Business and the Environment in Agriculture - Essay Example

Business and the Еnvirоnmеnt Name Institution Course Tutor Date Sector: Agriculture Historical background and overview of the sector Agricultural sector is a sector, which is associated with development of many countries from the way it contributes to the economy. Agricultural sector is associated with activities that lead to degradation of the environment. Agriculture is an activity that was started a long time ago in the ancient times when man was engaged in hunting, fishing, and collecting of wild fruits. There came a time and man started cultivating crops in the field in order to get more yield from what was available from the natural plantations (Browne, Barret, Morrissey, & O'Gara, 2013, 615). There has been cultivation of natural crops without addition of any chemicals in the agricultural fields and then with time, chemical was introduced in the agricultural practices. This comprises the quality of soil whereby in order for a farmer to harvest good and efficient yield one has to add manure and fertility chemicals in the soil. Ultimately, addition of chemicals and cultivation of genetically modified crops, as well as rearing animals using animal feed that is added some chemicals leads to impact in the environment. Use of chemicals and cultivation of chemically associated crops and animals leads to emission of green house gases and environmental impact, as well as effects in human health. In the current world, there has been increased production of genetically modified food, which entails involvement of chemical in the agricultural activities. Sustainable agriculture is a type of agriculture where activities are conducted with the aim of producing in a manner that does not lead to degradation of the environment or affecting the community livelihood (Ferreira, Pardini, Metzger, Fonseca, Pompeu, Sparovek, & Louzada, 2012, 537). It is evident hat agricultural activities might lead to degradation of the environment and effect to human livelihood if not conducted in a careful manner. Apparently, agriculture sustainability is very essential because agriculture of the back born of development of many nations. Reason for choice of this specific sector The choice of this sector in this discussion is from the fact that agriculture is very important and it supports development of other sectors because of is material contribution to the economy. In addition, agriculture is a sector that is found in all regions across the world where people engage into agricultural activities in one way or another (Perlatti, Forim, & Zuin, 2014, 1). It is clear that many sectors benefit from agricultural sector, for instance, tourism, which depends on the nature of agriculture since majority of tourism activities involve plantations and animals, which are directly associated with agriculture. In addition, mining is also related to agriculture because they are both conducted in the ground. Additionally, the financial sector benefits from agricultural activities, which generate revenue (Browne, et al. 2013, 623). Nevertheless, retail and service sectors could also be conducted in collaboration with agricultural sector. It is clear that agricultural sector is highly depended on by many nations because food is very essential in growth and development where people have to eat in order to be productive and in order to conduct activities in other sectors. It is widely realized that when people engage into sustainable agricultural activities, this might lead to general environmental sustainability, thus improvement of human health and production of quality products. Major challenges, relating to sustainability, facing the sector Agriculture sustainability is faced with a number of challenges associated with the effort of trying to improve the environmental sustainability. It is perceptible that the currently practiced agricultural activities are threat to the agriculture (de Oliveira, Campos, Bakshi, Abhilash, & Fraceto, 2014, 1552). This is because people introduce chemicals into their lands or soil when planting crops. In addition, rearing of animals is done through usage of feeds with chemicals to enhance fast growth and maturity of the animals. Ultimately, this leads to climatic changes and environmental impact. Climatic change leads to reduction of worldly food supply, for example, maize, wheat, and fish. It is clear that one the environment is degraded, human health is put into danger. Introduction of chemicals into the lands leads to poor quality of the water, soil, air, as well and biodiversity (Perlatti, et al. 2014, 3). This is because spraying of chemicals on the crops leads to air pollution, and when the rain comes, the chemicals from the crops and from the soil is carried away to the water sources (Tilman, Balzer, Hill, & Befort, 2011, 20261). In addition, once chemicals are introduced into the soil, the fertility is compromised and the soil fails to be productive without addition of the chemicals. Consequently, production of food and other agricultural products goes down. Additionally, the social, environmental, and economic pressures challenge agriculture sustainability, thus the need of application of value resources. It is evident that world population continues increasing; hence, increased demand for food. The agricultural sector is faced with challenges associated with changes in the rainfall patterns, floods, drought, as well as dishing in the services (Lee, Clay, & Clay, 2014, 213). Technology and labeling are other challenges to the agriculture sustainability. The changing technology affects the agricultural sector since it is supposed to change its systems with the changes in technology. The poor quality of soil because of alkalinity and salinity is a challenge in production of food and undertaking of agricultural activities. There is a challenge associated with topsoil depletion and decline of the family farms. Competition associated with the usage of natural resources because of urban expansion, usage of water in the industries, and use of the land for recreational purposes are challenges to this sector. There is also the issue of immigration of people, diseases affecting crops