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6.4: Sustainable agriculture (Organic Vs Artificial (Synthetic pesticides…
6.4: Sustainable agriculture
Conservation of topsoil
Some ways to conserve topsoil are:
Terracing
Intercropping
Contour planting and strip cropping
hedges
no-till farming
some other ways is aqua ponies and hydroponics which don’t even use soil in the first place
Restoring soil fertility
Excessive use of soil can cause the soil to lose nutrients such as nitrogen, phosphorus etc.
One fix is using organic fertilizer that will not cause the nitrogen to filter into the water nearby
another fix would be the rotation of crops that can restore nutrients into soil
Efficient irrigation methods
Soil salinization: watering the plants too much can cause this
Fix with efficient irrigation
If not fix it can lead to having to flush the soil which is very expensive and inefficient or having to stop farming all together
The most inefficient systems rely on gravity. 1/3 of the water evaporates
Spray irrigation is sligthly more efficient but still ineficient 1/4 of water evaporates
The most efficient method is drip irrigation which consists of deliviring water to the roots directly via tubes underground.
Hydroponics are even more effcient reducing the evaporation to 5%
Main disadvantage: expensive
Water is used inefficiently because it costs almost nothing to farmers, which does not force them to look for better irrigation methods
Organic Vs Artificial
Synthetic pesticides are a big no no for the environment. here are some alternatives:
Biological Pesticides
Predators
sex attractants: luring pests into traps
Hormones:interrupt the life cycle of pests
Ecological control: basically allow for the predators of pests to come and do their job
Cultivational control: alternate crops to kill pests
Organic Farming
Farming without the use of anything synthetic. Growing animals with no insertion of hormones and without antibiotics. Provides almost the same yield as industrial farming but it doesn't harm the environment as much. Food is slightly more expensiv because more labor is required. But it allows for more people to have jobs and it is also healthier to humans. Overall it is better than industrial farming and far superior from traditional farming