Agritech 111 - MODULE

Modernized Agriculture

Objectives
At the end of this chapter, the students should be able to:
1. Discuss and understand the concept of modern agriculture and its importance in modern
farming;
2. Identify and familiarize with the modern agricultural technology revolutions;
3. Understand and explain the advantages and disadvantages of modern agriculture and
its impact to the environment.

Learning Content
 Modern Agriculture

Topic 1. Modern Agriculture

Modern Agriculture
 Modern agriculture is a term used to describe the wide type
of production practices. It makes use of hybrid seeds of
selected variety of a single crop, technologically advanced
equipment and lots of energy subsidies in the form of
irrigation, water, fertilizers and pesticides.
 More than 90% of farmers’ today work using the most
innovative practices and growing techniques to produce
enough food, fuel, and fiber for a growing world, while
minimizing their environmental footprint at the same time.
 Modern agriculture is an evolving approach to agricultural innovations and farming practices
that help farmers increase efficiency and reduce the number of natural resources like water,
land and energy necessary to meet the world’s food, fuel, and fiber needs.
 Modern agriculture is very dependent on inputs of chemical fertilizer, pesticides, and
herbicides. Oil is required to make fertilizers and pesticides. It takes 10 calories of energy to
create 1 calorie of food in modern agriculture. Small farmers can’t buy needed equipment and
supplies.

Types of Agriculture
Traditional Agriculture Modern Agriculture
 Plows are pushed by farmers or  Plowing done by machinery
pulled by livestock. (burns fossil fuels)
 Plowing helps crops grow by  Harvest by machinery.
mixing soil nutrients, loosening  Synthetic chemical used as
soil particles, and uprooting fertilizers.
weeds.  Overhead sprinklers/drip
 Organic fertilizers are used systems used to irrigation.
(manure)  Synthetic chemicals used as
 Irrigated by water flowing pest control.
through ditches.
 Weeds removed by
hand/machine.
Importance of Modern Agriculture
 Increase in crop yields
 Diseased resistant varieties is developed.
 Increasing food constituents in new varieties.
 Use of pesticides and fertilizer.
 The construction of large irrigation systems.
 With the help of other branches of science agriculture is well-developed
o Biotechnology – the commercial application of living organisms of their products,
which involves the deliberate manipulation of their DNA molecules. Advantages are
identifying organisms, identifying genes and diagnosing diseases and genetic
disorders.
o Tissue culture – techniques are carry out under aseptic conditions. It is widely used to
produce clones of a plant in a method known as micro propagation. Micro
propagation is widely used in forestry and in floriculture.
o Genetic engineering (Plant transformation) – genetic engineering of plants is much
easier than that of animals. There are several reasons for this. (1) there is a natural
transformation system for plants, (2) plant tissue can be differentiate and (3) plant
transformation and regeneration are relatively easy for a variety of plants.
o Hybridization – refers to the union of the male and the female gamete to produce a
zygote. In plant science, hybridization also refers to the crossing or mating of two
plants.
o Green Revolution – the crops developed during the Green Revolution were high yield
varieties. Produce an increased amount of grain per acre planted. These
technologies included modern irrigation projects, synthetic nitrogen fertilizer and
improved crop varieties.

Why Modern Agriculture is important?

By 2050, the world’s population is expected nearly nine billion – the equivalent of two more
China’s – while the ratio of arable land to population continues to decrease.
The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization predicts that global food production will double
by 2050, and 70 percent of the world’s additional food needs can be produced only by adapting new
agricultural technologies.
In view of all these challenges, the modern agriculture enables farmers to utilize new
innovations, research and scientific advancements to produce safe, sustainable and affordable food.
The significant hunger and malnutrition that persist in many parts of the world have been far worse
has agricultural systems not grown and developed as they did.
More people the world overeat more and better because of modern agriculture. Increased
production continues to enable steadily improving diets, reflecting increased viability of all foods,
dietary diversity and access to high-protein food products.

