What is Agribusiness?

Agribusiness is synonymous with corporate farming. It combines the words agriculture and business and it involves a range of activities and methods used involving modern food production. This involves farming, seed supply, agrichemicals, farm machinery, wholesale and distribution of products, processing, marketing, and retail sales. They do not necessarily take into consideration environmental and social best practices when doing business. Their ultimate result for their bottom line is profit.

How does agribusiness impact the global climate? The boom in industrial scaled agriculture is responsible for much of the deforestation that is occurring in the rainforests in the Amazon and Southeast Asia. Large U.S. multinational corporations are responsible for clear cutting much of old growth forests the size of countries like Wales and the Netherlands, to create soybean and oil palm monocultures. Soybean farms are “eating up” the Amazon rainforest while Indonesia’s rainforest, the second largest behind Brazil, and Malaysia’s rainforest, are being swallowed up by oil palm plantations. 75% of greenhouse gas emissions in Brazil are due to clearing and buring the rainforest. Brazil is the fourth largest pollution contributer to the environment. In Indonesia’s wet forest, fires are rare, but in 1997 and 1998 fires raged through rural parts of the country and occurred on land dedicated to oil palm plantations. The “slash and burn” method, used by companies to clear land for monoculture farms is a contributer to climate change.

The destruction of the world's rainforest is one of the most prominent environmental issues in decades. The Amazon rainforest is the world's largest tropical rainforest and scientists describe it as the earth's air conditioner; vital to climate regulation and cooling patterns. Just as the rainforest helps us keep at bay global climate change, deforestation exacerbates the problem. As trees burn and vegetation decays, a substantial amount of CO2 is released into the atmosphere. A link between large scale monocultures and the increased vulnerability to pest outbreaks and crop disease epidemics have been well established. Monocultures impoverish soil and lead to soil erosion. Another concern is the massive requirements of fertilizer and pesticides needed for huge harvests in poor soil while protecting them from pests. Loose safety standards in these countries enable companies to use many banned pesticides. Hundreds of thousands of people are affected by direct or indirect contact. Much of the rivers are contaminated, killing aquatic life and poisoning the water for drinking.