Animal Rearing

#16: EU Directives on Nitrates and Pesticides

Welcome back everyone! The future of agricultural pollution is not all bleak as there are measures put in place to allow the environment to gradually revert back to a time where there was less pollution. In this post, we aim to summarise some of the directives and legislations that the EU has implemented, especially against the use of excess pesticides and nitrates in fertilisers.

The use of pesticides in agriculture can help to fight crop pests, therefore increasing quality and yield of the crop. However, in the past few decades, it is realised that pesticide overuse can lead to serious health and environmental impacts. Therefore, the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) was introduced in 1962, which implements a series of agricultural subsidies and programmes that has been revised and revamped throughout the years. Embedded within the CAP, there are some policies that not only target the use of pesticides, but also promote the sustainable use of plant protection.

Here are some of the policies and measures stated within the CAP:

  • Direct payments are not given to farmers who can generate the highest yield, this minimises the need for farm owners to use excess pesticides just to garner greater yield
  • “Green” direct payments are disbursed to farm owners who adopt farming practices that help take a step towards achieving environmental and climate goals
  • Cross-compliance rules state that farm owners will receive a cut from their payments if they do not adhere to the EU laws associated to environment, climate change, good agricultural condition of land, human, animal and plant health standards and animal welfare
  • These cross-compliance rules include conditions for use of pesticides, especially with regards to fruits and vegetables, where a minimum 10% of spending in operational programmes must go towards environmental actions
  • Agri-environmental measures are geared towards minimising the risks of environmental degradation and improve the sustainability of agro-ecosystems

It is the responsibility of the farm advisory systems to alert farm owners about conditions under cross-compliance, green direct payments, water framework directive and the directive on sustainable pesticide use. With regards to organic farming, chemical pesticides, synthetic fertilisers, antibiotics and other substances are severely prohibited.

A summary of the EU Nitrates Directive

The use of inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus fertilisers to supply the crops with nutrients to grow quickly and in abundance helps to boost crop yield. However, it is not sustainable as they stimulate eutrophication upon reaching water bodies. Therefore, the EU’s Nitrates Directive was introduced in 1991. The directive aims to achieve reduction in water pollution by nitrates from agricultural sources and to promoting good farming practices.

This directive is enforced by the EU countries. These countries would need to ensure that agricultural water quality is regularly inspected, demarcate areas which could become heavily contaminated by nitrates once applied, as well as establish acts of good agricultural practices. With regards to the areas easily contaminated by nitrates, the directive restricts up to 170kg as the maximum annual limit of nitrogen from livestock manure (used as fertilisers) that can be applied per hectare. Acts of good agricultural practice include adhering to fertiliser application periods, fertiliser application areas, manure storage methods, manure spreading methods as well as certain land management measures. Every 4 years, member states are required to report on the nitrates concentrations in waters, presence of eutrophication, any revisions in the areas vulnerable to nitrate pollution as well as future trends in water quality.

At present, as with many other solutions or legislations implemented to curb pollution stemming from agriculture, there are limitations which hamper its environmental success. It is worthy to note that studies mention a hiccup in its intended success is due to a lack of governance-oriented debate. Only with this debate, the knowledge of the policy and directive performances can then be fully understood. To overcome this limitation, it is encouraged that member states be required to provide to EU Commission a thorough assessment of the governance dynamics that reinforce the policy and directive implementation, along with the 4-yearly environmental monitoring report.

References:

Musacchio, A., Re, V., Mas-Pla, J. and Sacchi, E., 2019. EU Nitrates Directive, from theory to practice: Environmental effectiveness and influence of regional governance on its performance. Ambio, 49(2), pp.504-516.

European Commission – European Commission. 2020. Pesticides In Agriculture. [online] Available at: <https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farming-fisheries/sustainability/environmental-sustainability/low-input-farming/pesticides_en> [Accessed 24 July 2020].

European Commission – European Commission. 2020. Nitrates. [online] Available at: <https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farming-fisheries/sustainability/environmental-sustainability/low-input-farming/nitrates_en> [Accessed 24 July 2020].

Ec.europa.eu. 2020. Nitrates – Water Pollution – Environment – European Commission. [online] Available at: <https://ec.europa.eu/environment/water/water-nitrates/index_en.html> [Accessed 24 July 2020].

