Minimum tillage reduces injury to the roots of crop plants caused by mechanical tillage or hand weeding, reducing the opportunities for opportunistic pathogens to infect. It also reduces the spread of pathogens by tillage practices. However, it may favor the development of some diseases such as those that
The environmental benefits include less water pollution and less damage to non-target insects, in turn benefit biodiversity. Crop resistance to herbicides extremely low agriculture are encouraging, with benefits in soil conservation resulting from it. On the other hand, the increased use of herbicides can increase the erosion of agricultural land. It is modified crops and the development of new genetically that can withstand environmental stresses such as drought,
Influence of Temperature • Temperature is also an important factor for the growth and development of crops. • For maximum dry matter collection, the optimum temperature is the main requirement. Basic temperature points Temperature limits for
One of the biggest problems are the soil is seasonable, it works best through the warm months because it has to break down and release nutrients into the air. Another problem farmers find with is the fertilizer takes time , the nutrients make time to break down and some people expect instant improvement and this soil will not do that for them(Chemical Fertilizer vs Organic). The nutrient level is lower than the chemical fertilizer, it can still do the same thing it just produces less nutrients in the long run. Just like the natural fertilizer the chemical fertilizer has its advantages and disadvantages. One of the biggest advantage is it has an instant improvement, humans have the natural desire to be impatient so most run to to the chemical fertilizer.
This means that the available land is under stress to develop food for the higher population, meaning that the land is over-cultivated and so aids soil erosion. For example, intensive cultivation of land in the soya plantations in South America can lead to overcropping. In South America, the soil is fertilised, although the use of chemical fertilisers Is not advantageous to the land as much as manure is. Due to the overuse of fertiliser and the underuse of manure, the soil structure gradually becomes more damaged due to the effects of overcropping. The effects caused by overcropping can be lowered through the use of organic manure, i.e cattle dung, to the soil through irrigation.
Soil is also being affected by Agriculture and affecting family farms leading to high suicides and contaminated soils. Farmers are trying to grow crops in areas that aren’t usually suitable for growing, and applying toxic pesticides and fertilizer to help the crops grow. Farmers are going out of business due to lack of money, getting sick from the toxic stuff companies are giving farmers. Now we are seeing more industrial farming and causing more harm for us and the
However it is sometime considered that the soil health is depends on biological activities held in the soil. There are few controversies about role of soil in plant growth and yield, as few belifs on its direct effect on plant growth and yield, while rest consider that it mere provide physical support and the growth and yield are the result of non-soil components, such as fertilizer and pesticide. Soil organisms contributes significantly in soil health through various ways such as, humus formation, decomposing dead plant and animal residues, enrichment of soil organic matter, etc. They produces carbon dioxide in soil to be dissolved in water and further converted in carbolic acid, which breakdowns insoluble rock minerals (Edwards et al. nd.).
These characteristics are helpful in the production of food, allowing farmers to use fewer chemicals and to grow fewer crops with the ideal conditions to also prevent eutrophication. Pesticides can have unintentional effects on targeted species even though pesticides protect crops against unwanted insects. GMOs could harm human health as well. Researches used a particular gene from a Brazilian nut to increase Methionine in soya beans. The insertion of this gene has caused allergic reactions when the soya beans have been eaten by people who are allergic to nuts.
The increasing technological development, climate change and globalisation contribute to the variability of the environment in which farms operate. Meeting these challenges and adapting to changes in this situation is a necessity for farms that want to be competitive on the market and develop further. Environmental requirements, labour costs and means of production and rising energy and fuel prices are a huge challenge for agriculture, which, in order to ensure the profitability of production and meet these challenges, has to choose the ways and directions of production . The solution may be the implementation of modern technologies of precision farming . It is a system using the latest technological developments, enabling environmentally friendly
This is because the better trait is produced by engineering genes which results in favoring one organism. Genetically modified organism can interrupt the natural process of the gene flow. A possible issue with the modified crop genes ending up in the soil which can produce new strands that can eventually attack the plant species and producing a new strand. Genes from the GM crops can spread to organic farm crops threating the diversity in agriculture. Due to cross pollination to non-gm plants, new hybrid strains are created.