Environmental Impacts Of Agricultural Technologies

Excess pesticides can end up in the water supply due to runoff water or seepage through the soil.

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

Leaching of pesticides, herbicides and other Argo-chemicals, these chemicals are the overriding causes of agricultural pollution owing to the numbers of invasive pests, weeds, and diseases. They're highly toxic and have the potential of remaining in the environment for ages. When it rains, these chemicals will leak

through. The chemicals are then able to move through the ground and into many vital water

Human activities such as the use of fertilizers in yard soil contribute to the accumulation of nutrients. When using fertilizers, the ground can only absorb so much. The use of excess fertilizers on crops allows for nitrogen to vaporize in the atmosphere through a process called volatilization (Olascoaga, 2010). Crop fertilizer also leaches nitrogen into groundwater, which eventually ends up in the ocean. When the ground is at its maximum absorbance, high concentration levels are obtained and carried through the waste system into rivers. Another factor is sewage from the increasing human population. Septic tanks are widely used unless a household is connected to wastewater treatment plants. Septic tanks purify waste by leaching the waste through soil. Storm water runoff is another source of nutrient for algal blooms. Rainfall picks up nutrients from yards and flushes these nutrients into

Although the amount of pollutants from a single town or construction site may seem insignificant, the combined concentrations of contaminants threaten our lakes, streams and wetlands. When things such as: human and animal waste, decaying plants and animals, discarded litter, or food waste enter surface waters, either dissolved or suspended in stormwater runoff, they can deplete the supply of dissolved oxygen in the water. When dissolved oxygen is reduced below a certain critical level, it can impair or kill aquatic plants and animals (CNYRPDB, 2011).

Georgia’s rich history of agriculture is most notably depicted through the invention of the cotton gin by Eli Whitney and Catherine Greene which significantly increased cotton yield to 50lbs per day. Agricultural technology has propelled society forward; from population increase, a broader job market, in addition to increasing the overall yield of crops. Modern technology is to be credited for our ability to develop more efficient and sustainable ways to improve agriculture, like through the use of crop and soil sensors that help Georgia farmers cater to the specific needs of their crops, in addition to research being done to combat the damaging effects of soil depletion in Georgia.

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), "High levels of nitrogen and phosphorus in our lakes, rivers, streams, and drinking water sources cause the degradation of these water bodies and harm fish, wildlife, and human health." In the 2000 National Water Quality Inventory, states reported that agricultural nonpoint source (NPS) pollution was the leading source of water quality impacts on surveyed rivers and lakes, as well as the second largest source of impairments to wetlands, and a major contributor to contamination of surveyed estuaries and groundwater. Agricultural activities that cause NPS pollution include poorly located or managed animal feeding operations; overgrazing; plowing too often or at the wrong time; and improper, excessive or poorly timed application of pesticides, irrigation water and fertilizer. Since the 1960s, the high input of agriculture production has resulted in the surplus of nitrogen and phosphorus in farm fields, which run off into surface waters. High concentrations of nitrates and phosphates in surface waters could lead to eutrophication and instability of the aquatic ecosystems. Eutrophication is caused by the over-enrichment of water with phosphates and nitrates, a problem that has become a widespread in rivers, lakes, estuaries, and coastal

Water pollution can affect every body of water that is linked to the source, because water tends to travel everywhere due to the water table. Water contamination comes from multiple sources, such as dumping waste, which is a direct way. There is also indirect pollution, such as runoff from pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers soaking into the ground and moving with the ground water into rivers. Ethanol crops are large

In detail, as air gets mixed in with the water and soil, the soil begins to decompose creating peat. (Sourced: Wiki). When groundwater gets removed it compacts the layers where water was in between causing it to deteriorate. The extensive ground-water pumping, but also and not limited to oil and gas extraction has caused an increase in the occurrence of flooding which badly damages developed or developing

Since the beginning of mankind, we have become dependent on animal products as a food source. As population increased, so did the production of animal agriculture and its profitability. Unfortunately, it has grown into an industry that is unsustainable for this planet and is demolishing our environment at an astonishing rate. In the academic article, ‘Cowspiracy’ Strips the Meat Industry Down to the Bone, Ford reports the shocking statistic that “even if all utilities were turned off and every fossil-fuel-guzzling system of transportation ceased immediately, environmental damage that results from greenhouse gases would be irreversible…even with humanity’s greatest efforts, the dairy and meat industries will still eventually destroy life on Earth”. As the environment is at its most crucial and devastating point, the major contribution that animal agriculture has on rainforest deforestation, pollution of our water, and global warming becomes undeniable.

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

Everyday pesticides are dumped into our environment. Over time most of the pesticides make thier way to a source of water, whether it's groundwater or a body of water. According to Lewis Regenstein author of "America the Poisoned" two thirds of the nation's lakes have serious pollution problems. 80% of 3,700 urban lakes in the United States are destroyed. More than 94 million residents could use these lakes for recreational use or for a source of water (169). Cincinnati's drinking water contains about 700 chemicals. 90% of them did not exist 20 years ago. The main sources of most of these chemical pollutants are municipal sewage, industrial discharges, and runoffs from farming areas. There are also several other chemicals in America's drinking water. Although hazardous, there are approximately 60 chemicals that are mixed into water in the process of treating it. Unlike rivers or lakes, underground supplies are not processed at treatment plants before being used by humans. "More than one hundred million of our citizens depend in a whole or in part on underground as sources of drinking water (Beck qtd. in Regenstein 172). Once groundwater becomes contaminated, there is usually no way to clean it.

The largest source of contamination is runoff from land. Toxic runoff can be sewage, rainwater flowing over exposed topsoil, flooding or agricultural runoff. Rain can cause runoff of chemicals or waste that can seep into creeks, rivers and other waterways that lead to the ocean. Some of the chemicals found could be antibiotics or waste from animals, pesticides from crops or from pollutants, originating in the air, which have settled on land and washed away. Unless a solution to pollution runoff is found, this type of contamination will continue indefinitely and contribute to the deterioration of the ecosystem in the

Agriculture in the United States has changed dramatically over the centuries. Since the 1960’s large commercial farms have been leading in sales. As a direct result of their success we, as a society, have access to affordable food. However, the success of large farms has lead to many negative impacts such as increased usage of resources and decreased diversity in crop fields. This begs the question, what can be done to reduce the negative impacts of large farms. One solution growing in popularity is sustainable agriculture. The idea of sustainable agriculture is to create farms that need little to no outside help from irrigation, pesticides, or fertilizers. Sustainability can be achieved in many way through