Modern Agricultural Technology Revolutions

Technology allows much greater production (surplus) with less human labor, but has high
social and environmental costs. The following are common modern agricultural technologies:

Metal plows Reapers Combine Harvesters

 Tractors (Internal Combustion Engines) Chemical Pesticides

Chemical Fertilizers Genetically Modified Organisms

Topic 2. Modern Agriculture and its impact to the Environment

The agriculture is the most important source of livelihood because it is the process of
producing food, feed, fiber, and many other desired products by the cultivation of certain plants and
the raising of domesticated animals. It is an art of managing the growth of plants and animals for
human use.
As we know that modern agriculture improved our affordability of food, increases the food
supply, ensured food safety, increases the sustainability and also produces more biofuels. But with
the same time, it also leads to environmental problems because it is based on high input and high
output technique using hybrid seeds of high-yielding variety and abundant irrigation water, fertilizers
and pesticides. The impacts of modern agriculture are:

Soil Erosion
The top fertile soil of the farmland is removed due to the
excessive water supply. This leads to the loss if nutrient rich soil that
hampered the productivity. It also causes the global warming
because the silt if water bodies includes the releases of soil carbon
from the particulate organic material.
Contamination of Ground Water
The groundwater is one of the important sources of water for irrigation. From agricultural
fields, nitrogenous fertilizers leach into the soil and finally contaminate groundwater. When nitrate
level of groundwater exceeds 25mg/L, they can cause a serious health hazard known as “Blue Baby
Syndrome”, which affects mostly infants even leading to their death.

Water-Logging and Salinity

 The salinity of the soil is one of the reasons of low productivity just because of the improper
management of farm drainage. In this situation, the roots of plants do not get enough air to respiration
then it leads to low crop yield as well as low mechanical strength.
Eutrophication
It refers to the addition of artificial or non-artificial substances
such as nitrates and phosphate, through fertilizers or sewage, to
fresh water system. It leads to increase in the primary productivity of
the water body.
Excessive use of fertilizers that consists of nitrogen and
phosphorus leads over nourishment of the lakes/water bodies and
gives rise to the phenomenon of eutrophication.

Excessive Use of Pesticides

There are many pesticides are used for destroying pests and boosting crop production.
Earlier, arsenic, sulfur, lead and mercury was used to kill pests. For example, Dichloro Diphenyl
Trichloroethane (DDT) content pesticides were used, but unfortunately, it also targeted the beneficial
pests. Most importantly, many pesticides are non-biodegradable, which also linked to the food chains
which are harmful to human being.
The relative significance of farming has dropped steadily since the beginning of
industrialization, and in 2006 – for the first time in history – the services sector overtook agriculture as
the economic sector employing the most people worldwide. But we forget that if we need food to
survive then we need agriculture.

Advantages of Modern Agriculture

During the latter of the twentieth century, what is known today as modern agriculture was very
successful in meeting a growing demand for food by the world’s population. Yields of primary crops
such as rice and wheat increased dramatically, the price of food declined, the rate of increase in crop
yields generally kept pace with population growth, and the number of people who consistently go
hungry was slightly reduced. This boost in food production has been due mainly to scientific advances
and new technologies, including the development of new crop varieties, the use of pesticides and
fertilizers, and the construction of large irrigation systems.

Disadvantages of Modern Agriculture

Evidence indicates, however, that excessive reliance on monoculture farming and agro
industrial inputs, such as capital-intensive technology, pesticides and chemical fertilizers, has
negatively impacted the environment and rural society. Most agriculturalists had assumed that the
agro-ecosystem/natural ecosystem need not lead to undesirable consequences yet number of
ecological diseases have been associated with the intensification of food production.
They may be grouped into two categories: diseases of the ecotope, which include erosion,
loss of soil fertility, depletion of nutrient reserves, salinization and alkalinization, pollution of water
systems, loss of fertile crop lands to urban development and diseases, which include crop loss, wild
plant, and animal genetic resources, elimination of natural enemies, pest resurgence and genetic
resistance to pesticides, chemical contamination and destruction of natural control measures.
Pesticides can kill useful insects as well as those that destroy crops. The loss of yields due to
pests in many crops. It is well known that cultivated plants grown in genetically homogenous
monocultures do not possess the necessary ecological defense mechanisms to tolerate the impact of
out breaking pest populations.
Impact of New Technology

Machinery
Since the 1950s there has been a massive use of farm machinery such as tractors, ploughs
and combine harvesters. The use of modern farming technology has both advantages and
disadvantages on rural areas.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Modern Farming Technology
Advantages Disadvantages
 Increase crop yield as work can  Loss of animal habitats and
be done faster and more shelter belts as hedgerows were
efficiently removed to increase field size
 Increased profit for the farmer and accommodate large
 Less physical work for people machinery
 Fewer workers so less farmer to  Increase noise pollution
pay  Fewer jobs available
 Crops are harvested faster so  As people become unemployed,
they are fresher they move away to find work
leading to rural depopulation.
 Machines are expensive to buy
and repairs can be costly.

