Farmers are very important in today’s economy. Harvesting food for our country is an important job but also a very hard job with many implications and complications along the way. It is of no surprise that our large agricultural industry has a significant effect on the ecosystem around us. Luckily, farmers have discovered new techniques and have gained knowledge on how to reduce the use of water and petro-chemicals while increasing yields. Tilling the land has been around for many years as a form of weed control but it also has negative side effects for the farmers yield production. Soil conservation techniques are innovative ways farmers have started to product more yield but also produce less greenhouse gasses, water run-off and harmful chemicals.
The first way the agricultural industry has made improvements for our ecosystem is by using no till. Sediments in the soil become easier to wash or blow away after tilling farm land. Yates, Bailey and Schwindt (2006) have found that sediments have been proclaimed as the largest non-point source threat to aquatic ecosystems. This practice became popular in the 1930’s during the Dust Bowl in the Midwest. This caused a great deal of erosion is the soil that was blown away during the Dust Bowl. Yates, Bailey and Schwindt (2006) stated that, “these practices reduced soil loss by decreasing the level of soil disturbance during tillage and increasing the amount of crop residue that remained on the soil surface. The benefits for reducing global warming are also high when switching to no till farming. One large but simple factor is running the tractor. Tilling the ground usually takes five passes through the ground while no till only uses one while planting the seed. This can reduce fuel emissions by 80% leaving the farmers carbon footprint much lower than before.
The second way the agricultural industry has made improvements for our ecosystem is Contour farming. Contour farming is growing crops on level ground across or perpendicular to a slope rather than up and down the slope. The rows running across the slope are designed to be as level as possible to facilitate tillage and planting operations on the contour. This is another method to help with sediment loss and run off. When the farmland is level there is less water that will run into nearby streams. This also means less chemicals will wash away during high wind or storms. Avery (2010) talks about Contour farming saying that, “sediment load in any farm-country river will be a combination of bank erosion and runoff from the farm fields. The proportions vary with the soils, slope, rainfall patterns and farming systems.”
Irrigation systems have also had a great impact on water conservation for farmers. This has helped monitor yield production. The Southeast Farm Press (2009) says that, “Your crops do not use less water with drip irrigation. That need is still there. The water you have goes farther with drip systems." There are different types of irrigation systems that help with soil conservation in different ways. Some systems help move run-off water in a certain direction away from direct streams and others help maintain natural moisture levels in the soil so less erosion forms. All of these factors mean that farmers have to add less chemicals to their crops because natural sediments stay in contact longer with their crops.
In my findings I can see that there are many new technologies that farmers can use to reduce water usage, chemicals and have a better impact on the environment. Soil erosion can have many negative effects on the environment. The waters ecosystem can become polluted with anything that the farmers put on their crops as well as the sediments from the soil. Throughout history there has been times where weather has impacted farmers on a very large level. When natural disasters and storms happen it can cause change in how a process is done. Soil conservation has been put in place by many farmers because they see the impact their farming has on global warming and the ecosystem. Greenhouse gasses have become a large concern for many farmers as tractors can give off a lot of fuel which we are now seeing many negative effects form. For the agricultural industry to implement soil conservation techniques it is being seen that they not only are impacting the environment but also the yield of crops.
For myself this was a subject that I found to be very interesting as my husband and his family have been farming for a very long time. Doing research on agriculture has provided me with a better understanding on what my husband and his family deal with. With the research I did it provided me the understanding of why some techniques are used. For a farmer it is generally not just about how much of a payout they get at the end of harvest, but about how much the crop yield because that helps feed the world. Food is essential for animals and people to live so farming is essential for life. These new technology advancements and techniques are helping to feed the population, strengthen the economy, and also keeping the environment safe for us to live in. Even though food is essential for living so is having a stable environment. What shocked me the most with the findings of my research was that only roughly 30%-40% of farmers use the new farming techniques. I believe that many farmers that don’t used the new techniques are not doing them because they are set in their ways and the older farmers are passing the older farming techniques down to the next generation. All in all this was a great learning experience for me and helped provide me with a better understanding of farming practices being performed.