Our work also includes disruptive technologies, irrigation, seasonal climate forecasting, and whole farm systems approaches for profitable, sustainable intensification. Answer (1 of 6): 1. Soil is the foundation of life. However, due to both the erosion of crop-associated knowledge and the lack of agricultural machinery the result was increasing land abandonment, In parallel there was also loss of the valuable human resources associated with the former state-run agricultural farming (e.g. Fine soil is blown away by wind. In the coming decades, resource constraints over water, soil, biodiversity and land will affect agricultural systems. In addition, both intensification and expansion of agricultural area contribute to anthropogenic effects on the Earths biogeochemical cycles . A significant part of soil C is present in cultivated soils that occupy about 35 % of the global land surface. Soil erosion takes place only in sloppy fields. However, he added South Dakota doesn't have the technological infrastructure to track which fields were impacted and to what degree. Agricultural intensification can be technically defined as an increase in agricultural production per unit of inputs (which may be labour, land, time, fertilizer, seed, feed or cash). Some of the causes are overgrazing livestock, urban sprawl, deforestation, roads, and intensive agriculture. This is the process of humans changing the style of agriculture to move along the gradient from the lowest impact (shifting cultivation) all the way up to the industrial, high impact forms of agriculture. loss of biodiversity, soil erosion, decline in soil organic matter and soil health. While emissions are on a far smaller scale than those from deforestation or widespread agricultural changes, dealing with the legacy of war remnants can also contribute to emissions, and in some cases over many decades. Agricultural intensification and management practices Forest fires Local and diffuse contamination Soil acidification Salinisation Nutrient load (soil eutrophication) Physical deterioration Soil sealing Soil erosion Large scale land movement Source: EEA Box 3.6.1. These erosion rates are one of the reasons why, from 1982 to 2015, the area of prime farmland as defined by the NRCS shrank by 25.8 million acresthat's roughly the size of the state of Ohio. Figure 1. Since humans worldwide obtain more than 99.7% of their food (calories) from the land and less than 0.3% from the oceans and aquatic ecosystems, preserving cropland and maintaining soil fertility should be of the highest importance to human welfare. Despite efforts at the national and international levels to mitigate adverse effects of climate change on the environment and human health in developing countries, there is still a paucity of data and information concerning stakeholder’s engagement and their level of collaboration, responses and assistance in West Africa. They analyzed the potential of Conservation Agriculture to reach the aim of increasing organic carbon in soil by 0.4% yearly, which is 2. Three soil index sets consisting of (i) 29 soil indicators, (ii) a subset of 8 indicators, and (iii) just 4 indicators chosen independently by 4 farmers (Lima et al., 2013) were compared. AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION AND SOIL FERTILITY: JOS PLATEAU numbers of farmers and variety of crops grown all increased, and production became more intensive and market-oriented. b. Drivers of deforestation Deforestation drivers can be divided into so-called immediate and underpinning drivers. The current intensification of agricultural practices is already resulting in the unsustainable degradation of soils. Agricultural processes themselves can also cause soil erosion. Yet most of the common farming techniques employed in industrial crop production, such as synthetic fertilizer application and monocropping, can degrade soil over time, causing a cascade of problems necessitating the use of even more man-made inputs, which in Each year about 10 million ha of 4. Sustainable agroecosystems are those tending to have a positive impact on natural, social and human capital, while unsustainable systems feed back to deplete these assets, leaving fewer for the future. You broke the intact soil. increasing agricultural intensity, for example, has been shown to generally reduce soil biodiversity (e.g., tsiafouli et al. The crodibility of the soil is influenced by its texture, structure, and organic matter, nature of day and the amount and kind of salts present. It also sends soil-laden water downstream, which can create heavy layers of sediment that prevent streams and rivers from flowing smoothly and can eventually lead to flooding. But what is the impact of increasing levels of soil erosion on agricultural practices? The aim of this study was therefore to quantify the magnitude of nutrient loss through soil erosion under different cropping systems and amendments to inform agronomic practices water for irrigation), and continued soil erosion, farmers had been adopting new approaches in a wide variety of farm systems. Agricultural intensification has created adverse impacts on soils and crop productivit; e.g. The rates of soil erosion that exceed the generation of new topsoil are a dynamic process which leads to decline in the soil productivity, low agricultural yield and income. Fencing off sensitive areas like steep hillsides, unvegetated soils, and riversides is a great way to reduce erosion. Possibilities include exfoliation, granular and block