Document Type

Article

Publication Title

Investigating the Ecological Effects of Agricultural Assistance Schemes in California’s Central Valley Area

Abstract

Amidst ongoing changes in the farm sector, the disbursement of farm aid, continues to improve the welfare of growers involved in agricultural activities within the South-Central region of California. Aside from its role as a vital tool meant to maintain the delivery of government assisted farm programming directed at the needy. In the last several decades in the country, the disbursement of federal agricultural assisted programs has risen enormously in line with commitments geared at accelerating the productive capacity of farms considered eligible. With the financial packages earmarked for agri-business tied to few commodities (cotton, corn, rice, wheat), as well as natural disaster payments, and conservation reserve program. The listing of fruits, vegetables, and dairy items indispensable to healthy life seems relegated to the background in a setting mostly beneficial to corporate farms. In the process, the adjoining sensitive ecosystems in California’s South Central saw risk exposures from the widespread treatment of farms and with agro-chemicals encompassing various volumes of insecticides and nutrients to optimize output. Despite the recurring environmental consequences of farm aid, quite little is known of the dangers in the South-Central region of California using up-to-date geospatial tools as analytical devices. This enquiry will fill that gap by evaluating the ecological effects of farm assistance in the study area with emphasis on issues, trends, impacts, and the inherent factors. Utilizing secondary data handled by mix scale methods of descriptive statistics connected to Geographic information Systems (GIS). The results show extensive payout in subsidy from 1995-2020 for commodities, disaster payments, conservation, together with land use changes, loss of farms and irrigated areas, rising use of chemicals (fertilizers and insecticides) and impacts. In as much as GIS mappings pinpointed spatial diffusion of the patterns over the periods evident in several spots in the eight counties, some of the emergent concerns remain linked to socio-economic, ecological, policy and global factors situated within the larger agricultural structure. For remedy, the paper proffered solutions ranging from consistent policy to the design of environmental information system and monitoring.

DOI

10.5923/j.fph.20241401.01

Publication Date

1-5-2024

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