Technology and Profits: A Double-Edged Sword in Agriculture

The impact of technology and science in every aspect of life is enormous, and so is it in the agricultural sector, where it has literally revolutionized every phase of food production, to the point where it becomes easier, faster, and yet produces food at a huge rate. These impacts have played out on mechanical farming, automated irrigation, seed genetic modification, and many others that have helped sustain the growing human population. However, these have come at a price, in terms of challenges of reduction in nutrition and quality of our food, that can go on to cause health issues for humans. With all of these, I'll be discussing my take on what should be done to bring about normalcy to the quality of our food nutrition.

It's worth noting that I'm a technology enthusiast individual and can't help but admire all the notable impact it's having on lives, especially when it comes to family/food production. I mean, I myself have spent years in the field farming different food crops and the likes and know how exhausting it is to cultivate land, plant seeds, weed the grass, create an irrigation system, and harvest the crops, and with the evolution of technology, all of these have become easier and can be done with a simple click of a button and related activities.

But while it's helpful, we can't help but recognize some concerns these efficiencies of technology in food production bring. At the top of the list is the decline in the nutrition of the meals being produced, and I, for one, believe these are a result of the chemicals introduced into these crops, such as artificial fertilizers and genetically modified organisms that usually help boost the amount of harvest and profit earned, and like I said above, even though these solve the issue of the rise in population and the required food needed to feed everyone, at what cost are these achieved?

One thing I've come to notice with technology and its impact on the agricultural sector and increased food production is that we can all agree that it yields in excess and ends up being filling. However, they're not nourishing, and that's where the eyebrows are being raised, and not only is it that it's not nourishing, it's also causing damage to people's health, as processed and artificially enhanced food usually does to the body, and we can't because there are many increases in sales and income, then neglect it, repercussions on lives.

We shouldn't only focus on sustainability; instead, we should find a way to strike a balance between it and quality nutritious food that nourishes the body, and after taking hours to critically analyze this, I won't entirely put the blame on technology, as I've said earlier that I'm a technology enthusiast; instead, I personally believe the issue isn't the technology and science, but how it's being utilized.

When technology and science are being applied in a dimension that's focused on balancing the difference, I believe things will become better, and one way to do that is via encouraging organic cultivation, precision farming, and the like. If these are being introduced to our farm, I for one believe that despite the usage of technological devices and gadgets to aid the process, these would, in a way, help us retain the natural nutrients of food, making it a win-win situation for us. Technology has come a long way and had many impacts on our lives and has a lot more potential to be carved out of it for us to now say we'll be ditching it to get the desired nutrients.

In a nutshell, we as people, especially farmers, must understand that even though technology has enhanced food production significantly and, in the process, aided the economy and boosted their profits, they should ensure that their greed to get bountiful harvests in a shorter time via technological advancement like GMOs won't come at the cost of consumer health. What we should work towards is growing food that is both nutritional and sustainable, as it'll go on to become edifying, filling, and helpful.

All photos are mine.