In agriculture, as in all technologies, there are always trade- offs
to be made. Getting food from many different places makes people less dependent
on weather in any one place, yet more dependent on transportation and communication
among far-flung markets. Specializing in one crop may risk disaster if
changes in weather or increases in pest populations wipe out that crop.
Also, the soil may be exhausted of some nutrients, which can be replenished
by rotating the right crops.
NSES Content Standard F
Science in Personal and Social Perspectives: Environmental quality Grades 9-12, page 198 Many factors influence environmental quality. Factors that students might investigate include population growth, resource use, population distribution, overconsumption, the capacity of technology to solve problems, poverty, the role of economic, political, and religious views, and different ways humans view the earth. |