New developments in agriculture- Good or bad

New developments in agriculture include factory farming and the creation of new fruits and vegetables. Many people believe, however, that huge industrial farms and genetically modified plants are dangerous and that we need to go back to smaller, more natural farming.

In the last 50 years, agriculture has become more and more mechanized and there have been many discoveries in genetic engineering. However, some people are worried about the effect of this on our health and our environment.

There is no doubt that we need more food. There are over 7 billion people now and there will be 10 billion in just a few decades. To feed these extra people we need more food. Another point is that this food has to come from less and less land. This means each hectare has to produce more food.

 A third point is that we need to reduce waste and inefficiency. Up to 30% of food is wasted on the farm, between the farm and the shop, or in the home. New methods to stop food from spoiling or to improve vitamin or other qualities will be good.

 Advocates say genetically modified (GM) foods allow farmers to produce more with fewer chemicals—which means a cleaner environment and cheaper groceries for us all. But the question remains: What impact do GM foods have on our health?

GM foods have been on the market only since 1994, and research on their long-term effects on humans is scarce. To date most of the studies have been done on animals; worryingly, though, some of those studies link GM foods to altered metabolism, inflammation, kidney and liver malfunction, and reduced fertility. In one experiment, multiple generations of hamsters were fed a diet of GM soy; by the third generation, they were losing the ability to produce offspring, producing about half as many pups as the non-GM soy group.

However, many of these developments in farming are dangerous. First of all, nobody knows what the effect of genetically modified organisms will be on our bodies. There has not been enough long-term testing to see the effects. A second point is that factory farming often causes disease or helps it to spread. We are feeding our animals unsuitable food and keeping them in bad conditions. This will affect the quality of our food. Finally, if agriculture is a business instead of a way of life, the farm owners will think only of quick profit, not long-term sustainability.

In conclusion, we need more food and more efficient farming, but we need to learn from mad cow disease and bird flu that nature does not like being forced to do things our way. -writefix