Adopting sustainable agriculture in order to recover the environment

Abstract

Agriculture practices changed drastically proceeding World War II coinciding with the eruption in birth rate that created the generation known as the “baby boomers”. According to Richard Fry, in 1946, 3.4 million babies were born, increasing the population by 20%. This trend continued for several years following the war, and, by 1964, these “baby boomers” made up almost 40% of the United States’ population (Fry 2016). In less than 20 years, the nation’s population had grown by 76.4 million, generating the need to find newer, better ways to produce food in less time, with less land, and less labor than ever before, all of which resulted in the industrial revolution in agriculture. The industrial revolution of agriculture was highly efficient in achieving all of those goals, which were able to be completed due to the introduction of fertilizers and pesticides used in crops, medication and hormones used in livestock, and new farming practices, like monoculture crops. Though industrial agriculture was effective in creating a new food system that could feed such a large population, it was ineffective in leaving the environment in a state in which other organisms could thrive. Industrial agriculture is a main contributor to climate change, destruction of marine and terrestrial ecosystems, degradation of soil, and loss of biodiversity, all of which are threatening the survival of thousands of organisms across the globe. Industrial agriculture is thought to be exceedingly productive, yet nearly 800 million people a year still go starving (World Food Programme 2016). The agriculture system needs to be altered in order to improve the state of the environment by implementing more sustainable growing techniques.