What Corn Growing Brings

A study recently published in Nature Sustainability reveals how corn cultivation is harmful. What becomes a life crisis is not eating, but cultivating. In the Midwest of the United States, 4,300 people a year are likely to reach early nets due to air pollution from the corn cultivation process.

Corn cultivation causes the release of particulate matter. Particulate matter is composed of ammona, sulfur oxides, nitrogen oxides, and volatile organic compounds. It arises from dust when cultivating or cultivating fertilizers and compost, or when cultivated on agricultural machinery such as tractors. These are microscopic and dangerous contaminants that can enter the lungs and affect the heart as well. According to the study, the discharge of particulate matter from fertilizer and compost application accounted for 71% of the deaths from corn cultivation.

One of the paper’s authors, Jason Hill, an associate at the University of Minnesota, stresses the importance of knowing information for agricultural workers to implement ways to reduce the environmental impact of cultivated crops. It is explained that if farmers use precision agricultural tools to replace fertilizers with low ammonia emissions, the environment for growing corn can be greatly improved.

The University of Minnesota research team used the emission model of the top 2,000 maize-growing counties from 2010 to 2014, as well as agricultural data by county. The amount of fertilizer used per ton of corn was investigated using current level data and compared with an air quality model to produce an estimated fatality. The study included not only direct emissions from the farm, but also upstream emissions of fuel and equipment required for this, electricity, and the manufacture of pesticides.

The study points out that the way these are affected differs entirely from region to region. The total number of deaths in Iowa, Illinois, Nebraska, Minnesota and Indiana is just over half of all deaths. Thanks to the lovely corn, more than 800 people die each year in Illinois alone, and cities such as Chicago and Minneapolis near corn-growing areas are said to be affected.

However, it is clear that the study is not comprehensive because it does not explain the environmental pollution after cultivation of corn, such as the production of bioethanol fuel and animal feed. Moreover, this is only a small fraction of the air pollution in the United States and around the world. The World Health Organization’s WHO estimates that 7 million people die each year from air pollution at a young age. Another study published earlier this year suggested that air pollution in the U.S. was over-produced by white Americans, and blacks and Hispanics were the most exposed.

Currently, more than 90 million acres of land are used for corn production. Related information can be found here.