After taking agricultural ecosystem (AGRI1000) course and writing several research papers about aspects of agriculture in English course (ENG1000), I can see how significant the agri-food industry influence our lives. While the world population is expected to reach 9 billion people by 2050, agri-food industry is the key determinant that can help our being to overcome the starvation. Unlike hunting, fishing, gathering or so on, which only take from natural environment, farms in agri-food industry are used in the battle against global warming, recovering forests, creeks, rivers, and even benefiting from participation in carbon credit markets. However, agri-food industry are encountering great challenges while accomplishing its mission of feeding
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Indeed, agriculture commands more water than any other activity on this planet. The demand on water-intensive crops boosts the water overconsumption. Due to overpopulation and urbanization, not only may food consumption increase but also food preferences tend to adjust toward more diversified and richer diets. As a result, consumption of high-value produce, such as fruit, meat, fish, dairy, sugar, and edible oils may also rise. This tendency leads to higher future agricultural water demand since the production process of those food products require more water than traditional staple foods such as grains and tuber crops The adoption of agro-chemicals results in groundwater contamination. Direct effects include the dissolution when chemicals reach water bodies through aerial spray, transport of the excessive quantities of fertilizers and hydrological modifications related to irrigation and drainage. Indirect effects include the transformation in water–rock reactions in soils and aquifers which result from increased concentrations of dissolved oxidants. At the same time, unsatisfactory irrigation performance aggravates the situation by increasing water waste. Damage of water sources may be caused by irrigation during pumping aquifers.To be specific, even though the purpose of canal and tube-well irrigation application is to increase food production, poor irrigation results in the disorder of aquifer flow, salinity and water logging. Water management problems could also arise when bringing ground water to the surface. For coastal areas, when aquifers are pumped to the surface, the aquifer soon becomes depleted, resulting in influx of surrounding saltwater which may pervade and contaminate
Indeed, agriculture commands more water than any other activity on this planet. The demand on water-intensive crops boosts the water overconsumption. Due to overpopulation and urbanization, not only may food consumption increase but also food preferences tend to adjust toward more diversified and richer diets. As a result, consumption of high-value produce, such as fruit, meat, fish, dairy, sugar, and edible oils may also rise. This tendency leads to higher future agricultural water demand since the production process of those food products require more water than traditional staple foods such as grains and tuber crops The adoption of agro-chemicals results in groundwater contamination. Direct effects include the dissolution when chemicals reach water bodies through aerial spray, transport of the excessive quantities of fertilizers and hydrological modifications related to irrigation and drainage. Indirect effects include the transformation in water–rock reactions in soils and aquifers which result from increased concentrations of dissolved oxidants. At the same time, unsatisfactory irrigation performance aggravates the situation by increasing water waste. Damage of water sources may be caused by irrigation during pumping aquifers.To be specific, even though the purpose of canal and tube-well irrigation application is to increase food production, poor irrigation results in the disorder of aquifer flow, salinity and water logging. Water management problems could also arise when bringing ground water to the surface. For coastal areas, when aquifers are pumped to the surface, the aquifer soon becomes depleted, resulting in influx of surrounding saltwater which may pervade and contaminate