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Lead Section (edit + image)
editThe environmental impact of agriculture is the effect that different farming practices have on the ecosystems around them, and how those effects can be traced back to those practices.
The relationship between the environment and agriculture can be evaluated by a means based method, or an effect based method. The means based evaluation looks at farmers' practices of agriculture, and the effect based evaluation considers the actual effects of the agricultural system.[1] For example, means based analysis might look at pesticides and fertilization methods that farmers are using, and effect based analysis would consider how much CO2 is being emitted or what the Nitrogen content of the soil is.[1]
The actual effect of agriculture on the environment is still up for debate.
Sustainable agriculture (edit)
editSustainable agriculture is the idea that agriculture should occur in a way such that we can continue to produce what is necessary without infringing on the ability for future generations to do the same.
Agriculture can have negative effects on biodiversity as well. It is believed by many that conventional farming systems cause less rich biodiversity than organic systems. Organic farming has shown to have on average 30% higher species richness than conventional farming. Organic systems on average also have 50% more organisms. This data has some issues because there were several results that showed a negative effect on these things when in an organic farming system.[2]
The opposition to organic agriculture believes that these negatives are an issue with the organic farming system. What began as a small scale, environmentally conscious has now become just as industrialized as conventional agriculture. This industrialization can lead to the issues shown above such as climate change, and deforestation.[3]
Conservation Tillage
editConservation tillage is a alternative tillage method for farming which is more sustainable for the soil and surrounding ecosystem. [4] This is done by allowing the residue of the previous harvest's crops to remain in the soil before tilling for the next crop. Conservation tillage has shown to improve many things such as soil moisture retention, and reduce erosion. Some disadvantages are the fact that more expensive equiptment is needed for this process, more pesticides will need to be used, and the positive effects take a long time to be visible.[4] The barriers of instantiating a conservation tillage poliy are that farmers are reluctant to change their methods, and would protest a more expensive, and time consuming method of tillage than the conventional one they are used to.[5]
- ^ a b van der Werf, Hayo M. G; Petit, Jean (2002-12-01). "Evaluation of the environmental impact of agriculture at the farm level: a comparison and analysis of 12 indicator-based methods". Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. 93 (1–3): 131–145. doi:10.1016/S0167-8809(01)00354-1.
- ^ Bengtsson, Janne; Ahnström, Johan; Weibull, Ann-Christin (2005-04-01). "The effects of organic agriculture on biodiversity and abundance: a meta-analysis". Journal of Applied Ecology. 42 (2): 261–269. doi:10.1111/j.1365-2664.2005.01005.x. ISSN 1365-2664.
- ^ Baker, Keli, "The Truth About Organic: Sustainability, Practice, and Perception" (2015). Undergraduate Honors Theses. Paper 826.
- ^ a b "Conservation tillage | ClimateTechWiki". www.climatetechwiki.org. Retrieved 2017-05-02.
- ^ Holland, J. M. (2004-06-01). "The environmental consequences of adopting conservation tillage in Europe: reviewing the evidence". Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment. 103 (1): 1–25. doi:10.1016/j.agee.2003.12.018.
Peer review
edit- Caroline Hall: Overall, looks good. Make sure to cite definitions (like for sustainable agriculture). Add something in your biodiversity section about how farming impacts biodiversity- migration patterns, habitat destruction, etc. Maybe link to an article on organic farming or explain more what the difference is between organic farming and conventional farming. I would also add more to your statement "The actual effect of agriculture on the environment is up for debate." Some quotes here, or just a summary of different positions people take could be helpful. Conventional vs. organic farming could be a great place to incorporate the 4 Es our professor wants us to include.
- Wentao He: Overall a good expanding to the original article. A few pictures would definitely help to clarify things a bit more. I think sentences such as "This data has some issues because there were several results that showed a negative effect on these things when in an organic farming system" needs some backup evidence or you need to list those results in the text to further clarify. Maybe a chart that compares different farming systems can make things more clear.
- Comment Jprather18 for class
- Overall good edits, with appropriate sources. The edits your are making seem to be bettering the article and helping expand upon the content. With edits to the lead and sustainability sections, the increased information will help with the richness of the article. The only critique I have is to make sure you have multiple sources to confirm the 30% and 50% numbers you intend to use. Multiple credible sources to confirm these numbers are appropriate will be crucial and will allow other editors to back check your numbers. With only one source for these numbers, other editors might find another source to back up other numbers, but if you have multiple sources, the ability for other editors to over ride your edit will be more difficult. Overall good job.
- Isolari:
- +1 to Caroline.
- I think "means based" has a "-" in between.
- Add more Wikilinks: "Tillage", "Ecosystems", etc.