Imagine having dinner with your family. You’re all happy because of the abundant feast that will satisfy your hunger. But where do you think do these supplies of nourishment came from? From the market where you bought the meat? Or from the shop where you bought the veggies?
Behind these businesses is where everything truly came from. Every ingredient that you use in making that dinner is the fruits of an industrious person.
Farming is a very challenging profession, and it requires a lot of patience and vigor. For the longest of times, farmers incorporated improvised yet revolutionary techniques to solve a variety of ecological changes. And thankfully for these, they were able to continuously adapt and readjust to both old and modern problems that farming poses.
In today’s age, however, farming has become even more challenging. The pandemic has become another problematic factor to what is seemingly a growing list of problems. Not to mention the ongoing flaws in the global economy and the ignorance of many towards climate change, truly, what a time to be a farmer.
Hopefully, every one of us will think twice about wasting food ever again after the end of this discussion. Because inside this article, we will be discussing the challenging issues that farmers are facing.
Short Summary
The Ongoing Pandemic Today (COVID-19)
Although we have been affected and are still being affected by the pandemic, farmers have it worst.
One can easily count how many markets and businesses remain. Those that met their eternal closing, you cannot count. How then will our dedicated farmers sell their produce? What’s more, there is a scarcity of crops and food supplies. This conundrum makes it difficult for the natural flow of economic goods to happen. Not only farmers are affected, even us, the consumers. What’s there to buy when there is nothing to produce?
But this global disruption in production is not only caused by the pandemic. The African Swine Fever, which has a version translated through the novel, is also to blame.. Livestock is in constant danger of catching the disease, especially in Eastern Europe and Asian countries, including North Korea, China, Vietnam, Mongolia, and Hong Kong. It is believed that the disease originated from wild boars. These animals then transmitted it down to farms and smallholdings that cater to pigs.
As time progresses, problems also advance. Back then, farmers face mostly natural circumstances like flooding or droughts. Now, though, they have pandemics and swine fevers to think about. The results? Financial ruins and food supply losses. In fact, Westerners are already losing $ 5 Billion worth of human resources for farm business operations to COVID-19 alone.
Depletion of Reservoir Around the World
Water. The very essence of life here on earth. It is an important element essential to the existence of living things. After all, our planet consists of 95% of water. But despite this high percentage, the sad reality remains that only a few of us care about its rapid depletion.
One might even argue that water is a renewable resource. This fact should eradicate any worries about water being completely depleted, right? Unfortunately, this is not the case, for only 2% of those are freshwater. And if we continue to function as we do now, there will come a time that a generation of human beings will have to rely on saltwater to freshwater conversion completely. Hopefully, such a future does not happen, and that modern technology helps in averting it.
Now that we got that covered. Let’s talk about food production. It is a general truth that water scarcity significantly affects and impacts food production. Farmers need plenty supply of water to provide harvests to consumers. Irrigation got this covered. It also allows farmers to maximize the use of their water supply. Also, farmers partake in rainfed agriculture, which is a method used in collecting rain and creating sand dams.
High demands in supply, global warming, marine debris – these are all problems that farmers face every day. It is difficult to have their water supply because of the competing residential and other industry demands. The high amount of garbage disposal in bodies of water also prevents farmers from providing their crops with clean water. Even fish farmers are affected by both the quantity and quality of water.
Climate Change
On to the greatest factor of them all…climate change. The sudden weather shifts and temperature variations catch farmers off guard. No one can ever be totally ready for those. As such, climate change disrupts the natural and balanced agricultural ecosystem. Crop rotations will be rendered useless because of abnormally warmer temperatures, lacking or too much precipitation, and harsh ultraviolet rays.
We can expect inflation soon enough if climate change persists and is left to progress. Production that requires a large water supply may even be rendered obsolete in the future. You can also add on to that the land competition that is sure to happen when most lands become unsuitable for production. What will then remain aside from dry heaps of land that is too toxic for anything to grow? Some farmers may see the increase in temperature and carbon dioxide as good for specific crops, but how about the others? Extreme climate changes restrict other farmers’ production because of droughts and pests.
Final Takeaway
Kudos to farmers for being ever so diligent despite the outright disregard of the majority of the human population for their efforts. Taking into account the factors mentioned above, farmers are truly heroes of the human race.
Let us all show our gratitude for our farmers by being conscientious with our actions, especially regarding food. Remember that it is no easy feat to bring food to the table. Our farmers bend over backwards (literally!) to keep the world well fed. So, better think twice before wasting any leftovers. To satisfy one’s hunger, one must work to provide for them. For a farmer, manually farming is hard, a good thing, today’s modern generation copes with 8 Farm Tools & Machinery Used In Land Preparation And Their Functions.