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The agricultural methods have been changing ever since Industrial Revolution. The concept of the Green Revolution has accelerated the need for agricultural production in the best way possible. Modern agriculture includes a wide variety of agricultural production methods by farmers. Further, about 90% of the farmers today involve in innovative practices to take the agriculture sector ahead. The effects of modern agriculture are so many as it relies on innovation and invention. Many of these methods boost help to the farmers but pose a threat to the environment.
Basic Modern Agricultural Practices
1) Use of intensive tillage
The soil is cultivated chiefly in modern agriculture, and it remains moist. Also, the roots grow faster where more seeds can be planted easily. Intensive agriculture is the growing of both crops and plants. Therefore, it requires higher inputs per cubic meter of agricultural land.
2) Using of synthetic fertilizers
With the growth of so many crops, farmers use synthetic fertilizers to make the crops grow faster. As a result, the use of Fertilizers has increased to ten times, either in liquid or granulated form.
3) Monoculture
When only one crop is grown on the field, it is called monoculture. This makes it easier to grow crops and control weeds. It helps in improving the profitability and cost levels but shows many effects of modern agriculture.
Effects of modern agriculture
1) The problem of soil erosion
One of the many effects of modern agriculture is soil erosion. This is because modern agriculture has converted the lands for monoculture. In addition, the conversion of diversified lands to new agricultural lands has contributed to this problem. The impact on modern agriculture is genetic, and the diversity is also profound.
There have been recent gains in yields with the growth of only major crop plants.
2) The problem with irrigation
Irrigation is a big problem in the field of agriculture. This is the case, especially in arid and semi-arid regions. If there are wrong irrigation problems, it will lead to environmental impacts. There has been a rise in the use of chemical fertilizers. This goes deep with irrigation, where it is collected with other sediments. Excessive irrigation also leads to soil salinity and makes it unfit for agriculture.
3) The contamination of soil due to fertilizers
The effects of modern agriculture start with the use of excessive fertilizers. Nitrate is a highly poisonous gas that is found in drinking water too. So agriculture, when combined with nitrogen fertilizers, cause a lot of problems.
Pesticides also play a harmful role in contaminating the foodstuff that people consume. Nitrate is soluble and contributes to eutrophication.
4) The problem of genetic manipulation
With recent techniques, farmers have been able to manipulate plants. For instance, hybrid plants are planted in sequence with two or more crops. Further, the transgenic seeds contain a lot of coding for frost or herbicide tolerance.
When these seeds are planted with the naturally grown seeds, the impacts will be unknown. This leads to a new perspective leading to adverse effects of agriculture.
Farmers will lose if they don’t follow the modern methods of agriculture. Change is needed even in agriculture, and farming uses the Internet Of Things as part of modern agriculture. The banks and venture capitalists nowadays provide different kinds of loans to farmers for their upheaval. It’s the best time to deviate from conventional practices to modern ones.
Conclusion
Day by day, innovations are coming into the markets. Modern agriculture can be expanded further. With that, the effects of modern agriculture will also be increasing. The farmers should work with the impact to provide quality crops to people.
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