Making Our Communities Sustainable
29
Biodiversity improves crop yields
All food crops, including rice, maize, and wheat, were cultivated over thousands
of years from wild plants. These crops still depend on insects and other animal
life to grow well.
Industrial farming, with its use of big farm machines and toxic chemicals,
promises bigger crop yields. But these chemicals kill helpful plants and insects,
and damage the soil. If production increases, usually it is for one crop only,
and only for a short time. After several years, there is less food and fewer
varieties of the foods necessary for good health.
Sustainable farming depends on and protects biodiversity.
Farms can produce more crops and suffer fewer pest problems with sustainable
methods. These methods promote healthy insect and animal life, enrich soil
with natural fertilizers, and protect land with trees and plants (see Chapter 15).
A diverse crop yield provides improved nutrition and better health for all.
Biodiversity protects water resources
Both deforestation and industrial farming lead to a loss of soil moisture and
streams drying up in the dry season. Chemical fertilizers and pesticides run off
industrial farms and pollute rivers and lakes.
Biodiversity protects communities
Many different livelihoods depend on access to natural resources. When those
resources disappear, poverty grows. In farming areas, industrial farming
increases debt for some and landlessness for many others.
A Community Guide to Environmental Health 2012