What is intensive farming?
It's the use of modern farming practices that have radically increased the efficiency of farming in order to produce more food from the available land. in other words in intensive pig farming, for example, the animals are confined to tiny cages where they can hardly move but in extensive farming, they can roam freely and there are much fewer pigs per hectare.
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| Modern Agriculture and Fishing |
Why do you think intensive farming is used more now?
The human population has increased so much since the industrial revolution. that we now need to feed more people with the same or less available land. the process has had to become more efficient. intensive farming is beneficial to humans as it increases the availability of food and therefore increases food security. It produces higher yields in a more efficient way so that it can be sold at cheaper prices.
However, it's controversial because of its environmental impact and raises questions about animal welfare.
So let's think about what the advantages and disadvantages of intensive farming are:-
So the advantage would be it's not labor-intensive so fewer people are needed to work on the land. food can be sold cheaply as it's grown quicker using fewer resources. food can be produced all year round not just in seasons. a greater variety of food can be produced and less land is needed so fewer natural habitats are destroyed.
Disadvantages would be it uses fertilizers which can cause eutrophication. it uses pesticides which can accumulate in the food chain and become toxic. it raises questions regarding animal rights. systematic treatment of farm animals with antibiotics has increased the amount of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. so it's harder to treat humans for these infections. in order to understand more about intensive farming, we need to think about food chains.
Food chains
Food chains show how energy is passed between organisms but some energy is lost at each trophic level of a food chain. do you know why only 10 percent of the energy consumed by an organism is passed on to the next trophic level? the remaining 90 percent of energy is lost during movement as heat in growth and in feces.
Intensive farming reduces this energy loss and here's how. the efficiency of food production can be improved by limiting the transfer of energy from food-producing animals to the environment. this means more energy will be available to humans for their food.
One way of doing this is to keep animals indoors so they have limited space for movement so less energy is wasted in moving their muscles. this is controversial as animal rights suggest the animals should be allowed outdoors with enough space to move around and show their natural behavior.
Limiting the space available to the animals can place them under stress. additionally, the small pens or cages cannot be cleaned frequently which leads to animals standing in their own waste and so increasing their risk of infection.
Temperature controlled buildings
Pigs are kept in temperature-controlled buildings so they will transfer or lose less heat to the environment. they will use less energy in maintaining a constant body temperature. so more energy will be available for humans in their food. they are also fed high protein food to increase growth which is not the natural diet of a pig.
Intensive farming of crops involves the use of chemicals called pesticides and fertilizers. pesticides kill pests. these can include insects that would normally feed on the crop. fertilizers increase plant growth. however, both of these chemicals can have negative effects on the environment.
Pesticides can bioaccumulate in the food chain and become toxic to the top predators. if fertilizers are washed into streams rivers and lakes they can cause eutrophication which leads to the death of aquatic organisms. so not only are humans over exploiting the land we also have a negative impact on the sea.
In some countries, fish are now caught by very large boats called trawlers that take tons of fish out of the sea every day. the fish is processed and packaged on the boat ready for sale. these ships can stay at sea for weeks at a time.
Modern fishing techniques have led to overfishing and have had a dramatic impact on aquatic ecosystems. 90 percent of the large predatory fish that used to live in the oceans are now gone. so the next time you have a meal have a think about where your food has come from and how the process involved in making it has impacted the environment.