Environment and Agriculture

The environmental impact of agriculture varies based on the wide variety of agricultural practices employed around the world. Ultimately the environmental impact depends on the production practices of the system used by farmers. The connection between emissions into the environment and the farming system is indirect as it also depends on other climate variables such as rainfall and temperature. Some other factors can include types of machinery used for agriculture purposes as well as the farmer''s choice of how they handle their livestock. There are two types of indicators of environmental impact: means-based which is based on the farmer''s production methods and effect-based which is the impact that farming methods have on the farming system or on emissions to the environment. An example of a means-based indicator would be the quality of groundwater that is effected by the amount of nitrogen applied to the soil.