Discussing possible solutions

#17: How we can all play a part to reduce Agricultural Pollution

Hi folks, welcome back! 😀

As we are wrapping up our blog 🙁 , we thought it would be a good idea to share how we can play our part, as individuals, to help in the reduction of Agricultural Pollution! As many of us would know, Agriculture is a huge industry in the world we live in and we might feel that we are very out of touch of the pollution processes to help in the reduction of pollution.

Here are some ways that we can reduce our own footprints to in effect, reduce Agricultural Pollution:

Choose environmentally-friendly food sources
- Certain food products cultivate the habit of using antibiotic resistance, and some utilise massive use of pesticides and fertilisers. Even products from your local supermarket may carry such branding.
- Perhaps shop at the organic section from time to time. Although it may be more expensive, organic food cultivate their products using natural sources, unlike non-organic products which may utilise synthetic chemicals which is terribly bad for human health [4].
- A small step could be to alternate your diet with organic food from time to time, slowly and progressively leaning towards organic produce. Every step counts, even if it is a little change in our consumption behaviour.
Reduce consumption of meat and choose alternative food
- Not only does the consumption of meat lead to possible enteric fermentation and eutrophication, animal rearing use up massive amounts of water, vegetation and produce a huge amount of waste.
- In the global perspective, animal rearing accounts for 14.5 to 18% of human-induced greenhouse gas emissions.
- The most concerning meats are lamb and beef. It produces 20 times more greenhouse gases per gram of protein compared to other plant proteins, such as beans.
- This diagram shows how resource intensive it is to produce lamb and beef compared to other foods:
  Greenhouse gas emissions produced to the production of certain food
- A possible step to reduce agricultural pollution would be to swap your proteins in your diet to less resource intensive foods such as beans and nuts.
Reduce food wastage
- The massive agricultural expansion is also due to our massive demand for supply of food despite the fact that we still waste a lot of food.
- In a global scale, according to the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations, it is estimated that 1.3 billion tonnes of food is wasted annually. This is 1/3 of all the food produced for human consumption. The amount of food lost or wasted in monetary terms can be equated to be 2.6 trillion USD annually which is more than enough to feed all the 815 million starving people in the world for 4 times! 🙁
- Closer to home, in Singapore as a whole, we are wasting 342 million SGD of food annually! For a easier reference, that is 52 plates of Nasi Lemak a year per household!

Singapore household food wastage infographic

Food wastage in Singapore as a whole

- With what has been mentioned above, we should learn to be more responsible citizens! We should have a habit of purchasing the portions that we can finish.
- Hopefully. with a lower demand in food, the agricultural industry would not be producing so much excess food a year which is only going to waste! This could possible reduce the amount of unnecessary pollution produced to the environment and the ecosystem.

This list is not exhaustive and there is many more ways we can help with the reduction of Agricultural Pollution. But with small steps, everyone can play their part in reducing Agri-llution! 😀

References:

Folk, E., 2019. 10 Keys to an Eco-Friendly Diet. The Environmental Magazine, [online] Available at: <https://emagazine.com/10-keys-to-an-eco-friendly-diet/> [Accessed 24 July 2020].

Robinson, L., Segal, J. and Segal, R., 2020. Organic Foods: What You Need To Know – Helpguide.Org. [online] Helpguide.org. Available at: <https://www.helpguide.org/articles/healthy-eating/organic-foods.htm> [Accessed 24 July 2020].

Friedman, L., Pierre-Louis, K. and Sengupta, S., 2018. The Meat Question, by the Numbers. The New York Times, [online] Available at: <https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/25/climate/cows-global-warming.html> [Accessed 24 July 2020].

R. Waite, T. Searchinger and J. Ranganathan, “6 Pressing Questions About Beef and Climate Change, Answered”, World Resources Institute, 2019. [Online]. Available: https://www.wri.org/blog/2019/04/6-pressing-questions-about-beef-and-climate-change-answered. [Accessed: 24- Jul- 2020].

Depta, L., 2018. Global Food Waste And Its Environmental Impact | Green Living. [online] RESET.to. Available at: <https://en.reset.org/knowledge/global-food-waste-and-its-environmental-impact-09122018> [Accessed 24 July 2020].

2019. Advancing A Circular Economy For Food: Key Drivers And Recommendations To Reduce Food Loss And Waste In Singapore. [ebook] Singapore: Singapore Environment Council (SEC), pp.Page 9, Page 11. Available at: <http://sec.org.sg/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/SEC_Food-Loss-Study.pdf> [Accessed 24 July 2020].

Posted on July 24, 2020April 22, 2021 by darren and shayna | 2 comments

#15: Buffer Zones along Farm Boundaries

In many of the previous posts, there is a lot that is mentioned regarding water pollution as a result of intensified agriculture. This post will be focussed on a possible solution that could minimise the risk of water pollution.

One approach to solving the water pollution problem is the creation of buffer zones between the polluting farms and receiving waters. A buffer zone refers to a permanently vegetated area of land which is roughly 5-100m in width, preferably placed adjacent to a watercourse. The buffer zone works by providing a biochemical and physical barrier between the pollution source and the receiving water body.

The working mechanism of the buffer zone is relatively simple. The buffer zone spreads and separates the incoming flow of pollutants, minimising its fluid velocity. This increases infiltration and subsequently reduces the water depth on the surface. Huge particles fall to the bottom as sediments while suspended particles get filtered through leaf litter and soil. The remaining pollutants get trapped in the soil of the buffer zone, which allows for decay and subsequent absorption by plant roots or adsorption onto soil particles. The removal of pollutants transported in particulate form varies according to the buffer zone’s capacity of reducing energy of the incoming flow to allow pollutant particle settling. On the contrary, the removal of pollutants transported in dissolved form depends on the ability of the buffer zone to stall the runoff long enough to facilitate the pollutants breaking down, for subsequent absorption by plants.

