Mega Farms :: essays research papers

Mega Farms cause On WaterWater pollution has been an increasing problem all over the last hardly a(prenominal) years. Pollution itself is when a substance or push is introduced into the soil, air, or water in a concentrate. Pollution generates in many forms agricultural, urban runoff, industrial, sedimentary, animal wastes, and leeching from landfills/septic systems just to name a few. These pollutants atomic number 18 very detrimental to the environment. Whether they are alone or combined with other form of pollution they are very harmful. Over the last snow years the problems with pollution have been increasing with time. This is due to both the amplification in human population, and the increases in technology we have made as a society. If we plan on having our resources here for many years to come we are going to have to make some drastic changes in the way we treat the earth, and these changes will have to start with our pollutants. (Jones,1993,pp.4-15)Agricultural po llution is a very big contributor to water pollution. Problems we see with floriculture are applications of fertilizers, insecticides, and pesticides. We have made vast improvements in the types of chemicals we are using, as to how environmentally friendly they are. In 1985 the amount of fertilizer added to Americas fields was 11.5 cardinal tons. Not only do these chemicals leech in to the soil, but they are also swept off the soils by rainwater and wind. When these fertilizers reach the water there is a sudden boom in plant growth. When the plants die, bacteria that need oxygen to make love eat their bodies. This starts to spend the amount of oxygen in the water for other fish and animals to live and breath, and they end up dying. Besides the chemical contamination on the get up there are major problems with animal wastes. (Jones,1993,pp.39-60)Over the last 30 or so years there has been an increased demand for food. Foods worry pork, chicken, turkey, and beef. With the deman d for meats, there is also an increased demand for grains to feed these animals. So more land is needed to grow the feed, less space is getable for the feedlots. More and more of these feedlots have been popping up over the landscape. And the amounts of animals crammed into the bittie spaces are also increasing. There can be as few as 50 to as many as 7 million in a single confinement.