Author(s):

Gurpreet Kaur and Gurpreet Singh

Abstract: Agriculture is the practice of rearing domestic animals and crops with the goal of food production. Although agriculture is essential in sustaining human life, the practices associated with it have certain impacts on the environment such as climate change, deforestation, pollution, and environmental degradation. Agriculture can either sustain or degrade the environment. Actually, agriculture and climate change have a reciprocal relationship. Because of poor agricultural practices, climate change increases. And this climate change affects agricultural production through precipitation levels and temperature variations. The most significant climate change associated with agriculture is brought about by methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide. These are greenhouse gases, which are released into the Earth’s atmosphere from farming. Also, the energy required for irrigation, farm machinery and the production of fertilizer results in large emissions of green house gases, which contribute to climate change. Negative impact occurs due to intensive agriculture, which affects the environment through high-energy consumption and the polluting effects of pesticides and fertilizers. To achieve sustainable agriculture, healthy soils should be maintained, water pollution should be reduced, number and variety of wild species on farms should be increased (e.g. soil organisms, pollinators and pest-control agents), crop and livestock diversity should be maintained and emissions of carbon dioxide should be decreased to reduce global warming.

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