scholarly journals CHANGING AGRICULTURAL PRACTICES AND IT’S SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL INFLUENCES

2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (46) ◽  
pp. 11289-11295
Author(s):  
Reena Trivedi

Agricultural technology advancements are continuously taking place in India, as the progress of agricultural sector directly impacts a major proportion of population and its living condition. Farmers are interested to adopt new inventions and technologies in agriculture. Modern agricultural practices are significantly affecting human health and environment. The release of greenhouse gases such as carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide are adversely affecting biodiversity and increasing air, water and soil pollution. Agricultural residue management, use of pesticides and insecticides, inorganic manure, chemical fertilizers leads to harmful effect on human health and increasing environmental pollution. Recent agriculture trends emphasizes on enhancing agricultural production in terms of quantity in less time, overlooking its adverse affects. In this paper we have analyzed the negative effects of modern agricultural practices on human health and environment. It leads to decline in soil fertility, loss of biodiversity, climate change, air, water and soil pollution, environmental degradation etc. Our farmers are now adopting modern agricultural techniques, using chemical fertilizers, pesticides, insecticides, expanding irrigation facilities, using high yielding varieties of seeds, modern machines, varying crop sequences etc. But these efforts of expanding food supply in less time is taking place at the cost of human health and environment degradation. Spray of harmful chemicals on crops not only pollutes underground water and air but also bad for human and animal health. Non harmonious, unwise and unsustainable agricultural practices have a considerable impact on environment and also harmful for living beings.

2021 ◽  
Vol 31 (Supplement_3) ◽  
Author(s):  
M Jevtic ◽  
C Belis ◽  
C Bouland

Abstract The WB Green Agenda (WB GA) aims to implement the GD principles in this region and has defined five priority areas: climate, energy, mobility; circular economy, pollution reduction, sustainable agricultural and food production, and biodiversity. Some of the WB GA goals are strongly related to health: e.g. the continent's carbon neutrality by 2050, the ambitious climate policy, the reform of energy and transport sectors. The launch of the EU CP is an important opportunity for the WB to promote action in this area. For instance, promoting energy efficiency and supporting building renovation are directly related to the quality of life and hygiene of housing. Reduction or cancellation of coal subsidies as well as the region's withdrawal from the use of coal is of great importance for reducing externalities. In the WB, citizens are concerned about their health due to air, water and soil pollution and their reduction is in the common interest. To that end, it is necessary, inter alia, to: ratify the Convention on Long-range Transboundary Air Pollution and its protocols in each of the WB economies; to implement air quality strategies; and to strengthen air quality monitoring systems (and network accreditation). Appropriate processes are needed to reduce water and soil pollution, as well as to ensure the transformation of the agricultural sector. It is also necessary to harmonize the agricultural and food sector with EU standards for food safety, plant and animal health and environmental protection. To achieve the WB GA goals it is important to develop policy strategies based on the most up-to-date scientific studies for this region (JRC, 2020). On the basis of the analysis presented in this study we conclude that the processes associated with the GD and the CP will be of benefit for both individual and public health in the EU and in the WB.


Agriculture ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vítor João Pereira Domingues Martinho

The evolution of the agricultural sector around the world has generated positive and negative externalities at social, economic and environmental levels. These impacts from the modernization of agriculture would not be, themselves, problematic if the global balance were positive, in sustainable development. However, in some cases, the negative externalities overlap the positive outcomes, namely in soil pollution from the application of fertilizers and crop protection products. From this perspective, the main objective of this study is to explore the relationships between the two following topics: soil pollution and agricultural economics. For this a literature survey was performed from the Web of Science platform based on these two topics put together. From the Web of Science, 45 studies were found and were clustered and explored first through the software VOSviewer. The literature explored with this software was clustered into three groups and shows that the studies related with these topics highlight, namely, three aspects: the problem in question, the benefits and the losses. After this network analysis, the several documents were studied deeper through literature review. Agricultural policies, farmers perceptions, stakeholders’ involvement, farms’ multifunctionality, sustainability and adjusted agricultural practices are all questions to be taken into account in the feedback between soil pollution and agricultural economics.


