Farming in LEDC's and MEDC's Can Have a Negative Impact on Soils

Soil is the basis for the natural ecosystems and a living thing, it sustains life on Earth and works as a natural recycling facility with nutrients to the plants. However, many people do not know about the good benefits that soil gives to our lives and how humans hurt the conditions of soil with chemicals. Soil is often times mistreated due to the misconception of soil as dirt. Nevertheless, Professor Asmeret Berhe highlighted during the lecture, Soil, that soil is a place of full of life that supports living thing. The living organism depends on the conditions of soil because soil delivers nutrients to plants. For instance, improving the conditions of the soil increases the harvest of crops. Unhealthy soil will not be able to do its job as a natural recycling facility, and not be able to give a good amount of nutrients to plants to abundantly grow. Therefore, conditions of soil are very important in agriculture. Furthermore, having organic soils can conserve the amount of water used for irrigation. Soil is main supply of water to all land and plants because it holds the water for organisms. Organic soil can hold few amounts of water for a long time so it helps farmers to reduce the agricultural water consumption. Soil is very important to out lives than what we imagine and think. The global awareness of soil preservation is less significant to people than other conservation efforts like reducing the amount of plastic used, but soil preservation is very significant to our earth system. Therefore, it is very important for humans to help the Earth healthy sustain life by stop mistreating soil as dirt and treating it as a living thing that holds full of

As you can see during the course of the last of the last century farming in America has been transformed due to the technological revolution. From a simple but hard life to a more complex yet not as labor intensive life; from relying on animals to relying on motorized machinery; from growing several different crops to specializing

Different groups are being affected such as the farmers, the people who cannot afford organic food, and the industrial farm companies. The farmers are affected by the industrial farms because they are the competition. The farmers’ fruits and vegetables are expensive comparing to the industrial farms companies. The people are affected chemicals sprayed to the produce causes health problems on long run such as cancer and Alzheimer’s. Furthermore, the industrial farms companies are affected because people are teaching the communities how industrial farms grow their

Poor soil management can lead to biological, chemical, and physical degradation, which can in turn negatively alter the activity of

Developing means of farming agriculture is the reasons humans live in the world they do today. Modern agricultural practices have started the process of agriculture pollution. This process causes the degradation of the eco-system, land, and environment due to the day by-products of agriculture. Agriculture pollution in the United States is a serious problem which affects the health and sustainability of our great nation.

The manipulation of the land for fast production ruins its overall health. The modern technology and advances of equipment provide farmers more efficient ways to farm. In

No till farming uses double-disc openers to cut out the last crop planted and dropping the new seed in its place. This farming technique does not disturb the soil as much as normal tilling. Many soil conservationists argue that soil tillage destroys the aggregation and microorganism of the soil. This in later terms reduces the sustainability of our food production and reduces the intake of water by the crop. No till farming benefits all farmers when used with cover crop, crop rotation or windbreaks.

Franklin D Roosevelt once said, “the history of every Nation is eventually written in the way in which it cares for its soil.” The United States began seeing sustainable management practices in farms, and healthier soil through this act. In 1982 through 2007, the United States soil erosion had declined by 43%” (Montanarella, 2015). Every year the United States loses about $400 billion dollars due to crop soil that is eroded. Soil is a limited resource and the largest resource for growing food, accommodating diverse ecosystems, and providing food resources. Therefore laws, acts, and provisions are necessary to protect this natural resource.

With the technology and ideas accumulated during the Scientific Revolution, the food production was changed drastically in Europe. With the creation and institution of crop rotation, iron plows and irrigation as well as nutrient usage, harvesting crops advanced dramatically. Irrigation aided in producing healthier and more abundant crops, the iron plow allowed for land to become plantable which enabled land nearly anywhere to have the ability to be turned into farming ground. Scientists during the time discovered the imperativeness of nutrient rich soil to improve plant growth and health, introducing fertilizer to farmers. This discovery lead to the usage of crop rotations, which consisted of having half of the fields, grew food for the animals and having the animals roam on that land. The other half of the land was

Therefore, Kristen Ohlson suggests we apply this same laissez faire method to farming. The Soil Will Save Us explains that instead of separating our fields of corn from our grapes from our herb gardens, we should let them grow together as they do in nature. Sometimes even allowing cattle to graze on them as would happen in an undisturbed environment. In such a place, less chemical fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, or fungicides are needed because the natural balance of the ecosystem is restored. Healthy plants pull more CO2 out of the air and return it to the soil that will in turn nourish future generations of crops

According to the European Union’s Joint Research Center, soil contains nearly one third of all living organisms, but only about one percent have been identified. Another study in 2003 featured in the journal Ecosystems estimated that 5% of the United State’s soil biodiversity was “in danger of substantial loss, or complete extinction, due to agriculture and urbanization.” (Robbins) The damage comes from multiple sources. Paving or building over soil effectively blocks out the air, water, and light needed to have a functioning soil biome meaning that roads, cities, sidewalks, houses, and businesses have destroyed the soil beneath it. Agricultural practices remove organic material, decreasing food, and then allows fallowed land to become dry and exposed to the elements. Household, industrial, and agricultural toxins can also sterilize soil if not disposed of

Having agriculture is not fully a bad thing. We need agriculture to eat and survive. The only problem with agriculture these days are humans. Ever since the Neolithic Revolution humans have been impacting the lithosphere. Throughout the years the soil-damaging weapons continue to get stronger and stronger, from using Azdes to using farm machinery. As populations grew, farms grew, as farms grew so did the technologies. Instead of using the stone made tools, they switched to domesticating animals and have them pull plows down a line. Today we have machinery that does it for us. It is called the “plow machine”. The plow machine is the most leading agricultural human impact on the lithosphere. Not only do they use big metal plows that break in

“The soil is the great connector of lives, the source and destination of all. It is the healer and restorer and resurrector, by which disease passes into health, age into youth, death into life. Without proper care for it we can have no community, because without proper care for it we can have no life” (Wendell Berry). This quote highlights the importance of the soil as the all-encompassing bridge between life and death and how vital it is to us, especially when it comes to hunting and gathering and growing the food we need to survive. Why change something that works? The agricultural revolution was a great tragedy in the history of the world, bringing about bodily changes, health defects and diseases, and a disparity of the sexes.

Meanwhile, agricultural reformers advised farmers to rotate their crops, conserve the soil, use fertilizers, adopt new crops, improve livestock breeds, and use the latest machinery. Although a few farmers practiced soil conservation by rotating crops or growing legumes, they just simply plowed up new lands when the fertility of their fields declined. Of the three main components of production—land, labor, and capital—land was the cheapest, so it made economic sense in the short run to exploit the soil to the fullest (Fite 28).

Rural developing areas: Environmentally and socially, “when farms become too small to support the next generation” (Wright & Boorse 2011, p. 204-205), they tend to work the land harder and never letting it rest. When this takes place several things can occur, “deterioration of the soil, decreased productivity(ironically), and erosion.” (Wright & Boorse 2011, p. 205).