Intensive farming facts for kids
Intensive farming or intensive agriculture is a kind of agriculture where a lot of money and labour are used to increase the yield that can be obtained per area of land. The use of large amounts of pesticides for crops, and of medication for animal stocks is common. This is a contrast to traditional agriculture, which does not get as much output per area. When agriculture is intensified, this means that the amount of work needed goes up, until the worker is replaced by a machine. At that point, there will only need to be a few workers to operate the machines. Intensive farming has often been done as a response to rising population levels. It is criticised, because the standards of animal welfare are low. Intensive animal farming leads to increased pollution and to health issues.
Modern day forms of intensive crop based agriculture involve the use of mechanical ploughing, chemical fertilizers, plant growth regulators or pesticides. It is associated with the increasing use of agricultural mechanization, which have enabled a substantial increase in production, yet have also dramatically increased environmental pollution by increasing erosion and poisoning water with agricultural chemicals.
Images for kids
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Early 20th-century image of a tractor ploughing an alfalfa field
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Cow in enclosed pasture eating grass through wire fence
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A commercial chicken house raising broiler pullets for meat
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Intensively farmed pigs
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Satellite image of circular crop fields in Haskell County, Kansas, in late June 2001. Healthy, growing crops of corn and sorghum are green (sorghum may be slightly paler). Wheat is brilliant gold. Fields of brown have been recently harvested and plowed under or have lain in fallow for the year.
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Overhead irrigation, center-pivot design
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Terrace rice fields in Yunnan Province, China
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