Author: Jeninaah Hamilton
Editor: Connor Fraser
Graphic Designer: Jeninaah Hamilton
Publisher: Jumana Ismail
What’s Wrong with Monoculture in Farming? 
The issues with monoculture have recently become prominent and a great debating topic. Monoculture farming is the practice of growing only one type of crop at a time, in a specific field. There are many negatives posed by monoculture farming such as…
Increased Use of Pesticides
The first problem with monoculture in farming is the increased use of pesticides. Monoculture crops are highly prone to blight and pests because of the lack of diversity. What many farmers will do is increase the usage of pesticides to protect the crops. In doing so, these chemicals affect the soil, water and other variables of growth. Sometimes, but very rarely, the pests can develop an immunity to pesticides, which may also cause more problems down the line.
Increased Use of Fertilizers
From growing only one type of plant, the fertilizers are at times depleted and deprived of the biodiversity of different plants. Since only one plant is being grown, things that farmers do to combat this deprivation and exhaustion of the soil is by increasing the strength and dosage of fertilizers. The chemicals in the added fertilizers damage the land and overall have a devastating effect on the ecosystem.
Decrease in Biodiversity
In relation to the first and second points, the lack of diversity in monoculture farming is quite devastating when growing crops. Polyculture farming in contrast provides crops with a given area that is stronger and a richer environment with multiple different crops working together with their own biological diversity. With the decrease in biodiversity, the increased risk of pests, crop diseases and other negative disruptions will occur.
Higher Water Use
Lastly, a simple but very important problem with monoculture in farming is the higher water use. This is because when growing only one specific crop on a given piece of land, the soil structure around the plants is at risk and is not maintainable. Thus, causing an imbalance in water retention. The way farmers combat this problem is to increase water usage, in doing so local sources such as rivers, lakes and reservoirs are overused.
Works Cited
“Monoculture Farming Explained: What Are the Pros and Cons?” Earth Observing System. Earth Observing System, 29 Dec 2021. Web. Accessed 20 February 2022. https://eos.com/blog/monoculture-farming/#:~:text=Soil%20Degradation%20And%20Fertility%20Loss,maintain%20fertility%20of%20the%20soil.