Essay about Agricultural pollution

Since the time of when early settlers arrived in Jamestown, Virginia, farming has proven to be a reliable solution to many crises within the food industry. After all, learning how to farm from the Native Americans saved the colonies from famine during the 17th century. Fast-forward a couple centuries to the 1800s. During the 1840s, commercial farming became a new trend as farmers began seeing quicker production and a bigger profit. The inventions of irrigation and chemical fertilizers also happened during this time. Subsequently, these farming techniques have further influenced the ones today. However, the introduction of organic farming methods has created uproar within the agricultural industry due to its impressive success. Polyface farms have become the leading icon for how organic farming methods can and will be most successful in the journey towards revitalizing the United States’ food industry.

Furthermore, factory farms pollute drinking water sources. Manure and fertilizers are rich in nitrates and phosphates, which are very unhealthy for living things. They pollute groundwater sources by seeping in through lagoons of waste sewage that factory farms create. Lagoons of animal feces and spent fertilizers are a very cheap way of dealing with waste (NRDC). The chemicals travel through the soil to groundwater that the local communities depend on. Ingesting nitrate tainted water will lower the amount of oxygen a person can intake. This can lead to death for infants. Some of the pollutants can reach open waters if they are carried by rain or irrigation water, called runoff. Runoff pollutes ponds, lakes, oceans, and other open bodies of water. Polluted waters with high levels of nitrates kill fish, aquatic plants, and other aquatic organisms because they experience the same problems with oxygen intake. High levels of phosphorus in our waters cause algae blooms in open bodies of water. Algae blooms disrupt the ecosystem in the water and kill the organisms living in the water. They use up all the oxygen in

inhabitance of certain areas. And the process alone is wasting a lot more water than the process

Causes of increased groundwater levels include inefficient and excessive irrigation, river regulation and, the prime cause, the clearing and replacing of deep-rooted native trees for shallow rooted crops and pastures.

Severe water scarcity could be imminent in the not so distant future. Flooding crop furrows has been an inexpensive irrigation method for over six thousand years. Though traditional, it is very wasteful. An excessive amount of the water evaporates into he air, or soaks into the ground while the plants receive very little. The excess water drains into rivers and underground aquifers. The water running from the furrows is polluted with fertilizers. The constant use of flooding creates erosion, waterlogging and salinization of the soil. 40 percent of the world’s food grows on irrigated soil.

It is cited that the largest contributors to water pollution are power plants, pulp, paper and paperboard mills, slaughterhouses and poultry plants.5 In smaller farming operations, contamination is considered “non-point source” because the animal waste and fertilizer of farming are brought into the soil and washed away by rain and into the water supply.6 These

REMIEDIATING AGRICULTURAL WATER CONTAMINATION Remediating Agricultural Water Contamination: Problem, Solution, and Barriers Paper Problem Concerns about water pollution are generally focused towards sources that are highly visible and chemically oriented. However, the greatest causes of water contamination and quantity abuse in the United States come from agricultural production (United States Environmental Protection Agency [EPA], 2012a), which is defined as a nonpoint source that pollutes with nutrients. In 2011, nine

All around the world, countries are fighting to keep their drinking water clean. Whether it’s streams, rivers, or lakes, countries have taken great measures to maintain high quality drinking water for both human consumption and animal consumption. Countries must first understand the sources of the polltion, then determine the best methods to eliminate the pollution. Clean drinking water is a valuable resource and a the key to human survival. Plants and animals also depend on water for their growth, so all water must be kept clean. The major contributors to water pollution can be classified in three categories, industrial, agricultural and municipal.

Less water means farming and other crops that need water to grow have lower yield. Water is needed to ensure food security, to feed livestock, and to conserve the biodiversity and environment.

Current conventional farming practices are also responsible for many pollution problems that would not exist otherwise. The land where we live and grow our food, the water we drink, and the air we breathe are all being contaminated. The large amounts of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers used on our crops are poisoning the soil, air, and water. Toxic heavy metals such

     Agriculture has changed dramatically, especially since the end of World War II. Food and fibre productivity rose due to new technologies, mechanization, increased chemical use, specialization and government policies that favoured maximizing production. These changes allowed fewer farmers with reduced labour demands to produce the majority of the food and fibre.

One of the leading causes of water pollution is from agriculture. Some of the reasons for this are that agriculture is close to most bodies of water, agriculture is the most widespread land use in the U.S., and agriculture uses chemicals and nutrients to improve production. Figures

Pollution is the introduction of harmful substances or products into the environment. It is a major problem in America and as well as the world. Pollution not only damages the environment, but damages us also. It has cause many problems ranging from lung cancer to the greenhouse effect. It is all among us but we continue to live in our own filth. What is the reason behind this flawed logic? In this paper I will examine the problems and solutions for this issue.

Organic agriculture is the oldest type of agriculture there is. Many people don't know exactly what has to be done to say that you are farming organically, these days. Organic Agriculture has been increasing in size over the past few years as more people worry about what they are eating. Many people donít know what it exactly means to be farming organically.

Pollution has become a major issue over the years because it contaminates the Earth’s environment and affects human health. While some environmental pollution is a result of natural causes such as volcanic eruptions, most is caused by human activities. The increase of various types of pollution has made cancer pollutant more prevalent among the people, raising the risk of getting cancer. After being exposed to theses pollutants, the effects may be immediate or delayed. Some of the delayed effects, due to the exposure, can go unnoticed for many years. Another major issue that pollution creates is the tremendous cost for preventing and cleaning it up. However, we can not regulate the pollutants to the extent where there are no more possible