Positive Effects of Agriculture on the Environment

Historical civilizations and modern life as we know it would not have been possible without agriculture. It was through the cultivation of nutritional food that the structure of early societies could diversify and focus on various tasks.

Without the need to move to better hunting grounds or spend time on dangerous quests after seasonal sources of food, early humans were able to settle and use their energy towards manufacturing sophisticated tools and building permanent dwellings.

As time passed, agriculture became the most dominant land use on the planet, feeding a booming population and transforming natural habitats of many species.

Whether the outcome of this change delivers negative or positive consequences depends largely on our approach. You may think it sounds counter-intuitive, but sustainable management of our lands can prevent many problems we are currently facing.

When done right, farmers could actually bring about many positive environmental impacts of agriculture that may enrich local biodiversity and boost vital ecosystem services.

How does agriculture affect the environment in a positive way?

#1 Agriculture inspires people

Farmers have shaped and maintained the unique look of rural areas for millennia. Farms create wonderful variety of landscapes, ranging from beautiful blossoming orchards and vineyards to fields of golden wheat.

And it is not only the 45.7% of people worldwide that live in the countryside [2] that enjoy it, but the rest of population living in urban areas enjoy agricultural landscapes as a place to reconnect with nature.

This way agriculture encourages people to interact with nature in a positive way, inspiring them to conserve it.

#2 Agriculture preserves ecosystems

Agriculture helps preserve valuable ecosystems. A perfect example is the extensive farming of increasingly rare permanent grasslands in Romania.

Grasslands provide habitat to a great number of animals and native plants. These areas have been almost entirely wiped out in other countries of Europe due to modern development or intensive agriculture.

In Romania, however, they still exist because of the traditional (low-impact) way of farming and seasonal grazing of livestock by shepherds.

Both methods naturally maintain and enrich these habitats, promoting healthy regrowth of unique high-biodiversity vegetation.

The importance of these grasslands has been recognized by the European Union, and the concept of High Nature Value Farmland was created to provide incentives for farmers to protect these areas and manage them accordingly [3].

Other examples from our daily life are fair trade goods.

Fair trade chocolate and coffee from rainforests encourages sustainable management of rainforests from where these goods originate.

Fair trade also helps native people retain their traditional ways of life in a way that works in harmony with local ecosystems and gives incentives to continue to protect them [4].

#3 Agriculture creates habitats

Agricultural systems that work in harmony with nature such as organic, permaculture, or biodynamic farming create diverse natural habitats.

For example, open meadow habitats are important for species like waterfowl, amphibians and for pollinators.

Some species even increase in number due to agricultural activities. One such species is the North American White-Tailed Deer (Odocoileus virginianus), which does very well in open farm field habitat.

Maintaining land for agricultural use can also prevent that land from being developed and urbanized, in areas where native species have difficulty finding original habitat.

The United States Department of Agriculture Farm Service Agency (FSA) created seven voluntary land conservation programs for this purpose.

One of them, the Conservation Reserve Program, offers yearly payment to farmers for not cultivating land with high environmental value.

The program is aimed at protecting native species and conserving soils by taking the land out of agricultural production.

#4 Agriculture sets back ecological succession

Some species need early successional habitats, such as prairies, to thrive.

These habitats are highly ephemeral and can be identified by vigorously growing grasses, forbs, shrubs and trees but which need disturbance to be maintained [9].

Open meadow habitats, which fall under this category, and native wildflowers are important for many pollinators like some birds and bees.

Without farmland, succession may need to be deliberately set back by management activities, such as prescribed burning, to help early successional species survive.

Intentional burning was one of the primary ways that native people managed the landscape in North America prior to European settlement in order to provide for their own agricultural and hunting activities [5].

#5 Agriculture boosts soil fertility

One of the key features of sustainable agriculture is the focus on the health of soils.

Practices such as crop rotation, cover cropping, no-tillage and the application of compost, improve soil fertility naturally and can even speed up the process of new topsoil formation.

