agriculture
A Greener Revolution for a Sustainable Future
Modern agriculture subscribes to the paradigm of ‘productivity above all else,’ and the costs of productivity are high: farms account for eighty percent of consumptive water use in the United States1, spray nearly a billion pounds of pesticide each year2 (less than one percent of which actually hit target), have tripled fertilizer use since the 1960s3, [...]
Agroterrorism: An Assault on America’s Breadbasket
By: Megan Cahill, Anika Khan, and Marie Smithgall Agriculture is a soft target for terrorism, and historical evidence indicates terrorists have considered attacks against our nation’s crops and livestock. Current national and international agricultural models heavily utilize monocultures, fields with a single homogeneous crop grown extensively throughout an area. However, if a monoculture’s cornerstone plant [...]
Facts for Digestion: The Negative Effects of an Animal-Heavy Diet
A jet plane streaks across a caerulean backdrop, expelling a stream of smoke as it goes. An SUV cruises along the road, leaving a quickly dissipating trail of carbon dioxide in its wake. A coal factory darkens the sky view, interrupting the blue patches with plumes of smog. These are the typical images which come [...]
Food Frenzy: Growing Concerns Over Genetically Modified Foods
INTRODUCTION More than ten million farmers planted 252 million acres of genetically-modified (GM) crops in 2006 [1]. From 1996 to 2000, acreage of GM crops globally increased 25-fold [2]. The prevalence and rapid growth of GM crops are accredited to the benefits it provides. Biotechnology companies alter the DNA of crops, either by removing or [...]
Vertical Farming: The Farm Comes To Town
A rapidly growing world population and changing weather patterns make food production a genuine concern for the future. A professor at Columbia University leads the way with an all-in-one solution: vertical farming.
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