Really? Source? One of the most comprehensive study on the topic (1), says:
"Our food system has put the focus on short-term production and profit rather than long-term environmental sustainability. The modern agricultural system has resulted in huge increases in productivity, holding off the risk of famine in many parts of the world but, at the same time, is based on monocultures, genetically modified crops, and the intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides that undermine long-term sustainability. Food production accounts for 70 per cent of all freshwater withdrawals and 80 per cent of deforestation, while soil, the basis for global food security, is being contaminated, degraded, and eroded in many areas, resulting in long-term declines in productivity."
USCUSA isn't in love with industrial farming either (2):
"Monoculture degrades soil structure and leaves it more vulnerable to erosion, resulting in costs for soil replacement, cleanup, and lost farmland value."
Maybe major farmers aren't the most objective not most qualified group of people to assess the sustainability and [unpaid-for] externalities of their output?
I should clarify that my perspective is coming from a strictly American point of view, where only 15% of crop ground is irrigated, and the percentage of owner-operated land is around 60%.
To be honest I don't even know how to begin sourcing the claims you are asking about. Do I need a source to tell you that over-applying fertilizer and pesticides is expensive? So much so that it is a very real risk to find yourself in a situation where the sum costs of your inputs can easily overshadow the yield of a field on a bad year? Do I need a source to say that farmers want to avoid that situation, and that those with the means invest heavily to do exactly that?
The other point, around sustainability of soil quality is one of the most common misconceptions I see on sites like this. There seems to be this idea that there's some boogeyman hiding on the 20 year horizon that we are headed towards because of our extraction from the soil. The truth is that you don't have to wait that long at all. Everyone knows a neighbor or friend of a friend that got sloppy with crop rotations, or waterway maintenance or nutrient deficiencies. Its not some unpaid externality. You don't get away with it for long – it costs you dearly when it's your own land and it only takes a few years.
If you're going to dismiss one of the most comprehensive bodies of work on the subject (or, I'd guess any UN initiatives), you can provide your own sources?
> If you're going to dismiss one of the most comprehensive bodies of work on the subject.
Creationists have some of the most comprehensive bodies of work on evolution.
Doesn't mean that they are right.
The NRA is a political organization. I do not trust any data they collect, nor any studies they produce, because their job is to advocate for a specific set of policies.
Bloomberg's various anti-gun groups are political organizations. I do not trust any data they collect, nor any studies they produce, either.
For precisely the same reason.
Personally, I think that climate change is a huge problem.
All organizations are not created equal. Do you really distrust the NRA and farming studies from the UN to the same extent? For me that sounds very black and white.
"Our food system has put the focus on short-term production and profit rather than long-term environmental sustainability. The modern agricultural system has resulted in huge increases in productivity, holding off the risk of famine in many parts of the world but, at the same time, is based on monocultures, genetically modified crops, and the intensive use of fertilizers and pesticides that undermine long-term sustainability. Food production accounts for 70 per cent of all freshwater withdrawals and 80 per cent of deforestation, while soil, the basis for global food security, is being contaminated, degraded, and eroded in many areas, resulting in long-term declines in productivity."
USCUSA isn't in love with industrial farming either (2):
"Monoculture degrades soil structure and leaves it more vulnerable to erosion, resulting in costs for soil replacement, cleanup, and lost farmland value."
Maybe major farmers aren't the most objective not most qualified group of people to assess the sustainability and [unpaid-for] externalities of their output?
(1) https://www.unccd.int/sites/default/files/documents/2017-09/...
(2) https://www.ucsusa.org/resources/hidden-costs-industrial-agr...