Soil Erosion

Particularly in developing countries, a major problem with farming techniques is that they can lead to soil erosion and the degradation of soil quality and fertility from overuse, acidification, salinsation and other chemical contamination. Certain crops, the livelihood of large parts of developing countries – coffee, corn, rice, wheat and tobacco, cause more soil erosion than others. Although these crops are essential to the local community and economy, for farming practices to be sustainable, farmers must be persuaded to modify their practices and apply soil conservation techniques.

Which are the (relevant) practices that have an impact on the respective environmental problem?

When farmland is ploughed, topsoil is exposed and may be blown away by the wind or washed away by rain. This reduces the available soil for farming and reduces the quality of the soil.

Soil which is blown or washed away may go into water ways and contaminate drinking water, or cause sedimentation of waterways. This transfer of soil is exacerbated if there is no longer

As the name suggests, this means that the farmer does not plough the soil again. There are other mid-way approaches to conservation tilling such as strip tilling and mulch tilling. However, no- tillage minimises disturbance to the soil, which in turn can lower mineralisation of the soil. This approach leaves crop “waste” on the land, reducing evaporation of soil moisture, which is beneficial for crop growth. Soil fertility increases along with an increase in soil microbes and beneficial insects (this is especially so if cover crops are also used). It also slows the movement of water over the soil, and soil erosion. Conservation tillage produces higher crop yields (Kuhn et al. 2016) but it may take many years for the benefits of increased yield to be realised. Another benefit of no-tillage is that the farmer does not incur the usual associated labour or fuel