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Agricultural pollution refers to biotic and abiotic byproducts of farming practices that result in contamination or degradation of the environment and surrounding ecosystems, and/or cause injury to humans and their economic interests. The pollution may come from a variety of sources, ranging from point source water pollution (from a single discharge point) to more diffuse, landscape-level causes, also known as non-point source pollution and air pollution. Once in the environment these pollutants can have both direct effects in surrounding ecosystems, i.e. killing local wildlife or contaminating drinking water, and downstream effects such as dead zones caused by agricultural runoff is concentrated in large water bodies.
Management practices, or ignorance of them, play a crucial role in the amount and impact of these pollutants. Management techniques range from animal management and housing to the spread of pesticides and fertilizers in global agricultural practices, which can have major environmental impacts. Bad management practices include poorly managed animal feeding operations, overgrazing, plowing, fertilizer, and improper, excessive, or badly timed use of pesticides.
Pollutants from agriculture greatly affect water quality and can be found in lakes, rivers, wetlands, estuaries, and groundwater. Pollutants from farming include sediments, nutrients, pathogens, pesticides, metals, and salts.[1] Animal agriculture has an outsized impact on pollutants that enter the environment. Bacteria and pathogens in manure can make their way into streams and groundwater if grazing, storing manure in lagoons and applying manure to fields is not properly managed.[2] Air pollution caused by agriculture through land use changes and animal agriculture practices have an outsized impact on climate change. Addressing these concerns was a central part of the IPCC Special Report on Climate Change and Land[3] as well as in the 2024 UNEP Actions on Air Quality report.[4] Mitigation of agricultural pollution is a key component in the development of a sustainable food system.[5][6][7]
- ^ "Agricultural Nonpoint Source Fact Sheet". United States Environmental Protection Agency. EPA. 2015-02-20. Retrieved 22 April 2015.
- ^ "Investigating the Environmental Effects of Agriculture Practices on Natural Resources". USGS. January 2007, pubs.usgs.gov/fs/2007/3001/pdf/508FS2007_3001.pdf. Accessed 2 April 2018.
- ^ IPCC (2019). Shukla, P.R.; Skea, J.; Calvo Buendia, E.; Masson-Delmotte, V.; et al. (eds.). IPCC Special Report on Climate Change, polution Desertification, Land Degradation, Sustainable Land Management, Food Security, and Greenhouse gas fluxes in Terrestrial Ecosystems (PDF). In press. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/srccl/.
- ^ "Actions on Air Quality. A Global Summary of Policies and Programmes to Reduce Air Pollution". United Nations Environment Programme. 2024.
- ^ Stefanovic, Lilliana; Freytag-Leyer, Barbara; Kahl, Johannes (2020). "Food System Outcomes: An Overview and the Contribution to Food Systems Transformation". Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems. 4. doi:10.3389/fsufs.2020.546167. ISSN 2571-581X.
- ^ Leip, Adrian; Bodirsky, Benjamin Leon; Kugelberg, Susanna (1 March 2021). "The role of nitrogen in achieving sustainable food systems for healthy diets". Global Food Security. 28: 100408. Bibcode:2021GlFS...2800408L. doi:10.1016/j.gfs.2020.100408. PMC 7938701. PMID 33738182.
- ^ Allievi, Francesca; Antonelli, Marta; Dembska, Katarzyna; Principato, Ludovica (2019). "Understanding the Global Food System". Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals Through Sustainable Food Systems. pp. 3–23. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-23969-5_1. ISBN 978-3-030-23968-8.