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#14: Agricultural Water Pollution from Livestock Waste

Hello everyone! Although it is our 5th and final week into the GE3246 Special Term module, and we are still learning new things about agricultural pollution and can’t wait to share them with you guys (:

Former National Compliance Initiative: Preventing Animal Waste ...

Livestock waste deposited directly into water body

The manure from livestock can be very problematic. This is the case whether uncontrolled release of waste or when initially placing them into lagoons.

In particular, uncontrolled livestock waste is a direct source of pollution for surface and groundwater sources. Their mixing with surface water can severely impact the water quality and cause the death of living organisms. Not only that, there is a high Biological Oxygen Demand due to the organic materials found in waste. Their waste is a source of atmospheric ammonia, carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide. These excess nutrients and organic matter is a stimulant for growth of algae in water bodies. The heavy metals and harmful bacteria directly found in animal waste could also leach into and contaminate water supplies. Also not to mention, there are traces of ammonia and bad odour when there is a spread of this waste slurry across the land.

We tend to assume that if the animal manure is managed, there would be no problems at all. However, this is not true. Let me explain why! Animal wastes are stored in pits or open ponds, otherwise known as lagoons. These “waste containers” are hastily dug, they do not have a lining to prevent leaching of harmful pollutants. In the case of large storms, these containers might even be torn apart, spilling out all the animal waste slurry in a horrific sight! In order to combat this problem, some large-scale farms spray this spilt manure onto the farm fields. The environmental pollution caused by all the raptured lagoons, spraying and leaching can be very detrimental. Surface and groundwaters get contaminated with excess nutrients from animal waste. Nitrates, heavy metals or even pathogenic bacteria can leach into water supplies, causing morbidity and illness.

It is estimated that a total of 2 billion tonnes of liquid fraction and waste is generated annually from US alone, while China’s livestock farms generate nearly 4 billion tonnes of waste annually. Hence, with lots of meat consumers around, many livestock has to be reared, causing a lot of pollution to enter aquatic ecosystems or even water supplies. However, as consumers, we don’t often see the direct impacts from our consumption, as the pollution is outsourced to countries which rely on agriculture as their main source of revenue.

References:

Polat, H. and Olgun, M., 2006. Water pollution from livestock wastes and required strategies in efforts to adapt to European Union. International Water Association,.

FoodPrint. 2020. How Industrial Agriculture Causes Water Pollution | Foodprint. [online] Available at: <https://foodprint.org/issues/how-industrial-agriculture-affects-our-water/> [Accessed 20 July 2020].

Gu, H. and Mason, J., 2017. Energy Hogs: China Targets Farm Waste As A ‘Clean’ Power Source. [online] U.S. Available at: <https://www.reuters.com/article/us-china-livestock-waste/energy-hogs-china-targets-farm-waste-as-a-clean-power-source-idUSKCN1BA16V#:~:text=Chinese%20livestock%20farms%20generate%20nearly,according%20to%20the%20agriculture%20ministry.> [Accessed 20 July 2020].

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#13: Agricultural Pollution from the burning of forests :(

Hi guys! Today we shall talk more about agriculture as a whole.

Agricultural expansion is one of the leading deforestation reasons, falling second to timber harvesting which accounts for  37% of the loss of the Intact Forest Landscape (IFL). During the years between 2000 to 2013, agricultural expansion made up for approximately 28% of  the IFL that we have chopped down.

Did you also know that besides our oceans being carbon sinks, our forests can account for 30% of carbon emission absorption?

Well, how does this link to agricultural pollution then?

How agricultural expansion results in the exacerbation of climate change and global warming

When we burn our forests for the purpose of agricultural farming (growing of crops) or animal rearing, we are equivalently reducing our carbon sinks which is one of our key partners in helping in climate change and global warming. We are also chopping logs and burning off the stumps which remain on the land. Our burning of forests account for the second highest global carbon emitter! We are not only reducing our carbon absorbers, we are producing more carbon than we can handle!

