Agriculture & Global Overview
The pesticide manufacturer lobby is one of the strongest in the world. Even our minister of Agriculture, Carola Schouten, has been secretly voting pro pesticide manufacturers, when our House of Representatives have voted against them.
In April, Follow The Money described how the Netherlands had lingered at the lobby of pesticide manufacturers. Subsequently, Minister Carola Schouten (Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality) was pressured by the House of Representatives to make e-mails public about the Dutch contribution to the negotiations on the Bee Guidance, the European guideline to better protect bees.
These newly unlocked e-mails show that our country has argued in Brussels to lower the level of protection for bees. It is about adjusting the "threshold values" in the Bee Guidance: standards that determine when a pesticide is considered safe or potentially dangerous for bees. The Netherlands wants to determine the threshold values with a different calculation model: Beehave. That model was co-developed by Syngenta, a pesticide manufacturer.
Based on Beehave, the level of protection for bees can be greatly reduced. This is stated by the Brussels lobby group of the agrochemical industry ECPA in an analysis that was shared with the European Commission in June 2017. The Commission has now prepared an "implementation plan" stating that the threshold values will be revised, possibly on the basis of the Beehave model.
The House of Representatives adopted a motion on May 21 in which it called on the government not to agree with this implementation plan. Minister Schouten announced that she nevertheless wanted to agree to that plan. In the meantime, the minister is hanging over a motion of distrust because she would have incorrectly informed the House about the Dutch contribution to the negotiations on the Bee Guidance.
We are waiting for more news on this current subject.
Agriculture & The Climate Crisis
Animal agriculture is very important in our fight against the climate crisis as it’s responsible for 51% of our global warming.
The world must reduce its greenhouse gas emissions from animal agriculture and improve its food production system into more sustainable practices in order to achieve climate change goals.
But climate crisis is just one of many pressures on agriculture. The growth of population will also play a role in this fight and create tensions on the agricultural sector.
With our water supplies running low, our food chain being poisoned by pesticides and seeds being patented, we need to be very aware about the complications.
A brief History
Without a time machine, it’s impossible to know the exact date on which the first human held a seed in his or her hand and thought: “If I plant this in the ground, I’ll know exactly where to find food in a few months.”
What we do know is that sometime around 8,500 BC, humans in the Fertile Crescent (an area that stretches through modern-day Egypt, Israel, Turkey and Iraq) slowly started to plant grains, instead of gathering them in the wild.
By 7,000 BC, they also began to domesticate animals such as sheep, pigs and goats. A thousand years later, they domesticated cattle.
Before the advent of agriculture, humans were nomadic, traveling constantly in search of wild animals and grain. With the rise of agriculture as a predictable, centralized source of food, they suddenly had an incentive to stay put. Cities began to form.
Over the next 8,500 years, agriculture evolved relatively slowly. Through trial and error, farmers around the world began to breed better plants.
They naturally noticed that not all plants within a species were the same. Some grew larger, tasted better or were easier to grind into meal. They simply began to save seeds from the best plants and sow them for the next year’s harvest.
Over hundreds of generations, this led to the transformation of wild plants into the larger, tastier grains and vegetables we know today.
During the Bronze and Iron Ages, stone and wooden tools were replaced by stronger, more efficient metal tools. However, farming remained a time- and labor-intensive pursuit that involved nearly 80% of the world’s population.
From 800 to 1400 A.D., the tools of farming remained essentially unchanged. The early colonists in North America used plows that were no different or better than the plows used during the Roman Empire.
Then suddenly, during the 18th and 19th centuries, agricultural innovation exploded. Plow design was improved and an Englishman named Jethro Tull invented the world’s first seed drill, a device that allowed seeds to be planted quickly in neat, straight rows. Horse-drawn, mechanized harvesting equipment—like Cyrus McCormick’s reaper—quickly followed.
Farmers could now plant and harvest in a fraction of the time is used to take them. Agricultural productivity soared.
During the 20th century, gasoline-powered machines began to replace traditional, horse-drawn equipment. This, combined with advancements in fertilizer and pesticide technology after World War II, allowed agricultural productivity to take another leap forward.
The new technological efficiencies meant farmers could manage more land. Over time, this led to fewer, larger farms. For developed countries, it also led to a shift in the labor force. In the United States, for example, the percentage of the workforce engaged in farming dropped from 40% (in 1900), to just 2% (in 2000).
