Modern Intensive Agriculture: Impacts on then Environment.

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Charlotte Seaman.

Modern Intensive Agriculture: Impacts on then Environment.

   Intensive agriculture is the primary subsistence pattern of large scale populous societies. It is the result when much more food is being produced per acre. The first intensive agricultural societies were the ancient civilisations Egypt, India, North China, and Western South America. Today intensive agriculture is the primary food production pattern in all developed nations except those too cold for any form of farming outside of the greenhouse. Over the last century, large scale agricultural techniques have spread rapidly throughout the world with introduction of machines driven by internal combustion engines and the availability of commercially produced fertilisers, pesticides and herbicides.

  The use of expensive mechanised farming equipment is to reduce labour costs and increase production.

  There are many reasons why agriculture has had such an impact on the environment. Throughout my essay I will be looking at these reasons.

    Genetically Modified food (GM) is most commonly used to refer to crop plants created for human or animal consumption, using the latest molecular biology techniques. These plants have been modified in the laboratory to enhance desired traits such as increased resistance to herbicides or improved nutritional content. Genetic engineering can create plants with the extract desired trait, both accurately and rapidly. For example frost can destroy sensitive seedlings, an antifreeze gene from cold water fish had been introduced to plants such as tobacco and potato, and with this anti freeze gene these plants are able to tolerate the cold temperatures that would normally kill unmodified seedlings.

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  Crop losses from insect pests can be staggering resulting in devastating financial loss for farmers and starvation in developing countries. Farmers typically use chemical pesticides annually. Consumers do not wish to eat food that has been treated with pesticides because of potential health hazards. Growing GM food such as Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t) corn could eliminate the application of chemical pesticides. B.t is a naturally occurring bacterium that produces crystal proteins that are lethal to insect larva; B.t crystal protein genes have been inserted into corn, enabling the corn to produce its own pesticides against insects.

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