\u00a9https:\/\/civileats.com\/2023\/12\/04\/can-agriculture-kick-its-plastic-addiction\/<\/p>\n
Posted: DECEMBER 4, 2023 While the plastics used at every step of the farming process can boost productivity, they also pollute the soil and the food we eat. New research has farmers and advocates pushing for change.<\/p>\n Plastics are tightly woven into the fabric of modern agriculture. Black polyethylene \u201cmulch film\u201d gets tucked snugly around crop rows, clear plastic sheeting covers hoop houses, and most farmers use plastic seed trays, irrigation tubes, and fertilizer bags.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n These synthetic polymer products have often been used to help boost yields\u00a0up to 60 percent<\/a>\u00a0and make water and pesticide use more efficient. In China, for example, research shows that plastic field covers keep the soil warm and wet in a way that boosts productivity considerably; an additional\u00a015,000 square miles<\/a>\u00a0of arable land\u2014an area about the size of\u00a0 Switzerland\u2014would be required to produce the same amount of food.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n But plasticulture, or the use of plastic products in agriculture, also comes with a wide range of known problems. Plastic contaminates fields at a much greater scale than it does our\u00a0oceans<\/a>, posing an acute threat to soil health and food security. Research shows that as the chemicals from degrading debris leach into the soil, their persistence decreases crop productivity while snaking up the food chain, appearing in\u00a0earthworm guts<\/a>\u00a0and even\u00a0human placentas<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the larger scope, agriculture accounts for a small slice of the plastics pie\u2014less than 3 percent of the annual\u00a0440 million tons<\/a>\u00a0produced worldwide. Yet their pervasive use\u2014along with farmland, plastics cover everything from individual seeds to bales of hay and packaged produce\u2014has allowed them to plant themselves deeply in our food supply. \u201cRelatively speaking, it\u2019s a small volume,\u201d says Philip Demokritou, vice chair of Rutgers University\u2019s environmental occupational health and justice department and author of a recent international\u00a0report<\/a>\u00a0on plastics in agriculture. \u201cBut it carries the highest risks.\u201d<\/p>\n Given the challenges of feeding a ballooning global population, curtailing our dependence on plastics to grow food is a daunting proposition. Simply put, \u201cthere are no magic solutions,\u201d says Demokritou. Mitigation requires slashing production and consumption, he adds, and increasing recycling and reuse all along the supply chain.<\/p>\n From implementing policies, incentives, and regulations to engaging producers, farmers, and consumers, it\u2019s an all-encompassing effort that \u201cwe need to battle collectively as a society,\u201d he says. And yet considering the impacts to both environmental and human health, investing in comprehensive, innovative, and proactive measures will be far more cost-effective, Demokritou suggests, \u201cthan feeding disease and disasters down the line.\u201d<\/p>\n The world has a voracious appetite for plastic. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) estimates that global plastic waste is on track to\u00a0nearly triple<\/a>\u00a0by 2060. With less than a fifth of the end stream getting recycled, single-use products make up the bulk of the waste, and it\u2019s destined to go to landfills, be incinerated, or escape into the larger environment.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Meanwhile, 98 percent of disposables are made from \u201cvirgin\u201d feedstock, driving\u00a0renewed growth<\/a>\u00a0for fossil fuel companies that supply the raw material. All told, annual greenhouse gases released from plastic production, landfilling, and incineration total\u00a0850 million tons<\/a>, or 4.5 percent of global emissions. And studies also show that plastic pollution disproportionately affects\u00a0disadvantaged communities<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nevertheless, the versatility, affordability, and convenience of synthetic polymers make them indispensable to most industries, including agriculture. The field consumes 14 million tons of plastics every year, with crop and livestock production accounting for 80 percent.<\/p>\n In 2021, the United Nations (U.N.) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) issued\u00a0a report<\/a>\u00a0highlighting the urgent need for more sustainable use of agricultural plastics. The landmark assessment subsequently paved the way for the U.N. to push for a\u00a0global treaty<\/a>\u00a0to slash plastic pollution.<\/p>\n According to FAO, plastic films such as black mulch and greenhouse covers account for the bulk of annual global use, at more than 8 million tons. In addition to extending the growing season by warming the soil, safeguarding plants\u2019 roots, and preserving soil moisture, these plastics also suppress weeds.<\/p>\n The drawbacks, however, are just as consequential. Plastic mulch creates an impervious surface that concentrates chemical runoff while overheating fields and impacting soil health. And the single-use product is neither recyclable nor reusable, requiring seasonal retrieval and disposal. The\u00a0Rodale Institute<\/a>, a nonprofit research institution for organic farming, cites that every acre of land farmed with plastic mulch creates upwards of\u00a0120 pounds of waste<\/a>\u00a0that typically end up in landfill, or otherwise break down into the soil or nearby watersheds.<\/p>\n In China, where farms use enough plastic film to cover the\u00a0surface area of Idaho<\/a>\u00a0every year, the difficulty of end-of-season removal led growers, at one point, to plow the plastic directly into the field. The widespread practice, which took place through the late aughts, \u201chad a deleterious effect on soil quality,\u201d says Richard H. Thompson, a former agricultural plastics sustainability expert at FAO and a lead author of the 2021 report. As contamination rose, crop yields fell by 15 percent.<\/p>\n That practice was banned, but plastics have continued to disintegrate and leave an unavoidable trail of debris and impacts\u2014wherever they\u2019re used. \u201cIt takes about 10,000 chemicals to produce plastics,\u201d says Rutgers\u2019 Demokritou, noting that the additives are necessary to give polymers flexibility and other functionality.<\/p>\n As they fragment under sunlight, temperature fluctuations, and wear and tear, the micro- and nanoplastic (MNP) particles remain chemically stable even as they physically decompose. Accumulating in soils over time, the residues hinder water absorption and impact microbial communities. Eventually, MNPs \u201cpollute the food chain,\u201d Demokritou says, posing health risks such as disrupting endocrine and digestive functions and harboring\u00a0drug-resistant superbugs<\/a>.<\/p>\n In the past decade, the massive reliance on plastic mulch has spurred the development of greener alternatives employable on an equivalent scale. Several agrochemical companies have developed biodegradable plastic mulches (BDMs) that, while doubly expensive, relieve farmers of the cost and labor of removal by decomposing into the soil.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Yet independent studies on their long-term impacts to both soil health and crop productivity remain inconclusive. To give them the requisite plasticity, BDMs contain many similar additives as those found in conventional films, says Thompson, \u201cso the jury is still out.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" \u00a9https:\/\/civileats.com\/2023\/12\/04\/can-agriculture-kick-its-plastic-addiction\/ Posted: DECEMBER 4, 2023 Posted By: NAOKI NITTA While the plastics used at every step of the farming process can boost productivity, they also pollute the soil and the food we eat. New research has farmers and advocates pushing for change. Plastics are tightly woven into the fabric of [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":199,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,21,3,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-entrepreneurs","category-export","category-food-safety-and-inspection-service"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomasinofarms.com\/agroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomasinofarms.com\/agroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomasinofarms.com\/agroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomasinofarms.com\/agroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomasinofarms.com\/agroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=198"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tomasinofarms.com\/agroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":200,"href":"https:\/\/tomasinofarms.com\/agroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/198\/revisions\/200"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomasinofarms.com\/agroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/199"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tomasinofarms.com\/agroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomasinofarms.com\/agroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tomasinofarms.com\/agroblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nPosted By: NAOKI NITTA<\/a><\/p>\nPolluting the Food Chain<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
Driving Coordinated Action<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n