How might farmers pollute the environment?

Answer 1

Although unintentional farming and agriculture has a few flaws that can pollute the environment..... chemical pesticides, fertilizer runoff and animal runoff are the top three offenders. The use of fossil fuels to harvest/plant crops is negligible as most everyone does drive a car or take some mode of transportation that uses a fossil fuel... train, car, bus.

The worst problem is fertilizer runoff that is high in phosphorous. If it merely drains into the ground, natural cycling of the water table NORMALLY filters this before many of us consume our tap water. The exception being if you have a well near a farm with this problem. Even worse is when the same runoff goes directly into a mjor water source such as a lake. The phosphorous provides nutrients that feed algae which in turn bloom on top of the water and block sunlight to the aquatic plants. Stopping the process of photosynthesis kills the aquatic vegetation and starves the waterbody of oxygen, in turn killing fish, and other aquatic life... shellfish, mollusks, etc. This is not limited to farms, as suburban regions that have heavy populations and routine professional landscaping can create the same effect.

There is an old saying.... "Don't complain about farmers with your mouth full." I find that to be true, but we can work to find viable solutions for both agricultural economics ans sustainability.

Hope this helps answer your question.

Answer 2

Technology is what pollutes the environment. Technology is used to stay competitive. If corporate farmers and the individual farmers didn't keep taking the next step, they would find themselves out of the farming industry because there are business and other people that will go with the flow to reduce their cost and will be able to sell their food at a cheaper cost.

I don't think corporations and individual farmers pollute the environment no worse than all the people that drives vehicles that get 10 mpg of gas and fills up 4 times a day.

Answer 3

farmers pollute the environment in a number of ways. i am not saying all farmers do. they pollute it in their agricultural methods like slash and burn technique by which they pollute the air and reduce air fertility.they also pollute the environment by using chemicals (pesticides, insectisides) which contain CFCs (chloroflurocarbons) that may destroy the ozone layer.
hope this helps.
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Answer 4

!. Deisel fuel, most all farm implements/tractors are not ecco friendly using fuel.
2. Herbicides and pesticides that empty into water basins
3. Buring fields (exess straw) left after the harvest.
4. Over tillage of fields makes the land black, casue too much soil errosion and the result is top soil cloging the water systems that are carrying phosphates.

Answer 5

I believe the latest E. coli spinach adventure was caused by contaminated ground water (cattle manure in water, water used for irrigating spinach, spinach picked up E. coli). They may not be certain about that yet(?).

I think it can also cause contamination when untreated cattle manure is used as fertilizer. Not sure things are that much better when the cattle manure is treated.

Answer 6

Use of pesticides. Destroying ground cover so that erosion carries the soil away into air and water.

Aloha

Answer 7

the strong artifical chemical things they use to kill bugs and fertilize crops pollute the air and water, mush wrose that the old cowpoop did.

Answer 8

Methane gas from cow exhaust !

Answer 9

This sounds suspiciously like we're doing your homework for you.

Answer 10

fertilizers,
fumes from the tractors burning fuel