In history, most people worked on the land with good knowledge in seasons, land, plants and animals that

provided food. Though the history of agriculture has been defined differently depend on climates, cultures, and geography, however, farming is generally about expand and maintain the lands for raising local crops and animals. Today, just a little proportion of the population in many developed countries is still farmers. The vast majority of people leaves those works to the specialists and buys their food in supermarkets, therefore turn an old-fashioned agriculture into new one. This new agriculture, which is a result of industrialization, seems to have many benefits. There are various choices of food with standard quality and price is cheap regardless of local weather conditions, Shopping is more convenient as people can find several foods from all over the world in a local supermarket. Despite its many benefits, there are some drawbacks which may possess greater threats than we have imagined. In this essay, we will discuss these threats which are environmental impact, economic and social impact, and agricultural unsustainability (Buckley, 2005: 1). Firstly, industrialization of agriculture causes many environmental problems. One of those problems is relate to landscape and ecosystem. Buckley (2005: 4) stated that modern farming created sterilized landscape where there is no bird, insect or wildflower in the vicinity. Though this farming provides cheap food, the environmental costs that are borne by taxpayer are high, and producer does not have to bear these costs. Moreover, in order to get fertile area, people may use destructive methods, for example, slash and burn agriculture, where farmers cut down forest and then burn vegetation. These mistreated lands may take 10-20 years to recover before they can be farmed again, and these methods often result in desertification of the area. There are attempts to restore depleted soil through manure, however, sewage that applied to fields may cause pollution by heavy metals such as cadmium, nickel, chromium and copper. Industrial farming also relies heavily on chemicals usage which may contaminate water and soil (Buckley, 2005: 5). Though the introduction of GM plants, which are genetically modified to acquire the natural pesticide, is supposed to reduce the amount of pesticide usage, the environmental impact of GM crops continues to generate much controversy. As of now, there is no evidence of any human health issue of GM food consumption. Though there is possibility of allergens transfer, it is dwarfed by emerging evidence of natural cross-breeding of GM crops with their wild relatives that lead to development of new pesticide-resistant weeds and insects (Buckley, 2005: 13). These environmental problems are threatening to the nature and mankind, and in long-term, may cause unrestorable losses to our environment. Secondly, there are several economic and social issues of industrial farming. Buckley (2005: 6) claimed that many small farms are ruined as farming became more industrialized and competitive, and US agribusiness is now highly concentrated. Moreover, in order to obtain food security and maximize the output, government decided to subsidize farmers, however, this decision put the Third World farmers out of business. For example, according to a complaint from Brazil, the World Trade Organization claimed that US cotton subsidies were illegal because they had enabled US farmers to sell cotton at below production cost and thus make global cotton prices decreasing and force local farmers to resign. It is hard to see poor countries competing effectively with the leaders of the world food system. For example, the export industry of fruits, vegetables and cut flowers earns 300 million US dollars per year and employs more than 70,000 people in Kenya. However, according to the FOA report, by the end of 1990s, smallholders produced only 18% of fruits and vegetables exported from Kenya instead of 70% in the early years. Among exporters, seven large companies had
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over 75% of the market share. The big business impact is not only limited to the developing world, In America and Europe, small farmers are heavily rely on the big companies that sell seed, fertilizers and pesticides to them. Today, farmers are being sued for violating patent rights on seed or are force to sell with the prices less than the costs to supermarkets (Buckley, 2005: 7). These economic issues harmed local businesses in most countries and played the crucial roles in many developing countries economic system. In addition, there are some concerns in social issues such as the decline of rural communities because there are fewer jobs on fields and more jobs in cities. The mechanization of farming are not only destroyed millions of jobs, it also push many workers to be migrant workers, which often have abysmal living conditions, have to move from job to job with insecurity and are paid minimal wages (Buckley, 2005: 7). The last one and possibly the greatest threat is unsustainability in industrialization of agriculture. Buckley (2005: 4) stated that only about 12% of the earths land surface is arable and most of this is already used for agriculture. If soils continue to be degraded by nutrient depletion, erosion, compaction and salinization through chemical usage or disturbance of the soil biodiversity, it may results in calamity. Farming with no concerns in sustainability may put food security at stake or unintentionally cause critical damage to the world. For example, annual flooding of the Nile brought nutrient-rich sediments to the delta. Once the Aswan dam was built and prevents flooding, Egypt soon became one of the worlds heaviest users of chemical fertilizer (p.10). Another example is a rapid increase in the energy costs of food. Though nature supplies free solar energy for food, Industrial agriculture is heavy dependence on limited energy such as oil, as it uses energy from ploughing and spraying to packaging, storing, processing and transporting food (p.5). Now, as awareness of the threats of unsustainable agriculture, many countries encourage farmers to escape from industrial agriculture and use more organic approach for sustainability. Cuba is a good example. In the 1990s, instead of heavily depend on Soviet agrochemicals and oil like before, Cuba introduced a completely different organic approach to agriculture, Cuban scientists developed home-grown biopesticides and biofertilizers, which developed from beneficial microorganisms in the nature. As a result, Cuba became largely self-sufficient in food by the late 1990s (p.10). In conclusion, industrialization of agriculture possesses 3 main threats. First is an environmental impact which is threatening to the nature and thus inevitably affect humanity. Next is economic and social impact which menace local businesses and communities and have some negative effects on global economic system. The last and the most serious threat is unsustainability of industrial agriculture, which is being concerned by many countries and can results in various situations that threaten requisites of mankind such as food and energy. Whether the future of agriculture will become sustainable or not, it is our duty to find the best agricultural approach which will not threaten humanity and nature.

Reference
Buckley,R (2005) Farming to survive: Food and agricultural reform. Cheltenham, Understanding Global Issues Ltd.