High-yield agriculture has had a bum rap
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Recent studies show that, contrary to media reports, intensive farming is better for the environment than 'old-fashioned' methods and is key to feeding a growing world population
by JIM DALRYMPLE
For years, the news media have attacked "intensive" farming practices and exploited the term "factory farming" to malign the key components of modern agriculture. But a recent report from Stanford University in the United States brought a positive message to much-maligned mainstream agriculture. It indicated that conventional high-yield farming is far better for the planet than low-yield farming.
Recent scientific reports have also begun to support many of the livestock production systems – cage systems for egg production, gestation stall housing for pregnant sows and confinement of livestock in general.
Moreover, productive land in Ontario is decreasing as more and more of the best land is developed for housing, recreation, highways and industry. Meat consumption. Despite the global economic slowdown, consumption of meat is expected to grow over the next decade. The 2009/2018 economic outlook produced by the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development projects that by 2018 human beings will be eating more than 320 million tonnes of meat a year, up some 20 per cent over 2006-08 levels. The types of meat eaten will depend on religious issues, the eating habits of certain areas of the world and rising incomes, particularly in China, India and Japan. Poultry is expected to account for at least half of the projected meat consumption increase.Animal agriculture and greenhouse gas production. There have been many erroneous reports related to livestock production and its relationship to greenhouse gases. A 2006 U.N. report said that the livestock sector accounted for 18 per cent of greenhouse gas emissions, higher than the transport industry. But leading authorities recently stated that raising cattle and pigs in the United States accounts for about three per cent of all greenhouse gas emissions, while transportation creates an estimated 26 per cent.High-yield agriculture. Dr. Dennis Avery, a senior fellow at the Hudson Institute in Washington, D.C., recently stated that, "high-yield farms need less land to produce the same amount of food than less intensive and organic production, thus protecting the huge amounts of soil carbon that would be gassed off if more land was plowed for lower yield crops."
The lead author of the Stanford study says that "the results dispel the notion that modern intensive agriculture is inherently worse for the environment than a 'more old-fashioned' way of doing things."
The report further states that "confinement feeding of livestock" also helps to sharply reduce greenhouse emissions. Intensive confined livestock need about 15 per cent less feed per pound of protein produced, saving still more hectares.
Cornell University reported in 2009 in the Journal of Animal Science that more milk, from higher-yielding cows that are fed more grain and less grass, has helped reduce the carbon footprint of the U.S. dairy industry by 43 per cent since 1944.
Dairy production in the 1940s included low milk yields, pasture-based management and no antibiotics, inorganic fertilizers or chemical pesticides, which is similar to organic production today.Protection of rivers and streams. Modern dairy production systems, with animals largely confinement fed, also help protect rivers and streams from manure entering the water supply. The confinement systems are also being used to produce biofuel. Similar benefits occur with pork and poultry systems.Ontario land use for livestock production. The report "A Century of Achievement: The Impact of Technology on Food Production In Ontario," prepared a few years ago, showed dramatic improvements in all crop and animal production over the past 50 years. (See Figure 1, page 56.)
The area saved is equivalent to a swath 28 km wide from Windsor to the Quebec border. Greater feed conversion efficiency also reduces manure production and water use.
Major crops have also shown substantial increases in yields with the use of fertilizers, pesticides, minimum tillage and other developments through research and technology.
Advances in technology have enabled governments to look to crops as biofuels as well.High yields and poultry production. The poultry industry world-wide has shown dramatic advances in the last 75 years. (See Figure 2, page 56.)
The poultry industry, like many other crop and animal industries, has made remarkable increases in yields while using less water and feed resources and leaving less of an imprint on the environment – less manure, fewer mortalities, less greenhouses gases. At the same time, agriculture is feeding an ever-expanding world population with highly nutritious food.
Investment in research by government and industry is critical if we are to continue to enhance both yields and the quality and safety of the world's food supply. BF
J.R. (Jim) Dalrymple is a former Ontario government swine specialist and president of Livestock Technology Services Ltd. in Brighton.
