Impact of Technology on Agriculture

Humans have long been manipulating the environment for our continued survival. We've gone from small nomadic groups dotted around the world to a landscape dominated by the ever-expanding human food print. This explosion in human population was only made possible through continuous advancements in agricultural technologies that have increased agricultural production.

From stone tools to the manipulation of plant genomes, the Anthropocene Epoch has seen incredible transformations in how we interact with our agricultural environments through technology.

Impact of Agricultural Technologies Overview

Contemporary agriculture has been shaped by historical developments in agricultural technologies that date as far back as the end of the Stone Age.

First Agricultural Revolution

Also called the Neolithic Revolution, the First Agricultural Revolution began approximately 12,000 years ago in the Mediterranean region. During this time, humans were transitioning out of nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles and opting for permanent settlements, which opened up the possibility of farming.

While agricultural technologies were limited to simple tools, humans made impressive advancements in domesticating plants and animals.¹ Many of the staple crops and livestock animals that we depend on today, such as wheat and cattle, were undergoing the process of domestication through human selection.

Second Agricultural Revolution

The Second Agricultural Revolution began in England around the 16th century. Agricultural productivity increased dramatically through the development of new technologies and land management practices.

Fig. 1 - Jethro Tull Seed Drill

New machinery inventions like the seed drill reduced manual labor costs and allowed for more uniform and large-scale cultivation. The cultivation of cash crops, or crops grown solely for market sale instead of family use, was a hallmark practice of this time, and the average farm size increased as a result.¹

This time period is also marked by the implementation of new land management practices that further increased agricultural production, like crop rotations, cover crops, the application of manure fertilizers, and new systems of irrigation and drainage. These advancements in agricultural technology were a significant factor in freeing up labor for the coming Industrial Revolution.

The Green Revolution

Fast-forward to the 1950s and '60s, when soils were largely suffering from degradation and loss of fertility through overuse and mismanagement. To address these issues, researchers began developing new fertilizer and crop technologies that have undoubtedly transformed agriculture and human society as a whole.

Agriculture became increasingly mechanized during this time. Improvements in equipment for plowing, planting, and harvesting immensely reduced human and animal labor on the farm. Through research advancements in isolating favorable traits in crops, seed selection practices were able to increase yield averages drastically.

The most transformative developments during the Green Revolution were made in agrochemical technologies. The Haber-Bosch process of converting atmospheric N₂ into ammonia available for plant use marks one of the most influential agricultural developments to date. Other chemical fertilizers were developed to bring more productivity and fertility to soils through the addition of plant nutrients like phosphorus, nitrogen, and potassium.

Types of Agricultural Technologies

There are four main types of agricultural technologies.²

1. Land management practices include technologies and techniques in land alteration and natural resource management. Soil is considered a natural resource in agriculture, so practices like soil tillage, terrace farming, irrigation, the use of cover crops, and other soil preservation techniques are included in this category.

2. Machinery and infrastructure technologies are comprised of farming equipment used in the field as well as in crop processing and storage. These technologies tend to reduce manual labor costs by increasing productivity through mechanization with equipment like harvesting combines and tractors. Agricultural infrastructure includes water pumps for irrigation, storage systems like silos, and even spatial technologies like GPS.

Fig. 2 - combines and tractors help to reduce labor costs

3. Agrochemical technologies include fertilizers, pesticides, and herbicides. These chemical inputs are developed to increase soil fertility and to improve crop health and yields. They typically replace inherent soil functions when agricultural intensification is too great to be supported by natural soil processes.

4. Biotechnologies include some of the more recent advancements in agricultural technology, like genetically engineered crops and the use of antibiotics, vaccines, and hormone treatments in animal husbandry.

Impact of Technology on Agricultural Production

Advancements in technology have unquestionably shaped the trajectory of agriculture throughout human history. From our beginnings of using sticks to poke holes in the soil for seed planting, to our use of automated self-driving tractors, agriculture has undergone incredible transformations. However, positive impacts on the production of food are counterbalanced by many negative impacts on the environment.

Contemporary agriculture is now faced with the task of addressing this ever-pressing asymmetry.

Positive Impacts of Agricultural Technology

Agricultural productivity has significantly increased with the intensification of agriculture through the Second Agricultural Revolution and the Green Revolution. As production has intensified, the carrying capacity of the land has increased along with the availability of food. This has allowed for the noteworthy population growth that has occurred, particularly in developing countries.

Since 1970, undernourishment in developing countries has decreased from nearly 35% down to below 15% of the population.³ This positive impact on agriculture has been achieved through mechanization and agrochemical technologies that increase productivity and yields, which can lower food costs.

Fig. 3 - Genetically engineered "Golden Rice" has increased levels of vitamin A, which makes it a more nutritious food source to populations deficient in this important vitamin.

Through genetic engineering, the nutritional content of some crops have increased, which has further reduced global undernourishment. Environmental issues that limit agriculture production have been addressed through the genetic engineering of crops that can deter pests and are more drought resistant. The impacts of genetically modified organisms (GMOs) on human and environmental health are still uncertain. However, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization states that, to date, no health issues or harmful gene transfers have occurred.⁵

Environmental Impacts of Agricultural Technologies

Unfortunately, the negative impacts of agricultural technology on the environment are virtually limitless. Because many agricultural practices contribute to climate change through the release of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, there is no ecosystem untouched by the impacts of agricultural technologies. In addition, intensive agriculture often requires heavy irrigation, which places strain on limited freshwater sources.

While productivity has increased, it has often come with the costs and impacts of unsustainable land management. Soil degradation and loss to erosion are concerning impacts of the use of agrochemical fertilizers and tillage practices. Essential plant nutrients are made available to plants, as soil microbes mineralize and repurpose nutrients locked up in decomposing plant matter. Chemical fertilizers skip this microbial step and provide plants with an immediate supply of nutrients, often in excess.

Fig. 4 - This map shows excess phosphorus fertilizer from agriculture. When applied in excess, fertilizers can pollute the surrounding environment and air.

Negative Impacts of Technology on Agriculture

The use of agrochemicals reduces the biodiversity of soil microbes by ultimately taking away their function of recycling nutrients. Biodiversity is further diminished in bug populations around agricultural areas due to the heavy use of pesticides that often kill non-target pests as well. In addition, native plant biodiversity is reduced when land is cleared for cultivation or animal husbandry. Disruptions in food webs then spread to the outer lands surrounding agricultural areas.

Because agrochemicals are regularly applied in excess, they can also pollute water sources through field runoff during rain events. As these nutrients accumulate in rivers, lakes, and oceans, they contribute to eutrophication. Waste produced from aquaculture fish farms can also disturb the nutrient balance in water ecosystems.

In addition to water runoff, agrochemicals also contribute to air pollution, as they can release greenhouse gases. Nitrous oxide (N₂O) is a byproduct produced as nitrogen fertilizers go through the microbial process of denitrification. N₂O is an extremely potent greenhouse gas, as one molecule can trap 298x more heat than a carbon dioxide (CO₂) molecule!

Lastly, land management technologies that disrupt soil structure, like the use of plows in tillage, release stored carbon back into the atmosphere. The Earth's soils currently hold more carbon than the entire atmosphere, but unsustainable soil management allows this carbon to be re-released as a greenhouse gas.

How can we reliably feed the world when so many of our agricultural technologies are disrupting ecosystems? Well, perhaps it's time for the next revolution in agricultural technologies.