Is Agriculture Finally Cleaning Up Its Act?
It’s no secret that farming is one of the most environmentally-damaging industries on the planet. Not only does it contribute on the order of 12 per cent of the world’s total greenhouse gas emissions, but is it responsible for more deforestation and freshwater usage than any other industry.
Unfortunately, farming isn’t a sector than humanity can learn to live without. So far, there’s no viable alternative to using vast tranches of the Earth’s surface for food production. And with the growing global population hitting 9 billion by the middle of the century, it’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
With that said, there is hope on the horizon. A new generation of farmers is now in a race to develop powerful tools that will allow them to produce food with lower environmental impact. According to data from Science Daily, at least one in three global farmers incorporates some kids of environmentally-friendly practice into their production processes.
The reasons for this are not purely altruistic, either. According to a paper in Nature Sustainability, when farmers use more eco-friendly techniques, they often improve both biodiversity and productivity while lowering their costs. Thus, we could see best practices being implemented throughout the world as the economics change in favour of more sustainable options. Less developed countries are often those that see the highest gains in yields, again pointing to a possible way to avert environmental catastrophe in the future.
So what’s actually happening on the ground? What are farmers doing to lower their impact? Here are some of the ways that the agricultural industry is cleaning up its act and being kinder to the environment.
Water Conservation
If farming is to continue in marginal areas of the planet that receive low rainfall, like the interior of Africa, then farmers need to conserve more water. At present, there’s a risk that excessive freshwater use will deplete natural stocks, leaving whole communities and ecosystems without the water that they need to thrive.
For years, researchers have been looking for ways to reduce the amount of freshwater that farmers use. Ten years ago, they concluded that the only solution was to invest in desalination plants at a considerable cost. Now, though, farmers in the developing world can get drought-resistant seeds, specially engineered to be able to survive without a regular supply of water. Farmers, therefore, can reduce their water usage while being confident that their crops will survive.
Cutting Greenhouse Gas Emissions
Traditionally, farmers had to till their fields when they wanted to plant new seeds, turning the soil over to recycle the nutrients. The problem with this process, though, is that it has a nasty habit of releasing vast quantities of CO2 into the atmosphere. Vegetation under the surface suddenly comes upwards, rots, and then releases greenhouse gases into the air.
Plant biotechnology, however, offers a solution that bypasses the need for farmers to till fields at all. Crops that tolerate herbicide do not require tilling, preventing the release of greenhouse gases into the air. Experts estimate that the technology prevented emissions of more than 28 billion kilograms of CO2 into the atmosphere per year.
Cutting Land Use With Biotech Crops
If you read Food and Farming Technology news, you’ll frequently encounter articles discussing the many ways that farmers are using gene editing and selective breeding to create super crops that provide a higher yield per acre. But while it’s nice to be able to cram more calories onto a patch of land, that’s not why the technology is so important.
The main benefit of biotech crops is that they prevent farmers from having to expand their operations to meet demand. Research suggests that plant science has saved more than 132 million hectares of land from being cultivated since 1992. The world would have required an extra 6.9 million hectares of land for corn production alone.
Better Crop Protection Products
The old approach to crop protection was to spray it with enormous quantities of herbicides and pesticides. Herbicides killed non-crop weeds while pesticides annihilated any insects that might make their way onto the farm.
Needless to say, neither of these practices are environmentally friendly. Nature needs a wide variety of plants and insects to create thriving ecosystems. Constant spraying reducing biodiversity and hurt the local environment.
Today, though, crop protection products have improved substantially. Farmers are increasingly using physical barriers instead of sprays. What’s more, they’re using crop protection methods in smart ways.
Every year, around 35 to 42 per cent of farmland crops are lost to weeds, insects and disease. The hope is that with better crop protection, farmers can get this number down lower. If farmers didn’t use any crop protection at all, the losses would double, forcing farmers to expand land usage by around 40 per cent to keep food supplies the same.
Practices That Preserve The Soil
In many parts of the world, soil erosion is a significant issue. Land loses more soil to the rivers and the ocean than it retains, losing nutrients and quality over time. While the problem is not yet severe enough to affect food production, there may come a time when the prices of nutrient-dense foods rise because the minerals that they need are not widely available in the soil.
Preserving the soil is, therefore, a top sustainability priority on many farms. Agriculturists are looking for methods that they can use to protect the earth on their farms and prevent it from disappearing into the sea.
Current estimates suggest that the world loses around 50,000 square kilometres of soil every year. While the costs of this loss are low at the moment, the world’s farming inudstry knows that if it continues, prices will rise over time, and many farmers will go out of business.
Here again, no-till solutions can help. In Canada, for instance, farmers have begun using special types of herbicide-tolerant canola that allows them to reduce soil erosion by 86 per cent.
In the future, we’re likely to see farmers adopting methods to physically replenish the lost soil, potentially transporting it overland to their fields. The reclaimed soil industry could become big business.
Author: Admin Charlie
Founding member of MoonProject.co.uk
