways how 'modern farming' affects our world
Source
: "Return to the Good Earth"
published by Third World
Network
Photographs
(click on caption to see images) :
1)
According to the late Dr. Richharia, the well-known rice scientist, there
are over 200,000 varieties of rice in India alone. The so-called green
revolution has resulted in a massive loss of on-farm biodiversity. Photo
courtesy : CIKS
2)
There are 15 types of vegetables and condiments in this photo taken at a
market stall in Malaysia. Chemical farming has led to less variety in
terms of number of species as well as intra-species diversity. Photo
source : Third World Network
3)
Chromatographs are a convincing way of proving there is more to food and
agriculture than just yields. Chromatograph patterns clearly show vitality
and life forces and one can tell the difference between organic and
inorganic food just by reading a chromatograph
Today's
chemical farms have little use for the skilled husbandry which was once
the guiding principle of working the land. The emphasis today is solely on
productivity - high input in exchange for high returns and productivity
(mostly diminishing now however for farmers worldwide). Four important
considerations - what happens to the land, the food it produces, the
people who eat it and the communities which lose out - are overlooked.
Look
for the links to related pages on this website at the
end.
|
1 |
Land
exhaustion |
The
constant use of artificial fertiliser, together with a lack of crop
rotation, reduces the soil's fertility year by year.
|
|
2 |
Fertilisers |
High
yield levels are produced by applying large quantities of artificial
fertilisers, instead of by maintaining the natural fertility of the
soil. |
|
3 |
Nitrate
run-off |
About
half of the nitrate in the artificial fertiliser used on crops is
dissolved by rain. The dissolved nitrate runs off the fields to
contaminate water courses. |
|
4 |
Soil
erosion |
Where
repeated deep ploughing is used to turn over the ground, heavy rains
can carry away the topsoil and leave the ground useless for
cultivation. |
|
5 |
Soil
compaction |
Damage
to the structure of soil by compression is a serious problem in
areas that are intensively farmed. Conventional tillage may involve
a tractor passing over the land six or seven times, and the
wheelings can cover up to 90 per cent of a field. Even a single
tractor pass can compress the surface enough to reduce the porosity
of the soil by 70 per cent, increasing surface run-off and,
therefore, water erosion. In the worst cases, the surface run-off
may approach 100 percent - none of the water penetrates the surface. |
|
6 |
Agricultural
fuel |
As
crop yields grow, so does the amount of fuel needed to produce them.
European farmers now use an average of 12 tons of fuel to farm a
square kilometre of land; American farmers use about 5 tons (1987
figures). |
|
7 |
Biocide
sprays |
The
only controls used against weeds and pests are chemical ones. Most
crops receive many doses of different chemicals before they are
harvested. |
|
8 |
Cruelty
to animals |
On
most "modern" farms, all animals are crowded together
indoors. Complex systems of machinery are needed to feed them, while
constant medication is needed to prevent disease. The cruelty
involved in managing, breeding. growing and slaughtering farm
animals today is unimaginably repulsive and horrifying. |
|
9 |
Animal
slurry |
With
so many animals packed together in indoor pens, their manure
accumulates at great speed. It is often poured into lagoons which
leak into local watercourses, contaminating them with
disease-causing organisms and contributing to algae-blooms. |
|
10 |
Imported
animal feed |
Many
farms are not self-sufficient in animal feed; instead they rely on
feed brought into the farm. This often comes from countries which
can ill afford to part with it. |
|
11 |
Stubble
burning |
In
countries where stubble is burned, large amounts of potentially
useful organic matter disappear into the sky in clouds of polluting
smoke. |
|
12 |
Loss
of cultivated biodiversity |
Large
and other chemical farms tend to be monocultures growing the same
crop and crop variety. |
|
13 |
Threat
to indigenous
seeds and animal breeds and species |
Native
cultivars and animal breeds lose out to exotic species and hybrids.
Many native animal breeds are today threatened with extinction. The
same holds true for many indigenous plant varieties which have
disappeared within the space of one generation. |
|
14 |
Habitat
destruction |
Agribusiness
farming demands that anything which stands in the way of crop
production is uprooted and destroyed. The wild animals and plants
which were once a common sight around farms are deprived of their
natural habitat and die out. |
|
15 |
Contaminated
food |
Food,
both plant and animal products, leaves the farm contaminated with
the chemicals that were used to produce it. |
|
16 |
Destruction
of traditional knowledge systems and traditions |
Rural indigenous knowledge and traditions, both agricultural and
non-agricultural, is invariably connected to agriculture and
agricultural systems. |
|
17 |
Control
of agriculture inputs and food distribution channel |
The
supply and trading in agricultural inputs and produce is in the
hands of
a few large corporations. This threatens food security, reducing the
leverage and importance of the first and the last part of the supply
chain - the farmer and the consumer. |
|
18 |
Threat
to individual farmers |
Chemical
agriculture is a threat to their livelihoods and changes their
lifestyles, unfortunately not for the better. |
Source
: Internal inputs and "Return to the Good Earth", Third
World Network
Related
links on this website :
Why
organic farming?
Pesticides
in your food
The
real effects of pesticides
Hunger,
and why technology cannot feed the world
Traditional
agriculture in India : high yields, no waste
Organic
food
Organic
farming and you
Monsanto
Myths
and fallacies about organic farming
Organic
farming in India
Other
issues related to organic farming
General
information on organic farming
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order satavic.org
on CD, click here
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