I believe that the use of animals in agriculture is necessary and without some implementation of these animals, agriculture would not be sustainable. While I do believe that animals are necessary, I also believe that they should be implemented in a way that is least disruptive to their natural lives. There are many benefits provided by animals in regard to farming such as the use of manure and the natural predation they provide against pests. Without using manure, there is a 7-year fallow period between crop cycles which reduces agricultural efficiency by a tremendous amount. Natural animal predation is also extremely important as it slows down the process of gaining resistance by pests and this means fewer new chemicals are needed to control crops. A possible solution that can lead to this balance between the use of animals while still caring for their well-being would be to limit the ability of farmers to exploit these animals by only allowing for natural predation and the use of manure that is produced naturally by animals.
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I agree that sustainable agriculture improves animal welfare by raising animals on pasture and letting them roam free, I like the point in your post about manure being a source of natural fertilizer, and I also think that animal husbandry used as draft animals can help improve agricultural productivity in less mechanized areas, so improving animal welfare is worthwhile.
Hi Gunkaar, your post depicts a super organic and natural agriculture for us. I also believe that we could farm peacefully within nature just as before all the chemicals or machines are invented. I totally agree with your idea on the importance of animals in agriculture, moreover, animal poops also provide more nutrients to the soil at no cost compared to artificial manure.
I agree with what you have to say about the use of animals in agriculture, but I do think given the cruelty that animals are treated within the agriculture/animal-produce industry there should be some guidelines/laws in place. I had no idea that manure had pest-maintenance properties, it is truly incredible what animals are capable of and how they impact human lives.
Hey Gunkaar, I really like your views on ethically integrating animals into agriculture! I also hadn’t really considered that Integrated Pest Management could also serve as a source of manure.
Hi Gunkaar, I also agree with your idea that animals are needed. Without animals, it would be much to time consuming and resource taxing to maintain farms.
Hi Gunkaar! Thank you for sharing, I love this positive perspective of caring for the well-being of our animals. Animals are one of the main reasons we have successful agriculture in Canada!
Bringing animals into agriculture seems very promising for both crop production and animal welfare. Something about it inherently makes sense. It feel so much more natural to have these farm ecosystems with different species of animals, plants, and microbes when compared to the monoculture farms we may see on the side of the road.
Hi Gunkaar, I love how you use the example of manure to show the important of animals in agriculture. We just have to try our best to not implement animals in a way that is negative for them!