# How Cash Crops Are Changing the Environment

- Link: https://greenlivingguy.com/2017/12/how-cash-crops-are-changing-the-environment/
- Published: 2017-12-08T17:49:26-05:00
- Author: greenlivingguy

Cash crops are profitable forms of creating food that directly affect the environment
and doesn’t even get used by the local farmer.

So technically, most plants are cash crops — but some crops are significantly different.
These are the ones that are planted on vast swaths of land and can dramatically 
alter the landscape and wildlife. Cash crops change the local climate, devastate
homes and uproot families.

There are a few times throughout history that we have seen the destruction of the
lands for sheer profit and us suffering the consequences. .

# **The Dust Bowl**

In the 1930s, American Midwest farmers harvested crops with little regard to their
effect on lands. The ground became barren and dry; partially thanks to a drought
[ended in the Dust Bowl](https://www.modernamericanpoetry.org/dashboard). At the
height of the Dust Bowl, winds would sweep the topsoil into swirling dervishes, 
people were forced to abandon their homes and those who stayed struggled to find
ways to keep the dust out of their lungs from Kansas to as far as Washington DC.

![Crops turned to cash crops affect the environment ](https://i0.wp.com/greenlivingguy.
com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/img_2970.jpg?resize=640%2C1136&quality=52&ssl=1)

This happened with corn as a cash crop. Farmers didn’t rotate their crops then, 
which means they would plant the same thing every season. The corn sucked up the
same nutrients every year until there was nothing left for it to use, destroying
the topsoil and wiping it away. Now, farmers in developed countries rotate their
crops. They often switch out corn and soybeans, because both are cash crops, but
they use different nutrients. This allows the soil time to replenish and prevents
another disaster.

## **Cash Crops Today**

Now, cash crops are pretty much the same in the developed world. Corn and soybeans
are still popular options, but farmers take care of their land. The same is not 
always true in other parts of the world. The rainforests, which are known for having
incredibly fertile soil, are popular places for the new cash crops. Palm and rubber
are two of the big ones. Rubber has been a cash crop for centuries, with the devastation
of the Congo by Belgian imperialism being directly related to the availability of
rubber trees.

![](https://i0.wp.com/greenlivingguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/img_2971.jpg?
resize=638%2C960&quality=52&ssl=1)

### Palm Oil

Palm oil is planted widely in Indonesia. In 2015, the [slash and burn techniques of clearing land resulted in massive, widespread wildfires](https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/2015/nov/11/indonesia-forest-fires-explained-haze-palm-oil-timber-burning).
Devastation was so severe they were called crimes against humanity. Still today,
companies continue to plant and harvest the palm.

Problem with palm oil it’s so popular and in almost everything.

Palm Oil is in your food items, soap, shampoo and makeup.

That can make it hard to avoid, so read the ingredients on every single item, not
just foods. As we have learned, it can be [labeled as any number of things](https://www.acme-hardesty.com/roundtable-sustainable-palm-oil/).

So Palm oil makes a very attractive crop for the countries planting it. It brings
in money — but it does more than that.

**_Planting palm often wipes out rainforests, killing animals and endangered species
and uprooting local populations._** Wiping out the diversity of the forest for a
monoculture will cut the amount of rainforests and it’s ability to pull carbon dioxide
from the air. As we know, this increases greenhouses gases not being captured by
the trees and lungs of the earth: Aka it gets released into the air and contributing
to climate change. It isn’t just impacting the local environment — it’s impacting
the world.

A recent study found that the overproduction of palm oil and the deforestation that’s
still occurring in Indonesia. Well it is having a severe impact. It’s making the
region warmer. For in part because of the slash-and-burn. Also and in part because
they’re replacing a polyculture with a monoculture. The areas that were cleared 
were [up to 10 degrees Celsius warmer than forested areas](https://phys.org/news/2017-10-deforestation-linked-palm-oil-production.html).
This type of farming [does not care for the land](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5574735/)
and leads to dramatic decreases in biodiversity, similar to what farmers did in 
the U.S. before the Dust Bowl.

#### Heat Difference

The amount of heat difference varied significantly based on the age of the plantation,
but the younger the plants were, the hotter it was. As deforestation continues and
palm and rubber are planted in vast swaths, the areas will continue to be altered.
Wildlife will continue to be threatened, and some [species will be pushed further toward extinction](https://orangutan.org/rainforest/the-effects-of-palm-oil/).

If you do decide to use fewer cash crops, like avoiding palm oil or rubber where
you can. For there are other options. Some places do claim to source palm oil sustainably.
This may not be the end solution. However it’s certainly better than continuing 
the slash-and-burn techniques. Moreover and continually planting new fields. Take
the time to learn about what you can do to avoid palm oil or other [CASH CROPS that’s destroying the environment](https://greenlivingguy.com/2011/12/nigeria-oil-spill-shells-responsibility-explained/).