Write a 2000-3000 essay on agricultural exploitation and human effects on the environment.

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Write a 2000-3000 essay on agricultural exploitation and human effects on the environment. Show how human activities have led to instabilities in population. Examples of use: deforestation, over-fishing, pest control, fertilisers.

Humans rely on earth’s resources for a high quality of life. As the population surge continues, more food has to be produced to meet the high demands of people. However in relying on more and more resources, the population have forgotten to stop and think about the environment. The growth in human population has caused:

  • More waste is being produced.
  • More pollution is being caused.
  • Non-renewable energy resources, such as coal, oil and natural gas, are being used up rapidly.
  • Raw materials are being used up rapidly.

Agricultural production has been rising over the last few decades. Production has been rising due to an increase in the development of various crops and animals, and more intensive methods of farming.

New varieties if crops and farm animals have been developed by artificial selection and genetic engineering. Crops can be genetically engineered to be resistant to pests. Many foods now contain genetically modified organisms. Some humans think that these will help food production and maintain high standards of living for the population. However, there are people that believe that we have the ability to produce adequate food without genetically modified organisms. They believe that the genetically modified organisms should be researched into for long term effects on health and environment.

Agriculture is becoming more and more mechanised and the conditions can be controlled much more than before. On many arable farms machines have replaced labourers almost entirely. Every stage of crop production is carried out by machines. Large amounts of pesticides are used to increase crop yield by reducing competition from weeds and minimizing losses to disease and pests. Inorganic and organic fertilisers keep mineral levels high in the soil. Without fertilisers, heavy harvesting, of most crops would deplete the soil of the minerals. A deficiency of any one mineral limits plant growth. Fertilisers can increase crop yields however above a particular level, the increase in crop yield for each unit of fertiliser used gets less. Worse to that is that if a high over use of fertiliser is used then it will result in a decrease in crop yield and also have the long lasting effect on the environment.

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Among the most intensive forms of farming are greenhouse cultivation of plants and factory farming of animals. Both these methods grow organisms indoor in a confined space under controlled environmental conditions. Growing plants in greenhouses allows conditions such as light intensity, temperature, carbon dioxide concentrations, and mineral levels to be controlled artificially.

Many people are against factory farming due to the following reasons:

  • Intensive cultivation is not cost effective because it relies on the heavy use of fossil fuels
  • Antiobioitcs, pesticides, and growth-promoting substances may harm human health and the environment.
  • Excessive use of antibioticvs ...

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