In addition to preventing the exhaustion of soils, and therefore, helping secure stable yields, these practices increase biodiversity of favorable soil fauna and flora.

Soils rich in organic matter and flourishing with life also contain greater concentrations of the natural enemies of pests, thus supporting the growth of more resilient crops.

According to Dr. Elaine Ingham, one teaspoon of healthy soil can contain up to 1 billion helpful bacteria, while concentration in intensively farmed soils might drop to one hundred [6].

#6 Agriculture sequesters carbon

As with any other plants, growing crops – especially perennial polyculture systems used in permaculture farming and agroforestry – add oxygen to the atmosphere, as plants photosynthesize and remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

The richer the plant cover is, the more it uses carbon dioxide to support its life functions.

Carbon is also sequestered by soils, which have a natural carbon carrying capacity that increases when soils are managed with minimum disturbance.

Interestingly, carbon can be reduced even by a livestock farm.

In rotational grazing systems, animals help to store carbon in the soil. Through grazing for a limited time period in one area, biodiversity of native plants increases because grasses have time to regrow equally without one species taking over and becoming invasive.

Richer and better quality pasture means more organic material entering soils, which makes soils healthy and increases their capacity to sequester carbon from the atmosphere [8].

#7 Agriculture retains soil and prevents erosion

Loss of soils is one of the biggest threats to our wellbeing, and intensive agriculture with monoculture fields is known to be one of its main contributors. Farmers, however, have the ability to reverse this damage.

In perennial systems, vegetation with deep roots helps to hold the soil together and prevent erosion. This is especially the case when farmers have constructed swales and other types of earthworks that help to stabilize steep slopes, or when applying techniques with low soil disturbance such as no-tillage.

#8 Agriculture has a role in the water cycle

Plants and trees in agricultural systems help to retain and add water to underground aquifers. This process is most effective when the crops being grown are perennials that continue to grow every year and have deep, well-established root systems.

A successful strategy that has been applied already by our ancestors is to plant trees, bushes and grasses mixed together. By combining plants of different sizes, soils are evenly covered and can withstand torrential rains without being washed away.

This improves soil structure and enables rainwater infiltration.

Once water enters the soil, it passes through different soil layers all the time getting rid of pollutants until it reaches groundwater reservoirs perfectly clean and safe for us to drink.

Examples of some perennial plants grown on farms are alfalfa, fruit trees, olive trees, berries and grapes.

Together, they act as an important buffer in the landscape, preventing flooding, reducing water pollution from agricultural runoff and preventing erosion, while providing us with nutritious food at the same time.

#9 Agriculture can conserve water

Modern farming methods such as strip or no-till, dry farming and planting of cover crops significantly reduce the need to irrigate. According to researchers from UC Davis, cover crops such as rye on organic farms are able to retain 50% more rainwater and reduce surface runoff by 35%.

The higher the water content in the soil, the less irrigation is needed during dry spells to preserve crops, which saves significant amounts of water over the long term.

In certain forms of agriculture, properly processed sewage, wastewater, and sludge can be used on the landscape instead of disposing it as waste.

In these cases, wisely chosen vegetation acts as a “living filter”, getting rid of pollutants, while utilizing water for growing. This method saves farmers’ money, conserves water, and recycles nutrients.

#10 Agriculture provides food from limited sources

Urban agriculture on a small scale can help to localize food production, reducing the overall environmental footprint of our modern food systems. Benefits include lower greenhouse gas emissions, minimal transportation requirements, and reduced energy use for food production.

As the benefits are becoming more and more acknowledged, the trend of urban farming is starting to become quite popular. Besides connecting people together and with nature, urban farms supply food to about 700 million city dwellers. And by achieving maximum use of available resources, an area of one square meter can produce up to 20 kilograms of food each year.

Aren’t these perfect arguments for how great agriculture can be if we switched to more ecologically-friendly methods and returned to a chemical-free approach?

It is our collective responsibility to eliminate negative impacts of food production and focus on achieving balance between the land’s productivity and the preservation of natural habitats.