The burning of forests also leads to these processes:

  1. Direct air pollution from burning forests
  2. Destroy ecosystems – destroy native plants and biodiversity that use forests as habitats
  3. Slashes biodiversity – force biodiversity to live in smaller areas, may force them to extinction
  4. Erodes land – lands are unable to absorb water or retain soil (soil layer was bulldozed), may exacerbate flooding, cause soil erosion or landslides that may end up in our nearby rivers (aquatic pollution)
  5. Spoils water supply – introduction of new sediments, nutrients, and surface runoff (such as herbicides which are pesticides used to kill unwanted plants) to water catchments. May also ruin clean groundwater for certain populations (aquatic pollution)
  6. Reverse carbon sinks – forests naturally absorb more carbon compared to the production of carbon due to photosynthesis, but removal of them results in lesser effective carbon absorbers [replacement plantation such as oil palm usually are less effective in being carbon sinks than that of the forests, worse if the land is used for animal rearing – produce more greenhouse gases especially cows!  (Refer to #7: Enteric Fermentation)]
  7. Results in degradation of social toll on indigenous groups – some groups of people use forests for cultural purposes, cultural history may be damaged

The process of agricultural expansion is not really a positive thing with such negative impacts to the environment. We should always look for possible alternative solutions instead of destroying of more forests such as vertical farming, utilising existing clear land without further destruction of further forests (not only because land is scarce) or perhaps choose alternative food that comes from more environmentally friendly roots.

References:

Lindwall, C., 2019. Industrial Agricultural Pollution 101. [online] NRDC. Available at: <https://www.nrdc.org/stories/industrial-agricultural-pollution-101> [Accessed 7 July 2020].

Denchak, M., 2017. Want To Fight Climate Change? Stop Clearcutting Our Carbon Sinks.. [online] NRDC. Available at: <https://www.nrdc.org/stories/stop-clearcutting-carbon-sinks> [Accessed 19 July 2020].

Nrcan.gc.ca. 2020. Forest Carbon | Natural Resources Canada. [online] Available at: <https://www.nrcan.gc.ca/climate-change/impacts-adaptations/climate-change-impacts-forests/forest-carbon/13085> [Accessed 19 July 2020].

Rainforest Action Network, 2017. How many trees are cut down every year?. [Blog] THE UNDERSTORY, Available at: <https://www.ran.org/the-understory/how_many_trees_are_cut_down_every_year/> [Accessed 19 July 2020].

Intactforests.org. n.d. World’s Intact Forest Landscapes, 2000-2013. [online] Available at: <http://intactforests.org/world.map.html> [Accessed 19 July 2020].

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#12: Ways to Mitigate Climate Change from Enteric Fermentation

Hello everyone! Previously in post #7, we talked about enteric fermentation and its links to climate change from the huge amounts of methane released into the atmosphere. Now, we will discuss some ways that we can cut down on methane emissions per unit of output as well as efficiently capturing the methane to change it to other useful forms of energy.

There are a variety of options that we can consider to reduce the production of methane gas, where all the below proposed solutions aim at improving the quantity and quality of the livestock diet.  Firstly, enteric fermentation emissions can be minimised by increasing feed quantity per head. In doing so, the proportion of feed energy converted to milk and meat is increased compared to than for animal maintenance. Also, emissions can be minimised by improving the quality of feed. This includes improving the quality of concentrate in the diet, replacing fibrous with starch concentrate, increasing the digestibility of forage, using more legumes rather than grass forage, more silage rather than hay and adding oilseeds to the diet.

Tropical forage legumes could boost dairy production profits

Livestock consuming a more legume diet

However, if the methane is already produced in the form of manure, there are ways to change those methane into useful forms of energy. The manure management involves the capture and use of manure to pass them through anaerobic digestors. The methane that is extracted can then be used as a fuel for electric generators, heat and lighting due to their high energy content. This way, the methane is combusted to carbon dioxide and steam, where carbon dioxide is a less powerful greenhouse gas as compared to methane, reducing the effect of climate change.

China Is on Track To Reach Its Ultra-low Emissions Goals For 2020 ...

Methane as a fuel for energy production

References:

Key, N. and Tallard, G., 2011. Mitigating methane emissions from livestock: a global analysis of sectoral policies. Climatic Change, 112(2), pp.387-414.

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#7: Enteric Fermentation… what is that??

