Bachelor of Science Agricultural and Environmental Sciences BSc Ag EnvSc or Bachelor of Science BSc Major Environment Food Production and Environment

The business of food production is an area of human activity with a large and intimate interaction with the environment. As the global population rises, demand for food and food production increases. This demand must be met through a combination of increased productivity of existing agricultural land and by bringing new arable land into production. This is a serious challenge for two main reasons. Firstly, there are environmental impacts of agricultural activities which can be significant and which can be difficult to assess and contain, as the effects range from loss of biodiversity due to increasing farm size, production of biofuels versus food, non-point source pollution of rivers and lakes, and a loss of arable land to urbanization. Secondly, a growing population needs support from a number of different land uses (e.g., urban growth, transportation, water resource use, timber resources, etc.), many of which conflict, and all of which compete with food production land requirements.