Impacts of Cattle Farming on the Environment

Overview
The cattle farming in the United States is the cause of one of the most widespread, challenging and costly environmental problems that we face today. Mostly because of the nutrient pollution of nitrogen and phosphorus that comes from the estimated 1 million tons of manure per day produced from factory farming*. The ever growing demand for beef encourages farms to produce extraordinary amounts of beef which leads to over crowding. Over crowded and substandard facilities the cattle are kept in causes the animals to become sick and require antibiotics. 25% of the antibiotics administered is absorbed by the animal, leaving the other 75% to pass in the animals urine and feces*. The animal waste is collected in large pools called lagoons (LAGOON PICTURE) where it will seep into the soil and down into the water tables where human consumed water is located for wells. Ammonia and antibiotics contaminates pass through the soil as well as other harmful ( . . . . .). In 2011, 200,000 gallons of manure from a factory farm spilled into a creek in Illinois and killed approximatly 110,000 fish*. Methane gases are also emmited from cattle but in an even larger concentration from the lagoons. Methane gas is a ( . . . . .). According to Farm Sanctuary* methane emmitions from cattle went up 50% from 1990-2005.

History
Archeologists, in recent years, have been researching the effects of over grazing from cattle farming and over use of natural resources dating all the way back to 1300 A.D. John Marston, a professor of archeology and anthropology at Boston University, has done research into agricultural sustainability and climate change in a region which was known as Gordion - now, modern day Turkey. In 2015, Marston published an article in the Journal of Ethnobiology* named ''' Modeling Resilience and Sustainability in Ancient Agricultural Systems. ''' He writes:  "Results of this analysis implicate temporal and spatial mismatches as a cause for local environmental degradation, and increasing extralocal economic pressures as an ultimate cause for the adoption of unsustainable land-use practices.". Modern day cattle farming is being pushed to it's limits for the highest yeild possible without regard to the long term environmental effects, similar to historical Gordion, because of socioeconomic pressure and ever growing demand as populations rise around the world.

Influence
In 2006, The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization published a report called, Livestock's Long Shadow - Environmental Issues and Options. Which highlight. . ..

No-Action Impact
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Effort
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Future Action
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Modeling Resilience and Sustainability in Ancient Agricultural Systems
John M. Marston1 

1John M. Marston, Department of Archaeology, Boston University, 675 Commonwealth Ave., Boston, MA 02215, USA ([mailto:marston@bu.edu marston@bu.edu])

Published by: Society of Ethnobiology
Journal of Ethnobiology 35(3):585-605. 2015 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.2993/etbi-35-03-585-605.1 http://www.bioone.org/doi/10.2993/etbi-35-03-585-605.1

Farm Sanctuary

www.farmsanctuary.org

Science 2.0

Six Reasons Organic Is NOT The Most Environmentally Friendly Way To Farm

By Steve Savage | April 24th 2013 12:18 AM

http://www.science20.com/agricultural_realism/six_reasons_organic_not_most_environmentally_friendly_way_farm-110209

EPA

= The Sources and Solutions: Agriculture =

https://www.epa.gov/nutrientpollution/sources-and-solutions-agriculture

TEDxGrandForks

Regeneration of Our Lands: A Producer’s Perspective | Gabe Brown | TEDxGrandForks

https://youtu.be/QfTZ0rnowcc

TEDxManhattan

Factory farms, antibiotics and superbugs: Lance Price at TEDxManhattan

https://youtu.be/ZwHapgrF99A

TEDxZurich

This bullsh*t might save the world | Thomas Rippel | TEDxZurich

https://youtu.be/oeL72c6scAs

September 3, 2015 by Andrea Estrada
Cattle raising, deforestation and ongoing tensions between conservation and development in the Amazon

Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2015-09-cattle-deforestation-ongoing-tensions-amazon.html#jCpCattle raising, deforestation and ongoing tensions between conservation and development in the Amazon

Livestock farming affects pulmonary function in local residents

 * Publication date
 * 2016-07-20
 * 2016-07-20


 * Modification date
 * 2016-08-01
 * http://rivm.nl/en/Documents_and_publications/Common_and_Present/Newsmessages/2016/Livestock_farming_affects_pulmonary_function_in_local_residents
 * http://rivm.nl/en/Documents_and_publications/Common_and_Present/Newsmessages/2016/Livestock_farming_affects_pulmonary_function_in_local_residents



Precision Farming: Harnessing Technology to Feed the World
Sep 2016

http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/pages/precision-farming.html?cid=PS_02_63_07_00_01_16_01&mkwid=Vqs3RegR

Article history:
Received 28 October 2009 Received in revised form 16 March 2010 Accepted 19 March 2010 Available online 22 April 2010

in the Upper Midwestern United States
http://econ2.econ.iastate.edu/classes/crp274/swenson/CRP566/Readings/Leopold_2010-04-comparative-life-cycle-environmental-impacts-three-beef-production-strategies-upper-midwestern-unite.pdf