Agriculture, Industrialized

Yield Gains Versus Ecological Problems

One of the basic systemic tendencies in the industrialization of agriculture is to simplify farm environments—reducing biological diversity on a range of scales, from extensive monoculture fields and massive animal factories to soil micro-biota and plant and animal genetics—in order to replace labor with technology and standardize methods of production. When coupled with the heavy use of inputs and scientific innovations in crop breeding (“enhanced seeds”), this transformation was associated with phenomenal yield gains, particularly in the 1960s and 1970s. But this should not obscure the fact that nature is an uncooperative partner in the construction of scale economies in agriculture and that mechanization and homogenization of farm environments lead to a host of inexorable biophysical problems.

Monocultures and mechanized plowing, planting, and spraying increase vulnerability to soil erosion and nutrient loss, such that industrial farms are often described as mining the soil. To address the chronic degradation of soil fertility, industrial farms require regular application of external inputs, most crucially nitrogen and secondarily phosphorus and potassium, which come overwhelmingly from inorganic chemical sources. [Page 44]The yield gains of industrial agriculture throughout the 20th century are inconceivable apart from the soaring production of inorganic fertilizer, in particular the natural-gas-dependent manufacture of synthetic nitrogen fertilizer (the Haber-Bosch process), which accounts for almost 60% of the world's total fertilizer consumption. Inorganic fertilizers also have the advantage of getting absorbed more quickly by plants than do most organic sources, which enhances the consistency of nutrient uptake, especially when coupled with irrigation. However, inorganic fertilizers ultimately rest on a nonrenewable resource base and are hence only a temporary fix for the soil problems of industrial agriculture.

Biological homogenization also increases the problems posed by pests, weeds, fungus, and disease, which entail the use of a range of petrochemical-based pesticides, herbicides, and fungicides. This dependence is compounded by the notorious treadmill effect, which describes the need for protracted chemical usage as natural predators and controls are eliminated and for new chemicals to be introduced as resistance develops over time. High-yielding, high-input crop varieties have necessitated massive expansions in irrigation infrastructure and water usage, as well as the unsustainable drawdown of underwater aquifers, most famously the vast Ogallala Aquifer, which underpins the productivity of the arid Midwestern United States.

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