Rapid growth and increased concentration in agricultural production has caused significant negative impacts on environmental quality – land, air and water – in many regions of the United States. In addition, an industrial agriculture model that uses heavy inputs of pesticides and fertilizers to sustain massive monocultures has created a variety of harms to the environment and the health of both humans and wildlife. These impacts include rapid depletion of aquifers, aquatic dead zones caused by excessive fertilizer runoff, increased incidence of numerous cancers associated with certain pesticides, endocrine and reproductive dysfunction in wildlife, rapid depletion and degradation of topsoil, and diminished biodiversity. 

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