Because fewer of us lived on farms, it became easier to forget how crops were grown, processed and shipped. In the more developed countries, at least, food became an available, affordable commodity that came from “somewhere else.”
Between 1900 and 2012, the world’s population grew from 1.6 billion to more than 7 billion. In 1700, only 7% of the earth’s surface was used for agriculture. Today it is more than 40%. And only a portion of land that is left is currently suitable for growing crops.
Clearly, agriculture is at a crossroads. The world needs to produce more food than ever before, while conserving the limited resources we have available. Where we go from here will require the ingenuity and cooperation of farmers, companies, governments, universities and citizens alike.
Climate Change
Animal agriculture, livestock and their byproducts, actually account for at least 32,564 million tons of CO2e per year, or 51 percent of annual worldwide GHG emissions. This makes it more than transportation emissions, and almost as much as the industry.
In 2012, agriculture was responsible for over 10% of total greenhouse gas emissions in the EU.
Changing consumption patterns is not currently on Europe’s agenda, but the European Commission is working on reducing the impact of agriculture on global warming.
But why such a high number?
First, because of agricultural activity itself: plowing emits CO2 into the soil, rice and livestock produce large amounts of methane and deforestation reduces the transformation of CO2 into oxygen. Agriculture uses fossil fuels and fertilizers, and changes the land use, with deforestation and desertification of fragile areas. These changes alter the earth's ability to absorb or reflect heat and light, and create the effect of “global warming”.
Despite its relatively high contribution to greenhouse gas emissions, agriculture is not yet subject to the emission ceilings imposed by the Kyoto Agreement on the fight against climate change. Governments are not inactive, and the OECD supports their efforts through analysis, advice and the exchange of information that they offer.
Secondly Agricultural emissions are mainly related to livestock and chemicals (pesticides, GMOs, fertilizers etc.).
It is difficult to have an exact idea of what’s going on, especially when a large part of deforestation is due to livestock or large-scale farms (for pasture, to produce soybeans for animal feed, or for palm oil plantations), but also because of the complexity of these sectors.
For example, according to the FAO, 37% of human induced methane comes from livestock. Although methane warms the atmosphere much more strongly than does CO2 (25 to 100 times more harmful than CO2 and with a warming potential 86 times bigger than CO2) is the main problem in the agricultural sector. More than 70% of agricultural activities are related to livestock, to feed them or directly the exploitation of animals.
Livestock are also responsible for 65% of the global emissions of nitrous gases, that are 296 times more harmful than CO2. But even if livestock produce more methane and nitrous gases, they also emit a lot of CO2.
For example, in 2016, the world's three largest meat producers together emitted more CO2 than France. This is a statistic from a study by the Heinrich Boell Foundation and the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy.
But livestock is not the only problem, chemicals that farmers use are very harmful for the planet and play a big role in climate change. These products have a direct impact on our emissions, and can be, for the most dangerous ones, 1400 times more harmful than CO2 and stay 150 years in the atmosphere. Moreover, these products, in addition to direct emissions, produce a phenomenon called “erosion” which has a direct impact on the global warming effect.
Effects on the environment
The phenomenon of erosion is the disappearance of nutrients and minerals of the soil due to the disappearance of plants, trees, insects etc. These complex biodiversity system in our soils gets destroyed due to the poisonous chemicals pesticides have. What’s more, without this rich soil system plants or trees can’t grow. We can now find big areas without vegetation; because of chemicals used to grow plants for agriculture.
GMOs are also a main reason for biodiversity loss. We know that these products are made to resist pesticides and kill insects that can be harmful to our plantation. So, if you use GMOs, there is a big chance that you are using pesticides as well. In addition to kill insects, GMOs are also responsible for the loss of fruits and vegetables varieties. Indeed, when you combine 10 species of tomatoes into a single one, you lose 9 species. This is how GMOs works, they keep only the useful varieties of each and combine everything in one.
Also, emissions, in big quantities, attract radiation from the sun, and with the reflection process, atmosphere temperatures keep rising. We all know the effects of global warming, like the disappearance of species, more natural disasters, but these effects could also affect the agricultural sector and create problems in the long run.
