The United States Food Production System’s Effects on Environment
A food production system for a diet that is so centered on animals uses a lot more resources. For example, it takes more water to produce a pound of meat than it does to produce a pound of grain, vegetables, or fruit. According to the research of John Robbins it takes 23 gallons of water to produce a pound of lettuce, 25 gallons of water to produce a pound of wheat, 49 gallons of water to produce a pound of apples, 815 gallons of water to produce a pound of chicken, and a whopping 5,214 gallons of water to produce just one pound of beef. At this rate, aquifers are being depleted very quickly. Yet many people try to conserve their water use in their own home. However, the water conservation efforts of individuals have such a small dent that by comparison, “you may save more water by not eating a pound of beef than you would by not showering for six entire months.” Grazing can also contribute to soil depletion if the land is overgrazed. With the plants and grasses gone, the soil is left bare and its nutrients are easily washed away. Resources that could have been used for humans are used for animals. Most of the grains grown today are to feed animals that will soon be our food. The food production system could be safer for the environment if people ate a more plant centered diet.
Using so many pesticides in agriculture today also harms our environment. Many of these pesticides pollute our water supply. Residues of these pesticides may also end up in predatory animals through biomagnification. Part of the solution is to find methods to use fewer pesticides. However, it is also important to realize that many farmers would be opposed to any risks that insects might take over their crops. So another part of that solution is then to find safer pesticides to use on the crops. We need to develop pesticides that would not harm predatory animals or humans that may consume pesticide residues. Regulations on developing new pesticides have created “a serious slowdown in the development of the very kinds of pest-management tools that both environmental activists and farmers have wanted most.” The new and safer pesticides take so long to approve that it is often easier to continue use of the more dangerous chemicals. Procedures for testing involved also require a lot of money. Making it difficult for safer chemicals to come onto the market results in the continued use of more harmful chemicals in the environment. Continued use of pesticides in our current ways may have many harmful effects on the environment.
There is some potential for genetically engineered crops to harm the environment as well. Genetically engineered foods may spread their altered genes onto the wild varieties of the same plant. According to an article in Scientific American “U.S. landscape logistics make it unlikely that herbicide-tolerant or Bt crops will spread their biotech genes.” However, there have been cases of genetically engineered crops spreading their genes to plants of the traditional varieties. These genetically modified crops may contaminate organic crops by cross-pollination. Yet rather than apologizing to farmers for destroying their valuable organic crops, “Monsanto has been suing farmers whose crops have been contaminated by cross-pollination, accusing them [. . .] of stealing a patented product.” Since we know that these genes can be spread to other crops of the original variety, it is reasonable to assume that if these crops were placed near wild varieties transgenic DNA may soon be found in them. This could be a bad thing if such varieties were failures. Once the genetically modified plants have been introduced, there is no taking them back. It is important to first make sure these plants are not only safe, but are effective. If the plants are made to resist insects, they must stand the tests of time. Insects may later become resistant to these crops and then the original genetically modified crops and those plants that were contaminated will all be vulnerable. Without more testing and time, it is hard to know what damage we are doing to our environment with genetically engineered crops.
Today’s food production system in the United States could hardly be deemed safe for the environment. With a few changes, we may be able to move towards a safer and more sustainable system. We need to work towards conservation of resources in agriculture. A shift in the diet of Americans may be needed to conserve our current resources. A lessened dependence on pesticides would also benefit the environment. At the very least, we need to shift to using less harmful pesticides. The harmful effects of genetically modified organisms also need to be researched further before introducing so many new variants of species into our environment. Without changing our ways, we are only going to damage our environment further. Changes to our food production system could greatly benefit the environment.
