Conventional Farming
Conventional agriculture, at least for the purposes of this site, refers to the practices that are typically considered to be involved in the industrialized production of livestock, poultry, and crops. This type of farming is characterized by strive for innovation in machinery and farming methods, use of genetic technology, achievement of economies of scale in production, and utilization of global trade.
Industrial agriculture saw its beginning at more or less the same time as did the Industrial Revolution. The identification that nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus as critical factors in plant growth led to the development and manufacture of synthetic fertilizers, making more intensive crop production possible. Chemicals developed during World War II led to their use as synthetic pesticides. The discovery of vitamins and their role in animal nutrition allowed certain animals to be raised indoors, reducing their exposure to adverse weather conditions. Also, the discovery of antibiotics and vaccines facilitated the raising of livestock in concentrated feeding operations by reducing the diseases favored by overcrowding.
Pesticide Sprayer
The production gains seen by this method of farming is nothing short of remarkable and they are still occurring. In 1990, well after the start of industrial agriculture, corn production in the U.S. was 118 bushels per acre. Today, it stands at 153 bushels1. The average farmer in 1940 fed 19 Americans. The modern farmer feeds, on average, 1291.
An abundance of food
But these gains have come at huge costs. Large quantities of water, energy, and industrial chemicals are consumed every year in the production of food. This leads to a large amount of environmental degradation in arable land, water, and the atmosphere. Calories are now more readily, easily, and cheaply available, contributing to numerous chronic diseases. Also, industrialized agriculture has allowed farm ownership and food processing companies to become concentrated in fewer hands, negatively impacting a long-standing way of life.
There are numerous other costs as well (e.g. animal cruelty and pesticide/antibiotic resistant strains of pests and diseases) but the ones described will serve as examples to the broad and numerous problems of industrial agriculture.