The agriculture brings pollution for society by problems such as eutrophicates, a pesticide and the excessive use of the water. In a study announced in 2000, the estimate of the pollution in the U.K became 2,343 million pounds as of 1996 (208 pounds per 1 hectare). The pollution about cultivation as of 2005 of the United States of America is estimated at 16 billion dollars (from 30 to 96 dollars per 1 hectare), and the pollution to be concerned with stock raising is estimated at 714 million dollars. Both studies are said that internalization of the pollution is necessary, but writes down that the subsidy influences cost of the agriculture for the society without analyzing it about the subsidy. Both studies describe only economical influence purely. The study of 2000 includes a report of the pesticide pollution, but did not consider the influence that the common use of the pesticide gives.
Norman Borlaug develops a revolutionary farming technique and is the person of consequence who saved billions of lives. Kinds that he developed largely increased the cereals amount of production of developing countries and came to be called "father of the green revolution". However, it might be a chance that "Agriculture to affect the environment" occurred.
Today, I will write about causes that agriculture affects the environment.
Stock raising
The environmental researcher, Henning states, "The stock raising is one of the most important causes of today's environmental problem". The stock raising accounts for 70% of total areas that agriculture uses and uses the land of 30% of whole earth. The stock raising is a biggest outbreak source of the greenhouse gas, and 18% of quantity of all greenhouse gas outbreak come from stock raising when they convert it into CO2. By the way, the sum total of the CO2 which means of transportation and vehicle release is 13.5% of the whole. 65% of nitrous oxide exhausted by human activity comes from stock raising (nitrous oxide has the greenhouse effect 296 times as large as CO2 ), and 37% of methane comes from stock raising (the greenhouse effect 23 times as large as CO2). In addition, 64% of ammonia comes from the stock raising and ammonia is a cause of acid rain and the ecosystem's acidifying. The stock raising is considered to be the main factor of the deforestion, and 70% of land cleared and cultivated in the Amazon became the meadows. Through deforestion and cleaning, stock raising reduces biological diversity.
↑a land of the deforestion
Pesticide
The consumption of the pesticide in the whole world increases by 2,500,000 tons every year after 1950, but pest damages of farm products are approximately constant. In 1992, the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that 3 million people caused agricultural pesticide poisoning every year, and approximately 220,000 people became dead by it. A cycle that only a pest with the tolerance for pesticides survives, and more powerful pesticides are necessary is born by continuing using pesticides. The powerful pesticide has a great influence on environment.
There is a plan , "We are able to leave more land on nature by increasing harvest per 1 acre" as the logic that justifies the agricultural methods using the pesticide to prevent famine and follow environment. Experts insist that we should reduce a certain pesticide, and perform the custom of good farmings such as the crop rotation.
↑Using a pesticide
The thing you should be careful most in performing agriculture is damage by the disasters (natural disaster in particular). the disasters have power to spoil the farm products which are made so far at a stretch. For example, there are typhoons, heavy snowfalls, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, droughts.
Natural disaster
The agriculture had received much damage by natural disasters all over the world. The agriculture received much damage by natural disaster all over the world so far. This does not remain only for the damage for the people of the farmer.When farm products are ruined, the thing which people eat disappears.
When food disappears, the people cannot live. Many people will encounter damage. The most greatly terrible things by natural disaster is two.
The first is that we cannot expect when they come clearly. The natural disaster attacks it before people take measures suddenly. If it is snow and a typhoon, some us may predict it, but we cannot predict the earthquakes at all.
The second is that there are few methods of measures for the natural disaster. The power of nature is considerably strong. We cannot but have already seen fields and field crumbles once if they come.
In addition, the natural disaster has various kinds by an area. A lot of tsunamis occur in the coastal area, and there is much damage by earthquakes or the volcanic ashes by the volcanic eruption in the volcano zone. In Japan, typhoons, the heavy snowfalls are generated in addition to tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, too. Japan is a country with considerable natural disaster in the world. However, the great disaster such as the massive tsunami in Southeast Asia, a drought in Africa, the volcano in the Central Asia was caused in all parts of the world. Many farm products, people suffered big damage each time.
The natural disaster may bring the damage to remain until the next for agriculture as well as damage at that time. For example, the land may be the place where people never can't perform agriculture. They take nourishment and the softness of the soil. This is the conceivable worst result.
↓Deluge in Haiti
Reputational Risk
Reputational risk is that reputation not to be a fact gets wide and is people targeted for the reputation suffers various damages. This is the damage that is recovered more slowly than natural disaster, and this is the damage not to readily stop when it spreads out once. In the East Japan great earthquake disaster that happened in Japan in last year, the reputational risk annoyed the people of the damaged area. The reputation that the farm products affected by the radioactivity adversely affect a body of the person spread out in the whole country, and the farm products of the damaged area were not bought at all. Even if an expert denied it in TV, the reputation did not stop.
