Introduction:
Agriculture should be seen as an industry in the business of producing food and not as a natural system, and as in all industries it requires materials to be consumed in the production. If not all the materials are consumed in production they may become dispersed into the environment. This agricultural industry can be divided into two major areas, plant and animal production.
The production of plants requires large amounts of water, between 200 and 500 liters per kg of product, and high mineral content in the form of fertilizers. Each hectare of land gets an input of around 100 kg nitrogen, 16 kg phosphorus, and 100 kg potassium. The effects on the environment are determent on the amount used and the farmer’s skill in using the correct application timing and rates. What is not used in the plant production can be dispersed into the environment.
The biggest product of plant production is feed for the production of animals. In this process most of the plant products are processed on the field leaving no containment or control in the process.
This paper discusses the effects of agricultural production on water quality. This is caused as a result of pesticides and fertilizers used to enhanced production ending up in the water. The main focus will be on fertilizer, primarily nitrogen.
The Chemistry:
To reach the output needed to produce a product on the global level agriculture as many industries has gone to chemistry to improve their product. The use of
There are many types of agriculture around me. I live in Arkansas where agriculture is the largest industry, adding around $ 16 billion to the stateś economy annually. Some of the largest agricultural products I see around me are soybeans, cotton, timber, and grain.
Many see agriculture as growing food and feeding cows, but to me that is only the picture of it. Agriculture is full of men, women, and children, who have learned and are being taught the principle of hard work. By growing crops and raising animals, I have begun to learn and apply that principle.
The principal material inputs into the agricultural industry include water, fertilizer, and fuel. A significant
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
to protect the yield of the farmers''' and to support their on-farm work and to reduce their cost of
A farmer is a person who owns a farm and or takes care of it . Farmers normally perform two kinds of professional activities: one is related with animals and the other with plants. The first one includes all the process of breeding livestock, such as cattle, sheep, pig and goats. On the other hand we have the work of agriculture; it consists on the growing of different kinds of plants for human or animal consumption and products used for the development of human life. Nowadays these two activities can be performed separately, and that is why this article is going to be focused only on the
Agriculture is a way by which people cultivate soil for a certain purpose, most often for growing crops. Almost all ancient cultures relied on agriculture as a large part of their diets. However, agriculture does not only grow food, but also materials such as cotton that people can use. People continue to practice agriculture to grow crops to this day. Some of the most popular crops that are cultivated include rice, sorghum, cotton, wheat, hay, soybeans, and corn. Due to these large volumes of produce, the U.S. Government has a Department of Agriculture division to set rules and regulations for crops, ensuring customer safety.
Agricultural production undoubtedly forms the backbone of any nation, through provision of food and raw materials to many industries. However, agricultural practices have direct relationship with water quality. Improperly managed agricultural practices have specifically affected the surface water in lakes, rivers, and other water sources. This has been possible through the increased use of farming chemicals such as pesticides, sediments, contamination by soil nutrients, or even alteration of stream flow. These practices have been more pronounced in horticultural farming, where the increased demand for horticultural products has called for modernized farming practices of using chemical farming (Stefanelli, Goodwin, & Jones, 2010). In addition, use of fertilizers and pesticides, increased tillage practices, irrigation activities, and poor drainage structures have significantly affected quality of water and hydrology.
Agriculture was a cornerstone of human civilization since the beginnings of organized societies. Therefore, the ability to increase the health and yield of crops was always of great interest to civilizations universally. Chemistry can be a great tool in the field of agriculture as is exemplified by the use of fertilizers in modern farming
Have enough food for feeding human around the world leads to the increase of domestic animal product requirement. Ways to gain a vast quantity of product is reducing and preventing factors that cause animal death. Disease is a main challenging problem for agriculturist or producer.
The country 's agricultural products is divided into two main groups: food crops and cash crops produced for home consumption and exports.
Sustainable crop production is when you grow crops in a way where you don’t harm the environment. Which means they don’t get influenced by methods that harm the environment and stick to their eco-friendly practices, treat the workers fairly and will be able to support your local communities with healthy food. Sustainable crop production goes against “industrial crop production” because “industrial crop production” supports monocropping which means to grow only one type of crop in a crop-field year around or longer. Another benefit of sustainable crop production is that over time it is more guaranteeing of have a higher yield compared to industrial crop production.
Water pollution: A problem that almost every person has heard about and even seen in today’s world. Water pollution is causing trouble in aquatic ecosystems across the globe, whether it be problems in aquatic plants, marine life, or even in the water quality itself. There are several different causes of water pollution, however agricultural runoff is one of the more major causes. Everything in agriculture produces some sort of waste and pollution: manure dropped by livestock, pesticides and fertilizers dropped onto crops, the trucks used to transport products from point A to point B, etc. However, it is mainly the animal waste and the chemical runoff that creates pollution in the water. It may not seem like these would cause such problems; Manure is supposed to be a natural fertilizer, and chemicals such as fertilizers and pesticides are supposed to be good for the plants to create better crops. What people do not realize however, is that, like everything else, too much of one thing is a bad idea.
This is the sustainable and conservative method of urban agriculture with the limited access to the clean and unpolluted soils.
The definition of precision agriculture is still evolving as technology changes and our understanding of what is achievable grows. “Over the years, the emphasis has changed from simply farming by soil’’ (Buchan), through variable-rate technologies, to vehicle guidance systems and will evolve to product quality and environmental management. An important effect of precision farming is the high environmental benefit from using chemical and fertilization treatments only when and where they are necessary. These promotions of environmental stewardship are key components for the new approaches in agriculture. Precision agriculture is most often thought of as a method of farm management that uses advanced technology to allow the farmer to produce more efficiently, thereby realizing gains through economical use of resources.