2016 ◽  
Vol 82 (24) ◽  
pp. 7197-7204 ◽  
Author(s):  
Getahun E. Agga ◽  
John W. Schmidt ◽  
Terrance M. Arthur

ABSTRACTConcerns have been raised that in-feed chlortetracycline (CTC) may increase antimicrobial resistance (AMR), specifically tetracycline-resistant (TETr)Escherichia coliand third-generation cephalosporin-resistant (3GCr)E. coli. We evaluated the impact of a 5-day in-feed CTC prophylaxis on animal health, TETrE. coli, and 3GCrE. coli. A control group of cattle (n= 150) received no CTC, while a CTC group (n= 150) received in-feed CTC (10 mg/lb of body weight/day) from the 5th to the 9th day after feedlot arrival. Over 25% (38/150) of the animals in the control group developed illnesses requiring therapeutic treatment with antimicrobials critically important to human medicine. Only two animals (1.3%) in the CTC group required such treatments. Fecal swab and pen surface occurrences of genericE. coli(isolated on media that did not contain antimicrobials of interest and were not isolated based on any specific resistance), TETrE. coli, and 3GCrE. coliwere determined on five sampling occasions: arrival at the feedlot, 5 days posttreatment (5 dpt), 27 dpt, 75 dpt, and 117 dpt. On 5 dpt, TETrE. coliconcentrations were higher for the CTC group than the control group (P< 0.01). On 27 dpt, 75 dpt, and 117 dpt, TETrE. coliconcentrations did not differ between groups. 3GCrE. colioccurrences did not differ between control and CTC groups on any sampling occasion. For both groups, generic, TETr, and 3GCrE. colioccurrences were highest on 75 dpt and 117 dpt, suggesting that factors other than in-feed CTC contributed more significantly to antimicrobial-resistantE. colioccurrence.IMPORTANCEThe occurrence of human bacterial infections resistant to antimicrobial therapy has been increasing. It has been postulated that antimicrobial resistance was inevitable, but the life span of the antimicrobial era has been prematurely compromised due to the misuse of antimicrobials in clinical and agricultural practices. Direct evidence relating the use of antimicrobials in livestock production to diminished human health outcomes due to antimicrobial resistance is lacking, and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has taken an approach to maximize therapeutic efficacy and minimize the selection of resistant microorganisms through judicious use of antimicrobials. This study demonstrated that prophylactic in-feed treatment of chlortetracycline administered for 5 days to calves entering feedlots is judicious, as this therapy reduced animal morbidity, reduced the use of antimicrobials more critical to human health, and had no long-term impact on the occurrence of antimicrobial-resistantE. coli.


Agronomy ◽  
2022 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 140
Author(s):  
Efimia M. Papatheodorou ◽  
Nikolaos Monokrousos

Agricultural practices involving the excessive use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides pose major risks to the environment and human health [...]


Geoadria ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (2) ◽  
pp. 97
Author(s):  
Anica Čuka

Conventional agriculture is among the biggest polluters of the environment. Overuse of synthetic pesticides, herbicides and mineral fertilisers have caused soil exhaustion, erosion, unbalance in the ecosystem, and their harmful effect on human health has been proven. This is why the author tried to point to the importance of development of organic agriculture, and olive growing as a traditional agricultural sector in coastal Croatia.The main intention is to show the basic geographical aspects of coastal Croatia and to explain the ways it can influence the development of organic olive farming. It is specially emphasized that organically produced food must be incorporated in Croatian tourist offer. It will stimulate a bigger interest for Croatia as an attractive tourist destination in the world tourist market and will simplify the sale of organically produced food. Development of organic olive farming will also contribute to the revitalisation of small villages where a strong presence of negative processes, such as deagrarisation, deruralisation and demographic regression is evident. 


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (14) ◽  
pp. 6481
Author(s):  
Marianna Martinello ◽  
Chiara Manzinello ◽  
Nicoletta Dainese ◽  
Ilenia Giuliato ◽  
Albino Gallina ◽  
...  

