Agriculture By Ruedi Mani

Brief History of Agriculture• Farming began in BC in the 1800s• Fort Fraser was the first town to be farmed by

non aboriginal people• Farming was needed to support the fur

traders with food

• Commercial demand for agriculture began during the caribou and Klondike gold rushes

• Ranching began mainly in the Nicola and Thompson Valleys

• Once the CPR was finished, it opened up a domestic market

• Finally in the 1880’s the Okanagan started orchid farming

Importance of Agriculture• BC’s fertile soil and climate make it possible for

farmers to create over 250 commodities to keep for consumption or to export

• The agri-food industry is a main part of BC’s economy.

• The industry has created over $2.2 billion in about 10 years

• Almost 98% of all farming in BC is family run• Farmland takes up about 2.5 million hectares

in BC• 724 000 cattle are farmed in BC alone • In 2002 crops in BC earned over $1 billion

The problem

• Wetlands in BC benefit the environment in many ways

• They are being converted into farmland and other agricultural areas ever since European settlers started farming

• A lot of the wetlands that still exist are being polluted, eroded, and modified to meet our needs

Wetland Conversion

• By 1997 the area of wetlands had declined by 50% since first settlement in North America

• About 40% of the wetlands were converted for agricultural purposes.

• About 800 000 acres of wetland are drained or filled per year• The amount of wetlands being converted for agriculture since

the 1950s is slowly dropping

Wetland Degradation• Although wetland conversion is slowing down, agriculture still has a large effect on wetland

areas in many ways• Such as groundwater being withdrawn for

irrigation and flooding that turn wetlands into ponds or lakes

• Sediment from soil erosion clogs wetlands and limits the amount of water they can hold

Pollution and Alteration of Vegetation

• The runoff from farmland contains pesticides, animal waste, fertilizers, and other toxic substances that pollute wetlands and effect the organisms living in and around it

• Clearing vegetation or introducing non native plant species

can alter the native wildlife habitats• Some direct impacts of the grazing of livestock on wetlands

are trampling of soil, compaction of soil, the removal ofbiomass, and alteration of the nutrients in the soil.

Global context of the issue

• This issue isn’t just in BC but everywhere within the world with agriculture and wetlands is having this issue.

• Since the 1600s more than half of the original wetlands in the lower 48 states have been drained or converted for other

uses• Destruction of wetlands can lead to increased flooding the

extinction of species, and poor water quality.

Effects on animal populations

• As more wetlands are destroyed, the continental population of ducks continues to decrease.

• The continental duck population has decreased from 45million to 31 million ducks in the last 15 years.

• The pollution of wetlands caused by run off from agriculturalareas can effect the area so it is unlivable for its original species

The Solution• A way to limit pollution to the wetlands would be to stop

using chemical fertilizer and pesticides. This would make the run off from agricultural areas less polluting.

• One of the main acts we can do is to stop turning wetlandsinto farmland and to restore the wetlands that have beenconverted already.

• Limiting the amount of cattle in an area will stop the soil frombeing trampled and will allow for the plants to take in nutrients more naturally

Bibliography• "The Importance of Agriculture and Agri-Food to British Columbia." 1 Apr.

2004. Web. 24 May 2015. <http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/outreach/upload/threats.pdf>

• "Agriculture's Impacts on Wetlands and Riparian Areas." 2004. Web. 24 May 2015. <http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/wq/wqp/wetlands/factsheets/FactsheetWR2.pdf>

• "Threats to Wetlands." 1 Sept. 2001. Web. 24 May 2015. <http://water.epa.gov/type/wetlands/outreach/upload/threats.pdf>