The Need for a Resilient Agricultural System

Throughout time, humans have pushed forward in every aspect in life in order to improve their living standards, wealth and most importantly the agricultural sector which is the base of every human race. Food is the basic requirement for any individual to stay alive and healthy. In an article by Tamsin McMahon, she states that over the past 60 years, the world population has grown from 2.5 billion to 7 billion while world hunger dropped from 40% down to 15% (McMahon T., July 2012). This shows that our agricultural advances through technology have helped control world hunger and decrease it by more than half, but this is a short-term solution if we want to consider the future generations that depend on our current actions toward the three main pillars of agriculture which are: Health and nutrition, Economy and sustainability all while considering the local small farms and corporate farms.

There is no doubt that climate is a considerable element for the agricultural production. However, along with the climate change, extreme weather tends to be more frequent and more intense that destructively affects framing. As a result, the drought occurred in sub-Saharan Africa became continual and long duration, which resulted in poor harvests. In addition,

On the other hand, the lecturer disputes this point by clarifying the fact that in today’s world, it is attempted that the less original lands cover for agricultural activities. The lecturer explains that the novel agricultural technologies effort to breed more productive crops by which the more food for human is produced.

Agriculture Mitigation actions we can take are rethinking the way agriculture is practiced. Finding ways to reduce reliance on chemical and synthetic fertilizers. Creating incentives to promote the use of renewable energy through modern Ag systems. The concern of climate change and the need to shift to more sustainable system has raised to long standing practices, and conservation agriculture. Another form of mitigation is lowering rates of agriculture expansion. Reduction and more efficient use of nitrogenous

Even though we are only conducting a small scale sustainable agriculture on campus, we wish to achieve the goals for sustainable farming. We want to be sufficiently productive, while using resources efficiently and minimize undesired and unnecessary waste. Moreover, we want to be resilient and adaptable to any changing conditions such as weather, water shortage, and labor availability. Therefore, the main goal of our project is to maximize production with limited resources and

Today’s world is facing many challenges given the growing concerns and current repercussions of environmental climate change and demands of a growing global population. Not only is climate change effecting the worlds ecosystems, human health and fresh water resources, it is drastically effecting the worlds agriculture. Unpredictable weather such, as rising temperatures, colder temperatures, excessive flooding, and droughts are just a few of the increasing weather instabilities, which are challenging and threatening today’s agriculture growth and production. As such, crop yields continue to decline and present a risk to future food security. As a world, we are facing an adaptation deficit leaving us very vulnerable and thus, we must seek to

There are many adaptation strategies for farmers to meet the growing challenge of climate change, such as breed and seed selection, water conservation and adjusting the timing of farming operations. These adaptations along with investment in agricultural production are required to maintain and enhance global food security.

The ability of humanity to adapt to agriculture, new climates is evidence to many that climate change poses fundamental threat to agriculture that clever humans, as in centuries past, will simply adapt agriculture

Prior to reading this week’s course material, I had considered the possibilities of agroterrorism but only considered potential attacks and effects against plant life such as corn. Since corn is a major source of food for people, animals, and bio-fuel such as the 10% ethanol mix in our gasoline, I was aware of the economic factors associated with a disruption in its supply along with the consumer level cost increases and loss of faith in our agricultural system’s security. The difficulty in compromising a sufficient amount of the corn supply in America to achieve the desired goals did not escape me either and I thus ranked the probability of an attack against agriculture as low. The reading this week forced me to look at agricultural vulnerabilities from the perspective of disease

Because human activities and the environment are inter-related, any activity that man does in it’s environment can affect man or the environment in a positive or negative way. Most negative effects on the environment arise from economic or domestic activities, like building homes, businesses, and farms. Traditional farming methods usually give back to the earth what is taken from it. For example, nutrients are placed back into the soil in the form of fertilizers. On most small scale farms, this is what is still practiced. The issue is that industrial agriculture has brought upon methods of farming that are not sustainable. Industrial farming is a way of producing

One of the greatest challenges facing agriculture in the coming years will be addressing global food demand. The rapidly increasing global population that will reach approximately 9.2 billion people in 2050 (Alexandratos et al., 2012) will result in the world needing to double food production in the coming decades (FAO, 2006). There will be an increased need to increase the quality of animal-based food products (meat and dairy) to satisfy consumers (e.g. meat tenderness and colour) and quality in terms of human health benefits especially for those areas where there is severe malnutrition. This must be done while improving the efficiency of the products produced to minimise the effect on the environment. It is therefore

This view is based on two ideas: first, that as more land is used in agricultural production, less land remains for wildlife or other environmental purposes; and second, that less productive agricultural lands are particularly susceptible to environmental damages. The loss of forests and other areas to crop production may be critical in developing countries with expanding cropland

Agriculture is affected by climate change. In the document “As Big Food Feels Threat of Climate Change, companies speak up,” the scientist, Molly Brown, explains the impact climate change has on agriculture. By working with the satellites at NASA, Brown was able to conclude that climate change affects food production. Consequently, Brown’s experience viewing how weather patterns change grain fields and vegetable plots, provided her with that conclusion. For instance, the state of Vermont is experiencing changes in vegetation. During the month of May of this year, farmers had the specific task of planting corn. As a result of changes in the weather, the month of May experiences rain and cold temperatures. Therefore, the harvest was postponed because farmers

Rhoades, R. E., & Harwood, R. R. (1992). A Framework for Sustainable Agricultural Development: Synthesis of Workshop Discussions (p. 107)

Drought is another factor of climate change that causes severe damages to agriculture and livestock. The effects of drought on agricultural production and livestock holding can be a detrimental issue and result in quality dissatisfaction of products. The agricultural industry can be affected by drought both economically and environmentally. The economical effects of drought on crops and animals can lead to the loss of money and time. When droughts occur farmers lose money because they will have to spend more money earned from their