and livestock, as well as occurrence of invasive species. The issue of implementation of policies prepared to enhance sustainable agriculture is a challenge because not all people are ready to change their farming systems. Driving business sustainability in the sector The driving business sustainability in the agriculture is associated with strengthening of the range and agroforestry, youth development, emergency preparedness of the agriculture. There is also management of the agrifood business, agrologist network in regions, waste management, environmental initiatives, and programs, and farming activities (Powlson, Gregory, Whalley, Quinton, Hopkins, Whitmore, & Goulding, 2011, 73). There has to be collaboration among the local government, agricultural industry, as well as the society. There should be solution to the land use problems. In addition, the systems involved in the food and agricultural production are supposed to be environmentally sustainable and ensuring that agricultural practices leads to quality improvement (de Oliveira, et al. 2014, 1557). It is necessary to address the issue of factors leading to climatic changes because climatic change highly affects the agricultural sector. It is necessary to ensure retention of nutrients in the soil and avoid addition of chemicals that are likely to lead to nutrient reduction and environmental degradation. Increased growth of population and problems associated with human health because of effect of environmental degradation leads to the need of engaging in activities enhancing agriculture sustainability. Economic pressure and increased demand for tourism drives to the need of sustainability in the agricultural sector. The need of conservation of the available resources and labour automation, as well as diversification leads to application of a solution to climatic change (Lee, et al. 2014, 217). There is also the need of direct marketing agro-tourism, and value addition, as well as appropriate determination of the economics, fruit quality, pests, water use, fertilizers, and mulches during food production. There should be reduction of herbicide in order to deal with the problem of ground water contamination. Goals of farmers, as well as lifestyle choices should be considered where a farmer has to decide on the best practices and technology to apply in the agricultural activities (Ferreira, et al. 2012, 540). The need of world food security, management of the natural resources, water, and land is a driving force to practice of sustainable agriculture. In addition, system resilience, environmental protection, and application of efficient resource usage requires sustainability of the agricultural activities. There is the need of protection of the rural livelihoods, natural resources, and human well-being (Perlatti, et al. 2014, 7). Benefits of sustainability in the sector Sustainability if the agricultural sector has been of great benefit to the sector. This is because it enabled efficiency usage of the available resources. There is also improvement in quality production because of minimal negative externalities. There has been a great improvement in the environmental quality and human well-being (Lee, et al. 2014, 224). This is because of reduced emission of waste in the environment, which reflects to improvement in the health of people. Pollution to the environment from agricultural industries greatly reduced. The issue of climatic change pest infection and diseases to the crops has reduced because of reduction in emission of green house gases. There has been production of safe foods and rearing of quality livestock because of application of eco-friendly agricultural practices (Perlatti, et al. 2014, 9). There is experience of satisfaction in relation to fiber needs and human food because of efficient application of on-farm resources and non-renewable resources (Tilman, et al. 2011, 20263). In addition, the sector has benefited from improvement of the farm operations viability. It is clear that the economy has improved because there is no spending of finances trying to eliminate problems associated with practice of unsustainable agriculture. In addition, farmers experience improvement in their farm income because of promotion and availability of community and family farming. Sustainable agriculture leads to improvement of the animal welfare because of feeding animals with feed that do not compromise their health. This leads to enhancement of quality life to the future generations (Powlson, et al. 2011, 76). References Browne, P., Barret, M., Morrissey, J. P., & O'Gara, F. 2013. Molecular‐Based Strategies to Exploit the Inorganic Phosphate‐Solubilization Ability of Pseudomonas in Sustainable Agriculture. Molecular Microbial Ecology of the Rhizosphere: Volume 1 & 2, 615-628. de Oliveira, J. L., Campos, E. V. R., Bakshi, M., Abhilash, P. C., & Fraceto, L. F. 2014. Application of nanotechnology for the encapsulation of botanical insecticides for sustainable agriculture: Prospects and promises. Biotechnology advances, 32(8), 1550-1561. Ferreira, J., Pardini, R., Metzger, J. P., Fonseca, C. R., Pompeu, P. S., Sparovek, G., & Louzada, J. 2012. Towards environmentally sustainable agriculture in Brazil: challenges and opportunities for applied ecological research. Journal of Applied Ecology, 49(3), 535-541. Lee, S., Clay, D. E., & Clay, S. A. 2014. Impact of herbicide tolerant crops on soil health and sustainable agriculture crop production. In Convergence of Food Security, Energy Security and Sustainable Agriculture (pp. 211-236). Springer Berlin Heidelberg. Perlatti, B., Forim, M. R., & Zuin, V. G. 2014. Green chemistry, sustainable agriculture and processing systems: a Brazilian overview. Chemical and Biological Technologies in Agriculture, 1(1), 1-9. Powlson, D. S., Gregory, P. J., Whalley, W. R., Quinton, J. N., Hopkins, D. W., Whitmore, A. P., ... & Goulding, K. W. T. 2011. Soil management in relation to sustainable agriculture and ecosystem services. Food Policy, 36, S72-S87. Tilman, D., Balzer, C., Hill, J., & Befort, B. L. 2011. Global food demand and the sustainable intensification of agriculture. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 108(50), 20260-20264. Read More