This is not the damage that is occurred by something. This is the damage that happened by all the nations. Reputational risk are damage to be able to prevent unlike natural disaster. It is necessary for us to think about what we should do.
↓ The farm products of the damaged area
The farm products made in the country distribute all over the world as well as the whole country. Similarly, a lot of farm products imported from the foreign countries appear in the country. Because I cannot write a blog about agriculture of the world, I mainly want to write it about the distribution and marketing of the Japanese agriculture .
As for the old Japanese agriculture, stable management was guaranteed by only producing cereals thanks to protection and the price of farm products guarantee. However, international pressure to press for such an agriculture politics abolition is strengthened and by the trade freedom of farm products by the participation to WTO, these protection gradually decreases and the Japanese agriculture comes to be affected directly from the trend of the grain price in the international market. Because the major company's participating and cheap farm products from foreign countries were imported by the import freedom of farm products, high added value kinds attract attention in countries where agriculture of price competitiveness is low.
In addition, farmhouses only doing production for self increase without shipping it by the aging of the agriculturalist, and the farmhouse shipping to a farm co-op (JA) and market decreases. However, the sales amount of the farm products direct sale place increases nationwide, and the direct marketing to consumers, retail stores and a restaurant are generalized and the market spreads, too.
Because the import freedom of farm products advanced, the market price is affected by the global market and ceases to rise in price as the past, and this is one factor that management turns worse. In late years the food price in the global market soars, but the price of the import food in Japan does not go up too much to advance to the strong yen, and a plan to enlarge the area under tillage to give profit and increase amount of production appears when market price is low, but a suitable fund is necessary to switch it to a large-scale farmhouse and return of a loan is difficult. So the collection of the farmland by the individual management does not readily go ahead. In addition, the new farmland reclamation in the country is difficult and cannot manage the farm of the ha unit, too.
On the other hand, in the United States a ratio of cost of the agriculture among the food expenses in the family budget decreases and cost of food processing, the distribution and the marketing increase. This means that not only productivity of the agriculture improved, but also high value-added foods increased. And the oligopoly advances, and the product of 20 high ranks food company comes to account for overall half in 1995 and doubles in comparison with 1954. Even as for the distribution, oligopoly advanced, and The ratio among the food sale of 6 chains of supermarket high ranks of America became 50% in 2000. In a sense the oligopoly becomes the efficiency improvement, but there may be adverse effects for farm villages.
Crop alteration
The human being had performed crop alteration since several thousand years ago when the civilization began. The human being had changed the structure of the plant so that it became the crops that has a better characteristic for ourselves. For example, it is improvements that fruits and kinds become bigger and keep the tolerance to the drought and become stronger to insects. Crop alteration technology had progressed remarkably since Gregor Johan Mendel discovered a law about the heredity. By achievements of Mendel about the genetic trait, People deeply understood about the heredity and technique of the crop alteration developed.
From 1940s through 1960s, Green revolution happened and the productivity of cereals improved by mass using of introduction and the artificial manure of the high yield kind, and a large quantity of increases in production of cereals got up. In the 1950s, Genetic engineering that makes a mutation rate with X-rays and ultraviolet rays developed . In late years, the genetically-modified crops were created.
↑strawberry to be performed crop alteration
Biotechnology
It is biotechnology to become the main means of the present crop alteration. Biotechnology is the technique that uses various work that a creature has well and utilizes it for life and the environmental conservation of our human being. For example, pharmaceutical products and foods such as liquor, miso, soy sauce, natto, cheese, and yogurt are products made with biotechnology. Including such a traditional "fermentation," there are really various techniques to the advanced technology such as modern "genetically-modified", "clones". Because possibility of various development of this technique was expected, the word "biotechnology" came to be used.
The technique attracting attention most is the genetically-modified crops now. For example, the kind called Roundup Ready have a gene that has the resistance not to be affected even if it is exposed to weed killers. In other words we can kill every weed by a weed killer without affecting the crops if we use the Roundup Ready. The crops with the tolerance to a weed killer are cultivated all over the world. As for the American soybean, 92% of planted area become the kind with the tolerance to a weed killer (the genetically-modified crops).
the genetically-modified crops resisting a pest are developed, and it includes the gene of bacteria producing the toxin which acts on an insect. Such crops are not eaten away by an insect. For example, there is corn called Starlink. In addition, a similar kind raw cotton is made and in United States, 63% of raw cotton become such kind . But there is the person to be able to make a strong kind to pest by the crossing with the crop alteration from before, particularly wild animal even if he does not genetically modify it. The wild animal may become various resistant causes. There is the example that the cultivar of the tomato with the tolerance for 19 blight was made by the crossing with the wild animal.
However, genetic modification has much criticism, too. The genetically-modified crops are brought into question from two points of food safety and environment. For example, "the terminator kind" that prevented the next-generation seed of the crops from germinating is objected to by environmental scholars and economists.