The effectiveness of a buffer zone is determined by a number of factors. We must consider its physical structure, the type of pollutants it must handle and the closeness of the buffer zone to the pollution source. As for agricultural catchments, they are usually located in areas of low slope where the uplands were already cleared without any buffer. Such runoff from the uplands gets channelled away in the upper catchment and could flow out of the catchment without passing through the buffer downstream. This results in a huge loss of nutrients, which in this case are pollutants, that ultimately enters water bodies and causes water pollution.

In order to ensure the effectiveness of buffering for agricultural catchments, the buffer zones should ideally extend along tributary streams, so that none of the polluting sources will be left out and allowed to channel away. Hence, all polluting sources have to pass through buffer zones to trap the pollutants, as represented in the figure below.

Ideal agricultural catchment buffer zone

Regarding the effectiveness of buffer zones towards pesticides in agriculture, it has shown commendable results. In a study conducted by Asmussen et al. (1997), it was reported that herbicide 2,4-D were reduced along a buffer zone by 77% and 69% in wet and dry conditions. In a similar study by Rohde et al. (1980), there was evidence of trifluralin loss of 96% and 86% in wet and dry conditions. The large reduction of pesticide loss can be attributed to water infiltration, sediment deposition and attachment on vegetative and organic matter.

References:

Muscutt, A., Harris, G., Bailey, S. and Davies, D., 1993. Buffer zones to improve water quality: a review of their potential use in UK agriculture. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment, 45(1-2), pp.59-77.

Norris, V., 1993. The use of buffer zones to protect water quality: A review. Water Resources Management, 7(4), pp.257-272.

Posted on July 22, 2020July 24, 2020 by darren and shayna | Leave a comment

#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.

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.

Posted on July 19, 2020July 19, 2020 by darren and shayna | Leave a comment

#10: Bee Vectoring

Instead of using conventional pesticides to kill pests, there are other ways to protect the health of plants. We can harness the power of our natural pollinators, which are bees! These bees can be recruited to help transport beneficial fungi to plants, so that there is less reliance on pesticides. This is known as bee vectoring.

The addition of fungi would enable the plant to be more resistant to a certain type of pest, just like how an antibiotic increases the human body’s resistance to a type of illness. One such fungi advantageous to plants is Clonostrachys rosea, a naturally occurring fungi which is especially good at combating plant diseases like mould growth on plant fruits. As of now, this bee vectoring technique is commercialised and has been practised on blueberry, strawberry, tomato, almonds and sunflower plants. Many other microbes are being tested to see if they can work well against various kind of pests.

To recruit the bees to carry the right fungus, one can place a box of inoculant-dosed powder right at the entrance of the commercially reared beehive. In order to exit, the bees have to pass through the box of power before leaving. When doing so, the bees will coincidentally dip their legs and bodies into the powder, ultimately delivering them straight to the plant (flower) during pollination.

U.S. EPA approves bee-delivered fungicide | Good Fruit Grower

Bee dipping legs and body in powder fungicide

These fungi works well in protecting the plant health, minimising the use of pesticides. Usually, spraying pesticides in traditional farming is over used and non-target specific, where excess pesticides lead to bioaccumulation and biomagnification when it enters the food chain. Comparing it with bee vectoring, the usage of chemical agents is less wasteful and has a potential in completely replacing pesticide use in the future, if results are positive.

References:

Evans Ogden, L., 2020. Sustainable Farming: Can We Use Less Pesticides For More Environmentally Friendly Agriculture. [online] Bbc.com. Available at: <https://www.bbc.com/future/bespoke/follow-the-food/the-clean-farming-revolution/?referer=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2F> [Accessed 17 July 2020].

Posted on July 17, 2020July 24, 2020 by darren and shayna | Leave a comment

#9: Smart Fertilisers

Today I came across an interesting article, where I found that fertilisers could be programmed to be smart too!

Since more fertiliser applied would increase crop yield, but the more fertiliser applied, the more gets ends up the the watershed, triggering algae growth.

Hence, to prevent that from happening, there are slow-release fertilisers that has been manufactured and sold for quite some time. These fertiliser formulation acts like a capsule, containing nitrogen, phosphorus and various nutrients. The outer shell can slow the rate of entry of water to the capsule as well as the rate which end products can escape from the capsule. Nutrients are allowed to enter the soil gradually for optimal absorption. Besides that, usage is inexpensive as well as convenient.

Schematic diagram showing slow release of fertiliser

More recently, there is the creation of controlled release fertilisers. The shells of the capsules are tuned to only release nutrients at your desired constant rate when the a certain trigger point is hit. Such triggers could be soil temperature, pH or moisture levels.

However, there are some minor drawbacks regarding its usage. In countries with 4 seasons, when the temperature gets too warm or too cold, this might trigger the increased or decreased release of fertiliser into the soil, causing either a root burn or nutrient deficiency respectively. It is also important to note that varying amounts of nutrients is required for optimal plant growth at their different stages. Since the release of fertiliser is fairly constant during constant temperatures, an incorrect amount of nutrients would have been supplied to the plant constantly.

If these fertilisers can be modified to correct its limitations, it is definitely worth it to switch over to smart fertilisers to protect our environment (:

References:

Carbeck, J., 2019. Smarter Fertilizers Can Reduce Environmental Contamination. [online] Scientific American. Available at: <https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/smarter-fertilizers-can-reduce-environmental-contamination/> [Accessed 14 July 2020].

Posted on July 14, 2020July 24, 2020 by darren and shayna | 9 comments