Hi guys! Welcome back to our blog. Today we will be sharing with you about a topic called enteric fermentation. So… what is enteric fermentation? Well, enteric fermentation is a digestive process by animals where carbohydrates are broken down by microorganisms into simple molecules for absorption into the bloodstream. And of course, it is a normal and common process in most mammals. But this process is aggravated with the many animals being reared on the green-lands of our Earth for consumption.

A study showed that in Switzerland in 1998, that an estimated 63% of anthropogenic methane emission came from agriculture. And 2 forms were particularly identified, one of which is enteric fermentation of animals which was the larger source (87% of the 63%) and methane formation from manure storage (13% of 63%).

So how does enteric fermentation result in the production of methane? Simply put, the microorganisms used to break down the food molecules in the digestive tract by decomposition and fermentation produce methane as a by-product. Methane is the second largest greenhouse gas that is helping to aid in the terrible growing global warming. In fact, although methane falls short of its main competitor, carbon dioxide, researchers have shown that methane has a stronger ability to trap heat in out atmosphere of up to 28 to 34 greater than its competitor.

I have attached a reference of a paper of the global anthropogenic methane emissions by the Global Methane Initiative. In the paper, it is found out that enteric fermentation produces a 27% out of the global productions of methane, while manure storage from agriculture produces a 3% out of the global productions. The paper also mentioned that in an increase of 5% of methane production from agriculture is predicted in the next 10 years (by 2030).

In a paper by the World Resources Institute in 2019, it was mentioned that almost 70 billion of animals are raised annually for consumption purposes by humans. The biggest single source of enteric fermentation pointed towards our cow burps and manure. Manure left on the ground emits nitrous oxide which is also a stronger greenhouse gas to carbon dioxide. It also mentioned that agriculture would most likely continue to be the major contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions in both developed and developing countries for the coming years. If no climate change actions are carried out towards this low awareness sector of agriculture, greenhouse gas emissions could increase 58% by 2050.

With all these being said, we can see that our agricultural pollution from the rearing of animals is a major aid in the process of global warming and climate change. This is definitely not something we should just watch and we should definitely find ways to help reduce the impacts from our agricultural industry to our globe.

References:

The Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), Berne Switzerland, 2006. Report To The BAFU Regarding Methane Emission From Swiss Agriculture According To The Guidelines Of The IPCC. [online] Switerland: Institute of Animal Science Animal Nutrition ETH Zurich Switzerland. Available at: <https://www.bafu.admin.ch/dam/bafu/en/dokumente/klima/klima-climatereporting-referenzen-cp1/soliva_c_r_2006.pdf.download.pdf/soliva_c_r_2006.pdf> [Accessed 12 July 2020].

World Resources Institute, 2020. 5 Questions About Agricultural Emissions, Answered. Available at: <https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/07/5-questions-about-agricultural-emissions-answered#:~:text=The%20biggest%20single%20source%20is,in%20the%20past%2020%20years.> [Accessed 12 July 2020].

Climate & Clean Air Coalition. 2014. Enteric Fermentation. [online] Available at: <https://www.ccacoalition.org/en/activity/enteric-fermentation#:~:text=Enteric%20fermentation%20is%20a%20natural,methane%20as%20a%20by%2Dproduct.> [Accessed 12 July 2020].

2020. Global Methane Emissions And Mitigation Opportunities. [ebook] Global Methane Initiative. Available at: <https://www.globalmethane.org/documents/gmi-mitigation-factsheet.pdf> [Accessed 12 July 2020].

Picture Reference:

W. Lyon, T., 2016. 5 Good Reasons You Should Care About Cow Farts & Cow Burps. [image] Available at: <https://www.globalcitizen.org/en/content/5-reasons-cow-farts-matter-and-could-destroy-the-w/> [Accessed 7 July 2020].

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#6: Antibiotic Resistance is one of the results of Agricultural Pollution… how did Agricultural Pollution link to that?

Hi guys! I found some super interesting links of Agricultural Pollution to how it affects human health!

This was one of the more interesting things I have discovered from researching about this category of pollution. Instead of the normal simplistic direct harms to humans, Agricultural Pollution can result in the Antibiotic Resistance of humans! :O

So for this case, it isn’t the normal form of pollution where contaminants contaminate our environment, but instead we are eating contaminated meat directly!

