‘Plasticulture’ in farming persists, potentially impacting food safety
Today, it’s common to see farms covered in plastic. It lines the sides of greenhouses, blankets fields as “plastic mulch,” covers hoop houses, and winds through farms as irrigation tubes, among other forms. In satellite images, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has observed the typically golden and green agricultural fields turned white, as though dusted in snow, from all of the plastic. Agriculture is responsible for 3.5 percent of global plastic production, a figure that may seem small until you consider the sheer volume of plastics produced: around 400 million metric tons per year. … Microplastics pervade every part of the Earth, from the bottom of the ocean floor to all forms of drinking water to the human placenta.
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- LAist: Plastic culture