U.S. Agriculture has to Become More Productive and Sustainable

By 2100, the global population is expected to peak at 10.1 billion.¹ According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), agricultural productivity will need to increase by 70 percent to keep up with the growing population.²

Malthusian predictions that population will outstrip food production have been proven wrong ever since Malthus himself made this argument in the 19th century. But climate change could make for a different outcome in the 21st century. The U.S. Global Change Research Program, a consortium of 13 government departments and agencies, reports that climate-change impacts can already be observed in major crop-producing areas of the United States. Over the past 30 years, the Midwest and northern Great Plains have experienced increases in average winter temperatures of more than 7 degrees Fahrenheit.³ It would be hard to imagine a future in which automobile manufacturers will not need to become more energy efficient—and agricultural producers are no different.

Other stark challenges include:

• Erosion. The United States is losing soil 10 times faster than it can be replenished naturally.⁴ In 2007, topsoil was eroding at a rate of 200,000 tons an hour.⁵

• Water pollution. Agriculture is the leading source of pollution in the nation’s rivers and lakes and a major source of pollution in estuaries. This pollution comes mostly from fertilizer application and from animal waste produced in feedlots.⁶

• Greenhouse gases. Agriculture is the largest emitter of nitrous oxide, one of the most potent greenhouse gases contributing to climate change. Again, this comes mainly from fertilizer application.⁷ On a per-molecule basis, nitrous oxide is 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide.⁸

• Pesticide exposure. U.S. agricultural producers use more than 500 million pounds of pesticides each year.⁹ Pesticide exposure is harmful to humans, animals, and the environment.¹⁰

• Resistance to antibiotics. Recent studies indicate that 80 percent of all antibiotics in the United States are given to farm animals, mostly to prevent disease outbreaks in feedlots. Overuse of antibiotics in farm animals is contributing to increasing resistance to antibiotics among disease-causing pathogens.¹¹ These are antibiotics also used to treat humans.

There are farm policies in place to reduce pollution and promote the conservation of natural resources. In recent farm bills, funding for conservation has increased faster than for other farm programs,¹² and more farmers are able to participate in conservation programs than ever before. That’s good, but a serious shortcoming is the lack of monitoring and evaluation in conservation programs. The public should know what it is getting for tax dollars spent on these programs, but currently, farmers are under no obligation to disclose which anti-pollution practices they are implementing or whether these are benefiting the environment.¹³ In general, U.S. farm policy relies on voluntary approaches to solving environmental problems. At a minimum, farm runoff should be regulated under the Clean Water Act, and feedlots—the largest source of toxic ammonia emissions—should be regulated under the Clean Air Act.

The daunting challenges of rising population and climate change mean that every farmer who receives government support should be required to operate more sustainably. Farmers surely understand that it’s in their own best interest to be good stewards of the natural resources they depend on for their livelihood.