Chemical-Fertilizers and Pesticides

There has been an increase in the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides to try to improve
crop yields and farmer’s profits. Chemical fertilizers have also enabled crops to be grown on areas
with poorer quality soil. The use of modern chemicals has brought both advantages and
disadvantages.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Modern Chemicals

Advantages Disadvantages
 Increase crop yields as fertilizer  Increased river pollution due to
makes crops grow better chemical run-off.
 Fewer plants being eaten by  Polluted river water leads to
pests so more crops to sell. problems such as algae bloom
which starves the river of oxygen
affecting wildlife.

Irrigation equipment – canals and sprinklers

In drier areas, canals and sprinkler systems – artificial irrigation, are necessary to water the
crops. Without irrigation, large agribusinesses would not be able to make big profits.

Organic Farming and Genetically Modified Food

Organic farming involves arable farmers producing crops without artificial chemicals. It relies
more on natural farming techniques such as crop rotation and spreading manure as a fertilizer.
 Advantages and Disadvantages of Organic Farming and Genetically Modified Food

Advantages Disadvantages
 Chemical-free food grown to  More labor intensive – it takes
meet consumer demands the farmer more time and effort
 Organic food is more nutritional to grow crops.
as it contains more vitamins and  Farmer needs to be more skilful,
minerals. eg. To cultivate poorer soils
 Food tastes better and keeps for  Productivity is lower on organic
longer farms and more work is required
as fertilizers and pesticides are
not used.

Genetically Modified Food

This involves farmers using which have been altered by scientific techniques. In the past,
plants were improved by breeding them with better plants. This allowed farmers to grow strong plants
which produced large amounts of crops to sell.
This natural process takes years to produce improved crop varieties, whereas GM plants are
altered by scientists and process is much faster. Some people think there are ethical, environmental
and health concerns around the use of GM crops and therefore they should not be used by farmers.

Topic 3. Modern Animal Farming

Artificial breeding in modern agriculture:

Definition:

Artificial breeding is the use of assisted reproductive technologies to manipulate the reproductive
process of animals. This can include techniques such as:

 Artificial insemination (AI): This involves collecting semen from a male animal and using it to
inseminate a female animal.
 Embryo transfer: This involves collecting embryos from a female animal and implanting them into
a surrogate mother.
 In vitro fertilization (IVF): This involves fertilizing an egg outside the body of the female animal
and then implanting the embryo into a surrogate mother.

Benefits:

 Improved genetics: Artificial breeding allows farmers to breed animals with desirable traits, such
as increased milk production, better meat quality, or resistance to disease.
 Increased control over breeding: Artificial breeding allows farmers to schedule breeding times
precisely, which can help optimize breeding programs and improve the survival rate of offspring.
 Reduced costs: Artificial breeding can be more cost-effective than natural breeding, as it
eliminates the need to maintain and manage breeding bulls or rams.
 Improved animal welfare: Artificial breeding can reduce injuries to both animals during breeding
and can help control the spread of sexually transmitted diseases.
 Wider variety of breeding options: Artificial breeding allows farmers to access semen and
embryos from animals around the world, which would be impossible or impractical with natural
breeding.

Applications:

 Dairy and beef cattle: AI is widely used in the dairy and beef cattle industry to improve milk
production and meat quality.
 Pigs: AI is used to breed pigs with faster growth rates and improved feed efficiency.
 Horses: AI is becoming increasingly popular in the horse breeding industry, particularly for
breeding valuable racehorses and sport horses.
 Sheep and goats: AI is used to breed sheep and goats with improved fleece quality and milk
production.
 Aquaculture: AI is used to breed fish and shellfish with improved growth rates and disease
resistance.

