Why Industrial Farms Are Good for The Environment

Industrial farms are normally viewed negatively so to say I was skeptical about how they are “good for the environment” is an understatement. I was intrigued by the idea that large-farms introduction of new technology has “helped make them far gentler on the environment than at any time in history”. I would have never associated this statement with big farms.

Precision farming is definitely a great start to have more sustainable farming and using less fertilizer helps keep nitrogen out of our streams. It’s great that they are trying to re-purpose animal waste by using it for electricity but this still produces a greenhouse gas. I think that it’s important to note that we obviously have better technology today than we did in the 1950s, but there were less people back then. Now farmers need to somehow provide food for 7 billion people, so they try to grow as much food as possible using the less amount of resources.

“Large farms put profit ahead of soil and animal health”. While this may be true in some places, I would have never thought of using clover and alfalfa to help with nitrogen fixation. No matter what we do, we will probably always have to use some sort of herbicide or pesticide on plants in order to protect them against pests. Of course making a more “green” pesticide is desirable and something I think we should be looking into for the future.

For now, I would agree with the author that using a “safer, less toxic herbicide” is better than nothing. GMO’s were mentioned as a positive attribute on farms, but I think they haven’t been researched enough to make a decision if there bad or good. On the more negative side, we probably have all seen the movie Food, Inc., a documentary about how huge corporations have taken over the food industry, the change in American diets and the problem with large-scale animal processing plants. I’m a meat eater but would like to know where my beef is coming from. Because of this, my parents and I have gotten beef at a local small-scale farm where the cows are grass-fed for the past couple of years.

Before becoming environmental studies major, I had never thought about what ethics and morals speak to me. Taking upper classes has helped me think about what I value; my ideas were challenged, which was hard at first to accept but then you start to realize what you have been missing and start to look at the world in a different light. The realization that you are eating a once “living, breathing creature” is disturbing, but as sad as I may feel eating meat; it is engrained in me to do so by my parents. I can and will maybe someday make the switch to eating a plant based diet but I want to wait until I know I’m ready to make the switch.