Effect of climate change on agriculture
Indeed, by its nature, the agricultural sector is very sensitive to climatic changes. Especially since current cropping systems, like monocultures, require a stable climate and ideal conditions. Some farmers have very specific needs and grow only in limited geographical and climatic conditions. So bad point for industrial agriculture. And paradoxically, because industrial agriculture is particularly harmful by contributing to climate change.
Some of the key anticipated impacts of climate change for agriculture will include decreased annual rainfall, increased frequency of droughts and flooding, and increased risk of pests and diseases.
Climate changes therefore directly threaten the global food industry. And its effects are already felt, especially in Africa where food prices may increase by 12 to 70% before the end of the century. In few decades, extreme weather events and unusual weather conditions are likely to become more common. It is to face these natural disasters that we must build a more resilient agricultural system.
For instance, increasing atmospheric temperatures lead to the proliferation of insects that decimate crops. Already in Champagne, the harvest takes place two weeks earlier than twenty years ago.
These changes could affect agriculture and food industry severely in the next years, with the growth of our worldwide population, we will certainly face one of the biggest challenges that humanity faced.
In line with projected population growth and changes in dietary habits in favour of higher meat consumption, the global demand for food is expected to grow by up to 70% in the coming decades. Agriculture is already one of the economic sectors with the largest environmental impact. This substantial increase in demand will unsurprisingly create additional pressures. How can we meet this increasing global demand while at the same time reducing the impacts of European food production and consumption on the environment?
This week at the Conscious Club we will tackle all the important issues and threats caused by agriculture. The main topics are:
Agriculture & Energy
We need food and clean fresh water to produce our food. Due to the growing demand for human activities, on the one hand, and climate change on the other hand, many regions, particularly in the South, have difficulties to find the amount of freshwater needed to fill their needs. How can we continue to cultivate without taking into account nature? More efficient use of water in agriculture would certainly help.
But water is not the only point that we have to improve in the agricultural sector. Agriculture is responsible for a big part of energy spending and have a lot of processes to improve. Issues in this sector are very important if we want to reach our goals, in the field of climate change, but humanity already has some solutions in his hands.
Agriculture & GMOs
Just what are genetically engineered foods, and who is eating them? What do we know about their benefits and their risks? What effect might engineered plants have on the environment and on agricultural practices around the world? Can they help feed and preserve the health of the Earth's burgeoning population?
In the past decade or so, the biotech plants that go into these processed foods have leaped from hothouse oddities to crops planted on a massive scale. Applications shows that more than 18 million farmers in 26 countries, including 19 developing nations, planted over 185 million hectares (457 million acres) of GMO crops in 2016. This represents a 3 percent increase over 2015, and the highest area of biotech crop adoption since cultivation began in 1996
Agriculture & Planet
When we speak about agriculture and its impacts on the planet, we have to speak about intensive agriculture which is the real threat for the environment. Appeared in the 50s, in USA, intensive farming has continued to develop since this period and appeared in Europe in the 60s. Increased profitability for producers, lower costs for consumers, followers of economic liberalism were in love with this new production system. But this process is full of negative externalities and start to become dangerous for our health and our planet in general.
Agriculture & Mineral Depletion
The degradation of our soils, due to human activities, today, can harm our well-being. It causes the extinction of species and accentuates climate change. It also contributes to the displacement of populations and the multiplication of conflicts. A major part of this soil depletion is due to the lands over-use and the products that we pour on it. We can consider that agriculture is responsible of 80% of the soil degradation in Europe and scientists estimate that 40% of lands in Europe are already degraded because of human actions.
Agriculture & Chemicals
Chemicals, in agriculture, are used in all steps of the plant growth, from the seed to the final product. A chemical, in the agricultural sector, is a product that is manufactured using industrial processes, to help plant growth and control crop pests (insects, weeds, worms, fungi...). The use of chemicals or pesticides started in the last 1870s, in USA. This phenomenon and high scale agriculture came at the same time and are nowadays one of the major threats for humanity.
A pesticide is a chemical substance with the goal of destroying one or more species of living beings. The most common are herbicides (against weeds), insecticides (against insects) and fungicides (against fungi). What are the underlying dangers?
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Sources:
https://www.monsantoglobal.com/global/ph/improving-agriculture/Pages/a-brief-history-of-agriculture.aspx
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https://phys.org/news/2018-06-history-agriculture.html
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https://theconversation.com/climate-change-will-reshape-the-worlds-agricultural-trade-102721
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