Ielts writing task:

Some people think that the development in agriculture such as factory farming and creation of new types of vegetables, have brought more benefits than problem. Agree or disagree?

Over the past century, the advanced technology has revolutionized the way of farming, which has allowed industrial agriculture to develop on a large scale. However, the controversy on factory farming has sparked off an intense debate. While advocates appreciate the benefits that factory farming has brought about, I hold on the belief that its drawbacks outweigh its benefits.

Admittedly the innovations in agriculture are positive to some extent. With population explosion over the past century and thus a critical shortage of food that came along, factory farming has dramatically boosted the productivity in a highly effective way, and the problem of famine has been alleviated. In addition, farming activities are becoming less time-consuming yet more profitable by sidestepping the natural conditions that they would ordinarily need to survive and thrive. Therefore every drop of nutrition can be utilized optimally for every grain of food.

Nevertheless, this staggering advancement of modern agriculture is inevitably accompanied with corresponding drawbacks. Even though factory farming has inherent advantage of high efficiency, in may cause problems of food pollution and even virus proliferation since it is based on confinements at highly stocking density. A good case in point is that the Shanghai authority closed the entire live poultry trading market to slaughter all the birds after the detection of H7N9 bird flu virus.

Besides, industrial farms disregard the balance of ecosystem, in which chemical fertilizers and pesticides have turned agriculture into a leading source of water pollution. Runoff from factory farms kills fish, degrades aquatic habitats and threatens drinking water supplies. Worst still, factory farms use tremendous amount of water, which cuts into our precious supplies of water that are not contaminated.

In conclusion, despite agriculture reform has brought about remarkable changes and economic prosperity to people’s life, the devastating consequences that come along are too far-reachingly critical to be overlooked. It is time for people to sober up from the overwhelmingly lucrative business and take action to maintain sustainable development of the environment.