I drew out a diagram to depict the process:

Food Chain!

As you can see from the above food chain, an unassuming simple process where nobody would ever question links to antibiotic resistance!

Agricultural rearing of animals has been around for ages. Animals have been used for consumption or for other purposes such as wool or leather. However, many farmers inject their animals in their farmland with human antibiotics to fight against potential viruses or illnesses that their herd may get. This is a common practice, the antibiotics would remain within the animals even till death and consumption. Many bacteria then start developing a form of resistance to the antibiotics as they are exposed to them when the animals are not sick, misusing the antibiotics. When us humans (being the end of the food chain) consume the meat of the animal we are in fact consuming the antibiotic resistant bacteria! These bacteria can even teach other bacteria to be resistant to antibiotics. This means that bacteria that could have been treated by antibiotics might have developed resistance because of our misuse of antibiotics and our consumption of polluted meat!

A quote on a paragraph I read (link referenced below), “The researchers suggest that developing nations should take action to restrict the use of human antibiotics in farm animals… Otherwise, the unrestricted use of antibiotics in even greater numbers of animals raised for human consumption could lead to the global spread of infectious bacteria that are increasingly difficult to treat.”.

Isn’t this an alarming quote from researchers!! With COVID-19 spreading violently around our little globe, could our irresponsibility to take future proactive measures result in the cause for our future sufferings?

Here’s a video for a official explanation from the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention (CDC):

References:

Princeton University. “Antibiotic resistance in food animals nearly tripled since 2000.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 9 October 2019. <www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2019/10/191009132321.htm>.

Lindwall, C., 2019. Industrial Agricultural Pollution 101. [online] NRDC. Available at: <https://www.nrdc.org/stories/industrial-agricultural-pollution-101> [Accessed 7 July 2020].

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2019. Antibiotic Resistance And Food. [image] Available at: <https://youtu.be/o0goMAutjEM> [Accessed 24 July 2020].

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#5: More facts about Agricultural Pollution

Hi guys, welcome back to our 5th post! Sorry for the slow posting this week, we were catching up on lectures and preparing for tutorials!

Let’s back-track a little bit and as a starter, I would like to introduce more about the term “Agricultural Pollution”. So what actually is Agricultural Pollution? Well, as we know, agriculture is about the growing of crops and animals for human consumption and uses, so Agricultural Pollution can mainly come from 2 categories: (1) Pollution from growing crops (as we know most commonly) and (2) Pollution from rearing animals (animals will release their discharges possibly into the freshwater directly, or onto the soils of our land used for agriculture or even the atmosphere).

Animal Rearing

Spraying of pesticides

 

 

 

 

 

So it doesn’t seem like there is much to talk about right..? Well, that’s what we will be researching more about! Agricultural Pollution is of course less infamous than our brother pollution, Atmospheric Pollution or Aquatic Pollution. But there are some links between them. In fact, Agricultural Pollution could lead to both Atmospheric and Aquatic Pollution (worsening the situation than it already is!). The rearing of animals is one of the key polluters to the atmosphere. Cow burping and farting release harmful greenhouse gases (Enteric Fermentation, I would like to cover this in a future post) into the atmosphere, contributing to the already terrifying global warming status. Run-offs from the land being washed into the nearby rivers and lakes could harm our marine life that we consume (Refer to Post #1). Agricultural Pollution is a vicious cycle and we consumers are not well aware of our contributions to it especially in grocery stores, buying and supporting such produce!

So that’s all I have for today! More updates to come! See you! 🙂

 

References:

LINDWALL, C., 2019. Industrial Agricultural Pollution 101. [online] NRDC. Available at: <https://www.nrdc.org/stories/industrial-agricultural-pollution-101> [Accessed 5 July 2020].

Sexton, C., 2020. Damaging Air Pollution From The Agricultural Industry Has Been Underestimated. [image] Available at: <https://www.earth.com/news/damaging-air-pollution-agriculture/> [Accessed 5 July 2020].

2020. Agricultural Pollution. [image] Available at: <http://www.schoolchalao.com/basic-education/show-results/pollution/agricultural-pollution> [Accessed 5 July 2020].

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