Farming In Markham

Farm to table can keep the environment clean. Taking food on long distances, “Eating local food benefits the environment by reducing the pollution caused by transporting food over long distances” (“Local Food Movement: Should people attempt to eat locally produced food?”). Additionally, If we could get the U.S. to be all locally grown, the environment would stay clean for the plants and animals. If we can keep the environment without pollution, the land

Besides the environmental factors, another point would be that small farms benefit greatly when consumers buy locally grown foods. Small, locally owned farms

o Paving open space and converting farmland to commercial and residential development reduces our capacity to produce food products, decreasing food availability and increasing food prices throughout the world.

In his paper, Pollan discusses the reliance on fossil fuels for agriculture, public health issues, and food security problems. He proposes policy that promotes alternative, local farming. Lyson describes a shift from craft to mass production, the consolidation of farms, and the disembedding of agriculture from the community. He discusses how civic economies challenge the market based agriculture system. Kloppenburg discusses how our current foodshed is built on a market economy and distances people from their food sources. Berry describes the problems of land consolidation, the industrialization of agriculture, and a culture of distancing people from farms. He proposes instituting more community based food systems. Although these authors discuss important economic, social, and environmental problems

The availability of labor has increased while the cost for it has decreased. The workers in the more rural areas spend less money for their living quarters since the rural area is less compact than the metro. With the change in location the type and quality of agricultural land will change.

It relies heavily on expensive fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides. The cost of food could be significantly lower with the reduction of monocropping. Monocropping increases the cost of food by having a large area of land producing only one type of crop, this means that only that crop will be readily available in that area and all other produce will have to be shipped in. Monocropping is beneficial for the farmers growing heavily subsidized crops like corn, wheat, or soy. Farmers are able to turn a profit on commodity crops, no matter how much is bought and what price the crop is sold for. Farm subsidies are known to benefit the larger farms the most. Agricultural subsides inflate the price of farmland. Most US citizens don't see the true cost of their food, from 1995 to 2012 the US Government spent $18,563,609,563 on corn subsidies. The Government has spent $9,508,633,852 on wheat subsidies and $8,179,977,437 on soybeans. From 1995-2012 there has been $57,592,341,340 spend on food subsidies and there has been 35,789,071 policies passed regarding food subsides. The US population was 361.1 million people in 2012, in order to pay for the cost of the food subsides each person would need to pay $182.20, that number includes unemployed individuals, children, and those below the poverty line. In addition to the ludicrous amount of tax dollars spent on farm

Farmlands are being lost for the creation of new highways, fringe industrial parks and sprawl housing developments. The loss of farmland would minimize our capability to grow fiber and food. The increase in property tax due to the pressure of urban development has forced farmer to lose their business. They inevitably have to sell their farmland for different type of housing development. U.S. Census of Agriculture reported a decline in farmland acres from about 938.3 million in 2002 to about 922.1 million in 2007, a loss of 1.7 percent. The loss of farmland would reduce the quality and quantity of food supply due to the possible shortcoming

Factory farming allows food to be delivered around the world. Ogle, Maureen. Factory Farmers earn more of a profit than regular farmers, because they can kill and ship their animals faster. Because food has become cheaper to process and produce, farm owners can make some investments in raising and growing more varieties of livestock and plants than before.“List of Top 19 Factory Farming Pros and Cons. Factory farming is less dependent on human labor. Which does not lead to less employment because someone has to take care of the machines. Factory farming uses modern technology, so it has freed farmers from manual labor constraints. Now, willing laborers will only be picked for tasks that really require them, while a few individuals just use machinery to do more than their hands can ever could.“List of Top 19 Factory Farming Pros and

Due to the high land the temperatures are low, this means that the growing season is short so arable farming is not possible. There are high amounts of rainfall due to the altitude, resulting in relief rainfall, and also the low pressure systems which are brought in over the Atlantic. The high precipitation waterlogs the soil and washes away the nutrients- leaving the soil infertile. Furthermore, the steep hill sides of U-shape Valleys and pyramidal peaks are not suitable for machinery or cultivation.

Land Pollution can have detrimental effects on soil and the health of organisms. It can be described as the destruction of Earth’s land surface through misue of land resources. It occurs when waste is not properly disposed of or when humans use chemicals such as pesticides and fertilizers. Solid waste can also cause land pollution. Landfills are a prime example of this because waste is deposited there and will not decompose for thousands of years constantly polluting the land. The carrying capacity of some ecosystems has been lowered because of land pollution. The industrial revolution is really what gave rise to the major increase in land pollution and ever since habitats have been destroyed and environments have been polluted. Land Pollution can cause various types of cancers, human respiratory problems, and skin problems. There are currently 3,091 active landfills in the United States.

We can save energy by purchasing locally grown and produced foods. The energy used to transport foods from all over the world is extremely high. By buying locally, we can save fuel, as well as help out our community economically. Eating local means, more money stays within our community. Every dollar spent generates twice as much income for the local economy. Local produce is fresher and tastes better because it is usually sold within 24 hours of being picked. If we buy produce at a conventional grocery store, it may have been kept in storage for days or weeks. When we buy

The human population is increasing and so is the amount of food we consume; each year food consumption increases 0.5% per person and less than half of the global grain we produce, is directly consumed by humans, this is because the rest goes to feed farm animals. However, factory farms are using more than they can produce, considering the fact that animals are being fed 6 kg of plant protein and in return are only producing 1 kg of animal protein, this also means other people are getting less food.  With the human population increasing farmers must grow crops to meet the rising food demand. However, to increase the number of crops produced we need more farmland, which can lead to deforestation and animal habitats being cut down or burnt. So far 38% of the world is covered by farmland, and the area is still expanding. Each year, 12 million hectares of land is lost to deforestation and it is predicted in 2050 more than 120 million hectares of natural habitat in developing countries will be covered in farmland, to meet the food demand. When deforestation is done to create new agricultural land, the crops that replace the trees also act as a carbon sink, but they are not as effective as forests.

Another disadvantage to urbanisation is that it has a negative impact on the natural environment. Acres and acres of land has to be cleared to construct new infrastructure and this may lead to serious consequences. Such include increase risk of floods because the concrete in urban areas reduces infiltration to zero. The expansion of urban areas puts pressure on the natural habitats of certain indigenous and endemic animal and plant species. This may cause the extinction of entire biomes and ecosystems putting at risk the possible mass extinction of humans if the there are no regulations implemented during the process of urbanisation. Another disadvantage includes air and water pollution which stem from factories and other manufacturing

For example, many argue that it will benefit the economy and lead to an increase in jobs. However, this could not be further from the truth. In fact, research has shown that not only will one worker replace three in the way of jobs on the farm, but it will eventually decrease property values. Towns are primarily funded by property taxes, and this will therefore hurt the economy.

It also can harm the animal and vegetal spicies, extinguishing them in a worst scenario. Socially, as consequence of the loss of land it would result in crowded population and health implications: air polluiton, pests and diseases, and tremendous ease of propagation, as same as decrease the production of edible resources, less job oportunities for the population; therefore, adversely affect the global economy.