Industrial Revolution's Negative Impact On Modern Agriculture

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Essay no. 1

The Industrial Revolution brought many new factory jobs in urban areas. This caused a massive rural-to-urban migration primarily in France, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States. These areas formed a need for agricultural products from surrounding rural areas. This is why the Industrial Revolution created a market for agricultural products. The Industrial Revolution impacted modern agriculture production by causing agriculture’s adoption of machinery, pesticides, herbicides, and genetically engineered seeds. Industrial agriculture has had many positive effects on farming. To begin with, machinery made farming far more efficient by doing the work of many people. Some of the most beneficial machines of agriculture …show more content…

First of all, industrial farming is bad for the health of workers and consumers. The herbicides and insecticides used in agriculture are known for poisoning and causing long-term chronic illness. Industrial agriculture produces crops like corn and soybeans, which are later used in processed foods that dominate the average Americans diet. These foods have serious health impacts. The use of antibiotics in livestock has quickened the development of antibiotic-resistant bacteria, which has taken a toll in lives and health care dollars. Secondly, industrial farming has caused horrendous damage to farmland and rural development. Industrial farms do not support the diversity of life that other farms do. In a result of that, the land does not receive ecosystem services such as pollination. Industrial farming treats the fertility of soil as a resource to be overused rather than maintain, and this leads the exhaust of soil fertility. Lastly, industrial farming has caused social and economic impacts. There is a pressure to”get big or get out” within farming. Smaller farms are nearly becoming extinct and this has been bad for the economies of many rural communities. Large farms are destructive to places who receive the fertilizer by-products. “Dead Zones’ receive the damage from large farms with an annual price tag in the …show more content…

First of all, livestocks deal with poor living conditions. The care of livestocks involve the use of various chemicals, growth hormones and crowding in a small space. When livestock is keep in such poor conditions it can lead to infection and disease. Secondly, is the use of agricultural chemicals. When chemical pesticides, fertilizers, herbicides, insecticides, and acaricides not only attack their intended targets, they also contaminate food products. These chemicals not only kill their targets insects, but also the beneficial insects such as bees. Lastly, these foods have high risks on human health. The crops from farms who practice intensive farming are full of imperceptible pesticides. Although we gently clean these products, pesticides cannot be washed away easily. This leads to the indirect consumption of chemical pesticides. These chemicals can lead to physical deformity, skin allergy, and congenital

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