Member states of the European Union are required to ensure the initiation of monitoring programs to verify honey bee exposure to pesticides, where and as appropriate. Based on 620 samples of dead honey bees—42 of pollen, 183 of honey and 32 of vegetables—we highlighted the presence, as analyzed by liquid and gas chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometric detection, of many active substances, mainly tau-fluvalinate, piperonyl butoxide, chlorpyrifos and chlorpyrifos-methyl, permethrin and imidacloprid. Among the active substances found in analyzed matrices linked to honey bee killing incidents, 38 belong to hazard classes I and II, as methiocarb, methomyl, chlorpyrifos, cypermethrin and permethrin, thus representing a potential risk for human health. We have shown that, at different times between 2015 and 2020, during implementation of the Italian national guidelines for managing reports of bee colony mortality or depopulation associated with pesticide use, pesticide pollution events occurred that could raise concern for human health. Competent authorities could, as part of a One Health approach, exploit the information provided by existing reporting programs on honey bees and their products, in view of the close correlation to human health, animal health and ecosystem health.


Author(s):  
Jessica A. Rubin ◽  
Josef H. Görres

During this 6th Great Extinction, freshwater quality is imperiled by upland terrestrial practices. Phosphorus, a macronutrient critical for life, can be a concerning contaminant when excessively present in waterways due to its stimulation of algal and cyanobacterial blooms, with consequences for ecosystem functioning, water use, and human and animal health. Landscape patterns from residential, industrial and agricultural practices release phosphorus at alarming rates and concentrations threaten watershed communities. In an effort to reconcile the anthropogenic effects of phosphorus pollution, several strategies are available to land managers. These include source reduction, contamination event prevention and interception. A total of 80% of terrestrial plants host mycorrhizae which facilitate increased phosphorus uptake and thus removal from soil and water. This symbiotic relationship between fungi and plants facilitates a several-fold increase in phosphorus uptake. It is surprising how little this relationship has been encouraged to mitigate phosphorus for water quality improvement. This paper explores how facilitating this symbiosis in different landscape and land-use contexts can help reduce the application of fertility amendments, prevent non-point source leaching and erosion, and intercept remineralized phosphorus before it enters surface water ecosystems. This literature survey offers promising insights into how mycorrhizae can aid ecological restoration to reconcile humans’ damage to Earth’s freshwater. We also identify areas where research is needed.


Agriculture ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 374 ◽  
Author(s):  
Patrick Nyambo ◽  
Chiduza Cornelius ◽  
Tesfay Araya

Understanding the impacts of agricultural practices on carbon stocks and CO2 emission is imperative in order to recommend low emission strategies. The objective of this study was to investigate the effects of tillage, crop rotation, and residue management on soil CO2 fluxes, carbon stock, soil temperature, and moisture in the semi-arid conditions in the Eastern Cape of South Africa. The field trial was laid out as a split-split-plot design replicated three times. The main plots were tillage viz conventional tillage (CT) and no-till (NT). The sub-plots were allocated to crop rotations viz maize–fallow–maize (MFM), maize–oat–maize (MOM), and maize–vetch–maize (MVM). Crop residue management was in the sub-sub plots, viz retention (R+), removal (R−), and biochar (B). There were no significant interactions (p > 0.05) with respect to the cumulative CO2 fluxes, soil moisture, and soil temperature. Crop residue retention significantly increased the soil moisture content relative to residue removal, but was not different to biochar application. Soil tilling increased the CO2 fluxes by approximately 26.3% relative to the NT. The carbon dioxide fluxes were significantly lower in R− (2.04 µmoL m−2 s−1) relative to the R+ (2.32 µmoL m−2 s−1) and B treatments (2.36 µmoL m−2 s−1). The carbon dioxide fluxes were higher in the summer (October–February) months compared to the winter period (May–July), irrespective of treatment factors. No tillage had a significantly higher carbon stock at the 0-5 cm depth relative to CT. Amending the soils with biochar resulted in significantly lower total carbon stock relative to both R+ and R−. The results of the study show that NT can potentially reduce CO2 fluxes. In the short term, amending soils with biochar did not reduce the CO2 fluxes compared to R+, however the soil moisture increases were comparable.


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