Soil degradation/Farming Practices
What is erosion?
The movement of soil from one place to another.
Define overgrazing.
Too many animals eating too much of the plant cover, impeding or cancelling growth.
Define Desertification.
A loss of more than 10% of productivity in the soil.
What main event led the U.S. to creating soil conservation policies in the first place?
The Dust Bowl
What is irrigation AND what is one irrigation system that is used in the Columbia Basin?
Providing water to crops as opposed to relying on natural precipitation for water.
Irrigation systems: pivot/circle, wheel-line, rill ground, handline, dripline.
Explain what soil degradation is.
The deterioration of the soil characteristics needed for plant growth or other ecosystem services.
True or False. It is more expensive to feed animals on pasture that feed them hay.
False, it is drastically more expensive to feed animals hay when compared to grass.
In the affected lands, most degradation has been caused by _______ and ________erosion
Wind and Water
Why did the dust bowl occur in the first place?
The dust bowl took place in the early 1930's, during this time was also the time of the first tractor, as farmers tilled the soil over and over to plant their crops, this created a huge vulnerability to wind erosion and that is exactly what happened....
Provide one reason why farmers would want to apply pesticides to their field.
Farmers use pesticides on a regular basis, even those that grow organic. The whole reason of applying pesticides in the first place is to take care of a problem that is occurring in their field. If the pests does not get taken care of properly and in a timely manner, this could cause the farmer to take significant losses in both quality and yield for that crop.
Why is it so important for farmers to minimize the amount of erosion on their farms?
Farmers spend countless hours, days, weeks and months to maintain and care for their topsoil. They try to minimize erosion so that they don't lose all that they worked for. That is where the most fertile layers are.
What are two ways to prevent overgrazing?
1. Rotational grazing: moving them from pasture to pasture in sections.
2. Range managers can also limit the amount of animals grazing on publicly owned land.
1. How long ago did we as humans begin utilizing agriculture?
2. What were we considered to be before then?
1. 10,000 years ago
2. Humans were nomadic, moving from place to place and using the land in as many aspects as possible.
What was the whole point in creating soil conservation policies?
So that something like the dust bowl never happened again, the policies were put in place to educate farmers on different farming practices that helped conserve their topsoil on their farms and at the same time, minimized erosion.
True or False. A fertilizer is considered a pesticide.
False. A fertilizer's job is to help the plant grow, pesticides take care of an issue in the area.
How does contour farming help prevent erosion?
Contour farming prevents erosion by planting on the hill sideways. As the crop is planted, it leaves ridges where the seed is placed into the ground and those ridges, along with the plant/roots in the ground, contain soil on the hillside.
How are overgrazing and erosion related?
Overgrazing occurs when too many animals eat away at the plant tissue, killing it and exposing the topsoil at the same time. Exposed topsoil is never good when trying to prevent erosion.
What is an area of land that would be prone to desertification?
An area that usually does not get any rainfall/little precipitation.
What does the USDA stand for?
United States Department of Agriculture
What is salinization and how does it occur in soil?
Salinization is the buildup of salts in the upper horizons. This tends to happen in warmer/drier climates. Due to the lack of precipitation and heat, the moisture in the upper horizons evaporates. Water from the lower horizons gets pulled toward the surface through capillary action and comes to the top. As that water evaporates, it gets separated from the salt, which stays behind.
List all 7 farming practices and what they do.
Intercropping: the planting of different crops in mixed arrangements. Helps slow erosion by providing more plant cover than a single crop does. It also reduces a fields vulnerability to insects and disease.
Crop rotation: alternating crops grown in field
Cover crops: planting crops to reduce erosion after a field has been harvested and before the next seasons planting.
Shelterbelts: "windbreaks". Trees/shrubs planted on the outside borders of the field.
Tilling: turning over the soil, making the soil more porous and "fluffy".
Terracing: "staircase farming". Farming on the side of a mountain side.
Contour farming: Planting sideways across a hillside, perpendicular to the hills slope.
How does compaction and overgrazing relate?
Compaction occurs in the soil when there is heavy foot-traffic in a small area. When overgrazing occurs, there are "too many mouths" in one spot, this leads to compacting the soil significantly.
Erosion, soil compaction, forest removal, overgrazing, drought, salt buildup, depletion of water sources, etc.
What is CRP (Conservation Reserve Program)?
Established in the 1935 farmbill, pays farmers to stop cultivating cropland that erodes easily and instead plant trees, grasses or other crops to help conserve soil. This program is used locally in Quincy to this day.
List the three other types of pesticides and explain what they take care of. (Hint: Herbicides take care of....herbs...plants.)
1. Insecticides take care of insects
2. Fungicides take care of fungus/bacteria
3. Fumigants take care of nematode