Monoculture

If left alone, Earth is a self-sustaining, interdependent ecosystem. Unfortunately, the human race has slowly but surely destroyed some of its intricate processes. An important historical and environmental staple of North America, the American prairie was a biodiverse ecosystem that once thrived. Its complex polyculture system featured perennial plants that created a beautiful, flourishing landscape. With the introduction of advanced technology, farmers were able to change the prairie lands…

CEIC1000 – Product Engineering Design/Sustainable Food Manufacturing Individual Assignment: Short Company Report Monsanto Submitted by: Jessamine Robinson (z5019494) Date of Submission: 20th October 2015 Company Overview Monsanto is an American international agricultural biotechnology company founded in 1901. It has more than 20,000 employees and a gross quarterly profit margin of 59.75% (Ycharts.com, 2015). Until the 1990’s, the business previously defined themselves as…

One of the things we see when dealing with industrial food production is monoculture. This meaning they are growing single crops thoroughly on a large scale. This can not be good to produce one crop with extreme efficiency because if you continue to grow one crop on the same plot of land the soil gets depleted of the nutrients that…

These two fields were in the same area that produced the same crop. Two 500-square feet of monoculture fields were required for this experiment because there are two different conditions under one independent variable. The independent variable is the presence of native vegetation hedgerows. In Field 1, there will be no native vegetation hedgerows…

with organic farming due to its reliance on natural fertility. The lack of synthetic fertilizers, insecticides, fungicides, and pesticides tend to cause the crop yields of organic farms to be significantly lower than those of industrial farms. Monoculture farms have approximately 6 to 72% greater harvest yields than organic farms (sustainability). Alongside having lower crop yields, organic farms also need more land in order to produce the same amount of harvest as conventional farms…

he does make an argument for why Polyface farm is more logically and sustainable. Pollon discuses the differences between factory farming and Polyface farming in logic. Factory farming is production of a single animal or crop better know as monoculture (Pollon, 377). When there is a chicken factory farm it can only produce chickens. For this farm to feed the large amount of boilers they must give unnatural feed for them to consume. This genetically engineered feed is meant to keep the…

Domestication and Agriculture I wasn’t sure what to expect given this assignment especially since, most people take food for granted and look to a grocery store as a dispensary. I knew many foods had to have originated somewhere but where was uncertain as there are many plants that are native to one place and through time immigrated elsewhere. In addition, many foods have been domesticated as well as new strands and varieties created. My biggest concern with foods today isn’t so much from…

8 Monoculture is another main characteristic of conventional agriculture that influences water quality. It is characterized by cultivating a single crop species, primarily wheat, corn, soybeans, cotton, sorghum, and sugarcane, on large fields year after year. The purpose for adopting monoculture practices was due to the development of large-scale mechanization for 3 tilling, planting, and harvesting…

heavily on the claim that buying local is healthier for the environment, and even states that smaller, local farms are less damaging due to the fact that most do not rely heavily on modern fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides the way that large monoculture farms do. However, Spriggs fails to bring to light the effects that these production methods can have on our health. For example, large scale farms are notorious for their bigger, better, faster way of producing a product. According to the…

considered one of its main characteristics. When people are exposed to different cultures, they may choose to ignore their own customs and follow the traditions of what they see instead. This creates a single, popular monoculture. There are differing views as to whether a monoculture is beneficial or harmful. One perspective is that a common global identity should…