take up a lot of space — 40 percent of all land globally
is used for agriculture — and inevitably take a
significant toll on the environment.
Agricultural practices generated 10 percent of total
greenhouse gas emissions in the United States in
2019. Excess nitrogen and phosphorus — standard
soil nutrients found in manure or chemical fertilizers —
can leak from croplands into nearby waterways and eat
up the oxygen in aquatic ecosystems, sometimes
killing the creatures that call them home, and even
making humans sick.
Meanwhile, as the costs of fertilizer, equipment and
land itself rise, “farmers have to farm more and more
acres” to make ends meet, said landscape ecologist
Lisa Schulte Moore. As it becomes increasingly difficult
for farm operations to be profitable enough to sustain
people’s livelihoods, there are fewer and fewer active
farms, according to the USDA’s Census of Agriculture,
conducted every five years.
Use the passage to answer the question.
Based on the structure of this passage, which
would most likely follow this section of text?
(1 point)
a comparison between aquatic and soil�based ecosystems
a comparison between conventional and
organic farming techniques
a solution to the problem of unsustainable
agricultural practices
a solution to the problem of world hunger
1 answer
Based on the structure of the passage, the most likely continuation would be:
a solution to the problem of unsustainable agricultural practices.
The passage outlines the environmental toll of current agricultural practices and suggests the challenges farmers face, implying that a solution addressing these issues would be a logical next step.