Challenges:

 Loss of genetic diversity: Overreliance on AI could lead to a decline in genetic diversity within
animal populations, which could make them more susceptible to disease.
 Animal welfare concerns: Some artificial breeding procedures can be stressful for animals, and
there are ethical concerns about the use of technology in animal breeding.
 Economic dependence: Small farmers may become reliant on large companies for semen and
embryo supplies, which could give these companies significant control over the agricultural
industry.
 Technical expertise: Artificial breeding requires specialized equipment and training, which can be
a barrier for some farmers.

Future trends:

 Genomic selection: This technology is used to identify animals with desirable traits based on their
DNA, which can be used to select breeding animals more effectively.
 Sex sorting: This technology can be used to select semen that will produce offspring of a specific
sex, which can be useful for farmers who want to produce more male animals for meat
production or more female animals for breeding.
 Cloning: This technology can be used to create identical copies of animals with desirable
traits, which could further accelerate the improvement of animal genetics.

Overall, artificial breeding is a powerful tool that is having a significant impact on modern agriculture. It
has the potential to improve the efficiency and productivity of animal agriculture, while also raising
important ethical and welfare concerns. As technology continues to develop, it is likely that artificial
breeding will play an even greater role in the future of agriculture.

Assessment

Instructions: Choose the best answer for each question.

 1. What is the main goal of modern agriculture?
a) To maximize profit b) To protect the environment
c) To produce the highest yields d) To use the latest technology
2. What is NOT a benefit of using hybrid seeds?
a) Increased crop yields b) Improved disease resistance
c) Increased genetic diversity d) More predictable crop characteristics
3. What is the purpose of irrigation in modern agriculture?
a) To control weeds b) To improve soil fertility
c) To provide water for crops d) To attract pollinators
4. What is the main concern with excessive use of fertilizers and pesticides?
a) Increased production costs b) Soil erosion
c) Environmental pollution d) Reduced crop yields
5. What is crop rotation?
a) Planting the same crop in the same field every year
b) Planting different crops in the same field over several years
c) Planting crops in circles
d) Planting crops in rows
6. What is the benefit of using cover crops?
a) To control weeds b) To improve soil fertility
c) To attract pollinators d) To provide food for livestock
7. What is integrated pest management (IPM)?
a) The use of chemical pesticides to control pests
b) The use of natural predators to control pests
c) The use of genetically modified crops to control pests
d) The use of crop rotation to control pests
8. What is the purpose of organic farming?
a) To produce food without the use of synthetic chemicals
b) To increase crop yields
c) To reduce labor costs
d) To improve the appearance of farms
9. What is the main difference between conventional and organic farming?
a) The use of genetically modified crops b) The use of machinery and technology
c) The use of synthetic chemicals d) The type of crops grown
10. What is the main challenge facing modern agriculture?
a) Increasing food production b) Reducing environmental impact
c) Improving soil health d) Managing climate change

Answer Key:

1. c) To produce the highest yields

2. c) Increased genetic diversity
3. c) To provide water for crops
4. c) Environmental pollution
5. b) Planting different crops in the same field over several years
6. b) To improve soil fertility
7. b) The use of natural predators to control pests
8. a) To produce food without the use of synthetic chemicals
9. c) The use of synthetic chemicals
10. b) Reducing environmental impact

Performance task

Each student will have to present their arguments for or against modern agriculture.
 a. Students should address the following points in their arguments:
b. Benefits and drawbacks of modern agriculture
c. Environmental impact of modern agriculture
d. Societal impact of modern agriculture
e. Alternative approaches to agriculture

Discussion and Reflection (5 minutes):

a. Write a Reflection essay on your own views on modern agriculture.

b. Discuss possible solutions or compromises to address the challenges posed by modern
agriculture.

References
a. How do modern technologies affects the agricultural productivity?
b. Modern Agriculture Practices at
https://www.slideshare.net/mobile/Nawarjintermediate/modern-agricultural-practices.
c. Modern Agriculture and its impact on the environment at
https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.jagranjosh.com/general-knowledge/amp/modern-
agriculture-and-its-impact-on-the-environment-1518163410-1. February 16, 2020.
d. Advantages and disadvantages of Modern Agriculture at
http://www.modernagriculture./net/mobile.
e. Modern Agriculture in the latter half of the growing demand at
https://www.encyclopedia.com/science/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/agriculture-
modern-Agriculture-Modern-During-the-latter-half-of-the-growing-demand-for-food-by-the-
world-population.
f. Agricultural Technology at https://nifa.usda.gov/topic/agriculture-technology.