Advantages and Disadvantages to Sustainable Agriculture

There are many advantages to practicing a more agricultural sustainable lifestyle. One advantage of sustainable agriculture is eliminating typical farming practices which often takes up large amounts of fertile land through a single crop approach. This typical form of farming is an example of unsustainable agricultural practices. This oftentimes ruins landscapes and requires farmers to spend an unnecessary amount of money on acquiring more land. Through sustainable farming practices, single-crop agriculture is eliminated by placing multiple crops on the same plot of land by combining tall, sun-loving plants with shorter shade-loving plants. This approach enables farmers to grow more crops using less land while also preserving the environment. Although with this approach, one of the biggest disadvantages to sustainable agriculture is that you are unable to grow as many crops at a single time considering a more sustainable approach typically leads to fewer crops in one plot so plants don’t leach nutrients out of the soil. For farmers who want to continue to produce mass agriculture, sustainable farming practices are often hard to abide by.

Another advantage of sustainable agriculture is eliminating cruelty behind factory farming by decreasing the brutal treatment of farm animals. Before the wave of sustainable agriculture, typical farming practices consisted of packing large quantities of animals into tiny cages in order to preserve farm space. This practice not only contributes to the horrific mistreatment of animals but also contributes to the spreading of diseases, which oftentimes results in infections and deaths within the farms. Sustainable agriculture creates a humane environment for farm animals by limiting the quantities of animals per farm while also implementing a healthy plant-based diet with sufficient room for animals to roam.

Lastly, sustainable agriculture has the ability to significantly reduce water pollution by eliminating harmful fertilizers that seep into run-off water and ruin the natural environment. Methane production pollution is a potent greenhouse gas that is harmful to the earth’s water and atmosphere. Unfortunately, most of this methane comes from the practice of industrial cattle farming. Through sustainable agricultural practices of crop rotation, the use of natural fertilizer and minimizing animals per farm pollution can be significantly reduced. This reduction not only benefits air quality, but it preserves the earth's natural resources that could be greatly harmed through methane.

Companies working with Sustainable Agriculture

In regards to companies that are already paving the way in the sustainable agriculture sector, Osaka Gas Co., Ltd. produces and supplies natural gas primarily in the Osaka, Kyoto, and Hyogo areas. The company provides gases and energy products for residential, commercial, and industrial customers. Osaka Gas also constructs and maintains gas supply lines. Another company, Dominion Energy, offers natural gas and electric energy transmission, gathering, and storage solutions. They are focused on "focused on providing safe, reliable and affordable energy while investing time and funds to serve human needs and environmental stewardship." These companies are just a few of the many trailblazers that are working to preserve earth’s natural resources through the wave of sustainable agriculture.

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