disintegration, freeze-thaw, salt crystal growth, carbonation, oxidation, hydrolysis. Long Term Erosion. The soil sustains most living organisms, being the ultimate source of their mineral nutrients. Construction of roads and buildings, logging, mining, and agricultural production have resulted in large amounts of soil erosion in the U.S. and around the world. Abstract. Some of the greatest effects of soil erosion include: Loss of Topsoil. Good management of soils ensures that mineral elements do not become deficient or toxic to plants, and that appropriate mineral elements enter the food chain. In soil-based agriculture, soil health is the most important foundation of a healthy farm ecosystem. Intensive agriculture, also known as intensive farming (as opposed to extensive farming), conventional, or industrial agriculture, is a type of agriculture, both of crop plants and of animals, with higher levels of input and output per unit of agricultural land area. Consequently, soil degradation and severe erosion were observed on the plateau from 40-50 years ago (Davies, 1949; Grove, 1952). Organic farming, in the European Union more commonly known as ecological farming or biological farming, is an agricultural system that uses fertilizers of organic origin such as compost manure, green manure, and bone meal and places emphasis on techniques such as crop rotation and companion planting.It originated early in the 20th century in reaction to rapidly Development and intensification of the regions farmland has altered how water interacts with the landscape. As much as 95 percent of all our food comes from soil. 2015 ), although this response is likely to be non-linear given the variation in management practices and soil conditions across sites and regions and differences in the sensitivity of soil organism groups to management Smart intensification will not only allow for soil conservation to be made more economical, but will also allow for significant gains to be made in terms of soil organic carbon storage, water efficiency and biodiversity, while at the same time lowering the overall erosion risk. Thats 3.4 tonnes lost every year for every person on the planet. Soil erosion is one of the most serious threats facing world food production. And the ecosystem effect, mutualism in support of all Life, and closed-loop processes are all essential components of biomimicry. To explain this effect, the authors hypothesized that cropland intensification causes greater evaporation from the soil and from plants leaves. Traditionally agricultural intensification has been defined in three ways: (1) increasing yields per hectare; (2) increasing cropping intensity (i.e. Introduction. This Factsheet looks at the causes and effects of water, wind and tillage erosion on agricultural land. This ongoing soil degradation is How It Hinders Productivity It aims for the same goals as conservation agriculture. Soil erosion takes place only in sloppy fields. A soil-treatment system was not identified as a significant factor in the forecasting model, which can be explained by the high-rate complex contribution of risk factors, including intensification background, crop following fallow, and the indicated meteorological parameters to increasing the crop contamination rates. Soil erosion is a major environmental problem confronting land and water resources in South Africa. The National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) outlines three goals for sustainable agriculture: 1. Major forms of this degradation include the loss of organic matter and the release of greenhouse gases, the over-application of fertilizers, erosion, contamination, acidification, salinization, and loss of genetic diversity. Sustainable agriculture practices are designed to safeguard the environment and societal health. Agricultural intensification can be technically defined as an increase in agricultural production per unit of inputs (which may be labour, land, time, fertilizer, seed, feed or cash). Sustainable intensification is a process to increase agriculture yields without adverse impacts on the environment, taking the whole ecosystem into consideration. When soil erodes, it is usually the topsoil that erodes first, which means that the potential of the eroded area to produce food or forage is greatly reduced. Soil erosion decreases soil fertility, which can negatively affect crop yields. Cattle ranching, animal agriculture, and logging are the leading causes of deforestation in our forests. Intensification means a greater concentration of inputs and/or outputs per unit area. Yet most of the common farming techniques employed in industrial crop production, such as synthetic fertilizer application and monocropping, can degrade soil over time, causing a cascade of problems necessitating the use of even more man-made inputs, which in It is a medium for trees and plant growth and a habitat for many insects and other organisms. The consolidation of small farms into large-scale agricultural enterprises may have important socioeconomic and environmental consequences. Agricultural intensification Process by which farming systems increasingly use high levels of nonrenewable, purchased inputs, e.g., inorganic fertilizers and other agrochemicals for pest suppression, substitute mechanization, and fossil fuels for human labor and increase capital invested per unit of land.
how does agricultural intensification contribute to soil erosion
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- June 22, 2022
