Food is an essential part of people’s daily lives because it provides them with the sustenance they need to survive. That’s why agriculture is considered the backbone of the country because it’s at the beginning of the supply chain; without that valuable contribution, the economy will suffer tremendously.
It takes months and months of hard work to produce the raw goods that will then be distributed among different manufacturers, which will then be delivered onto grocery shelves for the consumers to enjoy. But while the agriculture industry is an essential part of the economy and people’s lives, it’s not free of downsides.
One of the biggest harmful implications that the agribusiness industry has is to the environment because it’s among the largest contributors to the global carbon footprint. After transportation, electrical, and industrial activities, agricultural activities account for the world’s carbon emissions.
However, it’s simply illogical to stop all agricultural activity because doing so will not only affect the people’s lives, but also the economy. But that doesn’t mean that nothing should be done. It would be better if those in the agricultural industry discovered ways to minimize the impacts of their activities on the environment.
As a member of the agribusiness community, you can do your part for the environment by turning to more sustainable practices as opposed to your existing methods. You might not make that much of a change, but any effort that can benefit the environment is better than not doing anything at all. Here are three ways for you to lessen the harmful impacts of your activities:
Choose Eco-friendly Crop Products
Using large amounts of fertilizer can be harmful to the environment because it can directly contaminate the soil and waterways surrounding it, or even the wildlife that is exposed to your land. However, by choosing eco-friendly fertilizers and pesticides that can work wonders in small amounts, you can produce higher crop yields without compromising the health of the environment.
For instance, if your agribusiness involves producing corn, soybean, wheat, oat, or barley, you will need an efficient fertilizer that can provide nutrients to these silica-accumulating crops. The reason for this is that these crops often struggle with deficiency, which means they may require larger amounts of fertilizer than usual and, in turn, harm the environment.
To address this problem, you will need to find the best foliar fertilizer for soybeans and other crops that will allow you to do just that. And the biggest upside to this is that you won’t be doing so at the expense of the environment. You might also be able to save more money because you’ll be using fewer crop products in the process.
Actively Improve Water Consumption
It’s no surprise that the agricultural industry consumes the largest percentage of freshwater withdrawals on the planet because they need water to grow crops and raise livestock. Most people would think that there’s no harm done considering that the water will eventually return to the soil afterward. But while that is true, it’s also more complicated than that.
This is because the water that’s coming from the farms is already contaminated with chemicals from fertilizers and pesticides. Once that contaminated wastewater from the crops runoff and enter the main waterways, it can also contaminate the clean water source, which can affect the wildlife or communities drinking from those waterways.
As an agribusiness owner, you need to find more efficient ways to irrigate your farm and treat your wastewater before you release it back into the waterways. You can also plant trees around your crops to prevent soil erosion, which can then lessen the chances of water contamination from crop runoffs.
Look into Renewable Energy Sources
Traditionally, farming was a manually laborious job that required hours of back-breaking work to produce raw goods. But through the collaborative efforts of the agriculture industry, innovations such as farming machines, equipment, and management solutions were introduced to help produce higher yields in a shorter time.
However, while these solutions made use of newer technologies and lessened manual labor, they also required energy in the form of fossil fuels. This means that each time the farmers worked on their farms, their activities contributed to the global carbon footprint because they burned fossil fuels by operating their machinery.
To address this, you can look into renewable energy sources, such as solar panels, wind turbines, or even biofuel that you can harness to power your equipment. By slowly transitioning from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources, you can lessen the harmful impacts of your agricultural activities on the environment.
Producing food for the nation is an important job, but it shouldn’t come at the cost of the planet’s safety. By actively practicing sustainable methods in your day-to-day agribusiness operations, you can minimize your carbon footprint and help keep climate change at bay to make the world a safer place to live in.
