Existing comment:
Large-Scale Commercial Farming
Pros
Larger yields, less work:
When a single high-yield crop is planted over a vast area, specialized farm machinery can do much of the work. Without this equipment, it would take many more people to produce the same amount of food.
Lower prices:
Economies of scale have allowed large-scale farms to produce more food at lower financial cost, generally reducing prices for the consumer.
Standardization:
Through uniform production practices, famers [sic] can maintain consistent quality. Large-scale buyers, such as manufacturers of French-friend potatoes, care strongly about consistency.
Cons
Lack of resilience:
When a single crop is planted, an unusual weather event or pest can wipe out the entire crop. In 1970, the Southern corn leaf blight devastated farms across the country.
Resource intensive:
Farmers often have to use chemicals -- herbicides, pesticides and fertilizers -- to increase crop yields and profitability, sometimes harming the local environment and contaminating water downstream from farms.
Reducing biodiversity:
By planting a single crop over a large area, habitat for pollinators and the natural enemies of agricultural pests may be destroyed. Pesticides also kill beneficial insects and microorganisms. |