Monoculture shows financial, environmental costs to US
Monoculture is the cultivation of a single crop in a given area, and it allows farmers to industrialize their production systems. On the surface, it helps reduce labor costs, but monoculture can actually create more financial and environmental burdens on farms.
Monoculture is the cultivation of a single crop in a given area, and it allows farmers to industrialize their production systems. On the surface, it helps reduce labor costs, but monoculture can actually create more financial and environmental burdens on farms.
Monoculture鈥攖he cultivation of a single crop in a given area鈥攁llows farmers to industrialize their production systems. According to the United States Department of Agriculture鈥檚 (USDA) Farm Service Agency (FSA), corn and soy make up聽approximately half the planted farmland聽in the United States, accounting for about 60 million hectares (150 million acres). Planting just one or two crops may decrease labor costs, but results in externalized environmental, social, and health costs.
According to the USDA National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS), total soil losses from erosion on agricultural land聽occur at about 13 tons per hectare annually, and represented about 1.56 billion tonnes (1.725 billion tons) as of 2007. In the same year, 28 percent of all cropland聽was eroding at rates聽above acceptable soil loss tolerance rates.
USDA-NRCS studies聽estimated a loss of 1 kilogram (2.32 pounds) of nitrogen and .45 kilograms (1 pound) of phosphorus for each ton of soil eroded, costing farmers US$.63 and US$.64, respectively, in 2012. On the other hand, growers could obtain a聽benefit聽of US$4.93 per ton by improving water quality through better soil management. Diversifying farms is one way to prevent erosion and maintain soil quality.
Monoculture systems dominate the agricultural landscape of the US, contributing to a large portion of this erosion. However, the opportunities to improve adoption of conservation practices鈥攕uch as cover cropping, conservation tillage, and crop rotation鈥攚ithin monoculture systems are huge.聽According to USDA-NRCS studies, the total cost of preventing .9 tonnes (one ton) of soil erosion is US$7.03 per acre, but farmers that participate can save society US$42.40 per acre in water quality improvement costs.
To grow just one or two crops on the same land, farmers rely heavily on fertilizer inputs.聽Patrick Holden, founding director of the聽Sustainable Food Trust, explained聽the true cost of fertilizer use聽at the 2015 Food Tank Summit: 鈥淥ne ton of ammonium nitrate costs a US farmer about US$387. The benefit to the farmer is between US$666 and US$2,666 per U.S. ton, but the negative costs鈥攖he damage to the environment, pollution, human health, depletion of natural capital鈥攁re between US$990 and US$5,172 per U.S. ton of ammonium nitrate. So in other words, if the damage done was charged to the farmer or the nitrogen fertilizer manufacturer, it would completely cancel out the business case for using it and transform agriculture all over the world, but that鈥檚 not happening.鈥�
Monoculture also relies on pesticides to control weed and insect populations. However, pesticides also reduce beneficial pollinator populations. A Cornell University study attributes an estimated US$520 million worth of聽crop loss聽to pesticide use, due to the elimination of natural pest predators. Health聽costs聽of pesticide application are estimated to be US$1.1 billion per year. The World Health Organization (WHO)聽recently declared聽glyphosate, a broad-spectrum herbicide commonly used in monoculture systems, a probable carcinogen. Monoculture disproportionately causes these costs through higher use of pesticides within systems that lack crop diversity.
But it's possible to rein in these external costs and reduce the harm to our health and environment, without abandoning farmers who are already struggling to make ends meet. Diversified systems聽reduce the yield gap聽between organic and conventional systems, and restore valuable ecosystem services, reducing farmers鈥� input costs and offsetting externalities. According to one聽study, the global net value of ecosystem services could exceed fertilizer and pesticide costs, even if used on only 10 percent of global arable land.
A system-wide understanding of the true costs of monoculture to human health and the health of the environment requires more research and economic analyses. In the meantime, it鈥檚 vital to support small farmers that are practicing agroecology and incorporating crop diversity. Organizations such as the聽Community Agroecology Network聽take a robust approach to diversifying farms and addressing food insecurity through participatory research and education. The USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) pledged to聽add up to 40 new crop types聽to insurance plans for 2016. By diversifying diets and supporting local farmers, consumers can 鈥渧ote with their forks鈥� to support diverse agricultural operations that prevent externalized costs.