5.

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Availability of land for food production

The intensive use of land has led to soil degradation, with several geographical areas particularly
badly affected. Here we can see how industrialization and the industry affect and destabilize
ecosystems by soil degradation, with several geographical areas particularly badly affected, leading
to loss of plant species and less food and biomass available for the process of food chain.

Example of the effect of farmin over countries:

Efficiency of terrestrial production systems(relation of farming with

thermodynamics,RELTED TO EFFICIENCY)
 Energy is lost by respiration and waste production at each level within a food web.

In terrestrial systems, most food is harvested from relatively low trophic levels (producers and
herbivores). Systems that produce crops are more energy efficient that those that produce
livestock= as a result in the former, crops are producers at the start of the food chain and contain a
greater proportion of the Sun’s energy than subsequent trophic levels.

 Livestock farming demands extensive land use. In terms of land use, agricultural food
production based on livestock is far less efficient than that based on crops.
 3 per cent of the feed energy consumed by livestock remains in edible animal tissue. Cultural
choices may influence societies to harvest food from higher trophic levels. Taste and cultural
demand play a role in this, and the animals provide a source of protein (essential for the
human diet). Animals can convert into food vegetation that would not be available to
humans directly. Here we can see how the energy coming from sun, can be transformed and
used by animals as a resource and when they are consumed, a reduced portion of thet flow
of energy is passed to humans.
Inputs, outputs, and environmental impacts of terrestrial food production
systems(relation with ecology, biomes characteristics= abiotic,niotic factors)

Example of simple diagram to show the inputs, outputs, and storages of terrestrial food
production system. These depend on the production method chosen

Terrestrial farming systems types.

● Commercial farming is farming for profit – often of a single crop.
● Subsistence farming produces only enough to feed the farmer and his or her family, with
none to sell for profit. Both commercial and subsistence farming can be either intensive or
extensive.
● Intensive farms: Take up a small area of land and have very high output (through large
inputs of capital and labour) per unit area of land.
● Extensive farms: large in comparison to the money and labour put into them (e.g. the
cattle ranches of central Australia, only a few workers are responsible for thousands of acres
of land).

Effects of food production systems:

● soil degradation from erosion
● desertification
● eutrophication from agricultural run-off
● pollution from insecticides, pesticides, and fertilizers
● salinization from over-irrigation
● lowered water tables and over-abstraction of ground water
● loss of valuable habitats (e.g. wetlands drained for agriculture)
● disease epidemics from high-density livestock farming and monoculture.
 Relation with other topics: (SUSTAINABILITY AND FOOTPRINT)
Agriculture sector shares a major proportion in total GHG emission. processes in agricultural sector is
regarded as carbon footprint of agriculture. Various activities related to agriculture such as plowing,
tilling, manuring, irrigation, variety of crops, rearing livestock, and related equipment emit a
significant amount of GHGs that are categorized in three tiers of carbon foot printing, separated by
hypothetical boundaries. A carbon footprint can be used as a tool to show farmers interest in
reducing their environmental impact. It can also be used as a tool to indicate efficient use of
agricultural inputs.

Increasing sustainability(related to last topic of book=ecology and

ecosystems)

 Ecology allows full natural replacement of the resources exploited and full recovery of the ecosystems
affected by their extraction and use. Sustainable farming methods should cause minimum impact to
natural systems and involve the responsible use and management of global resources.

Human attitude to eating meat

Consumers have the role to select the food from foodproduction systems that are sustainable.
Improving the accuracy of food labels in supermarkets help consumers to make increasingly
informed food choices. Buying locally produced food would minimize the food-miles used in
transportation, limiting its ecological footprint.Buying food that minimizes pesticide use also offers a
more sustainable choice.

Organic farming (ecocentric pov)

Provides an ecocentric approach to farming by achieving an ecological balance that conserves soil
fertility, prevents pest outbreaks, and takes a preventative rather than reactive approach to
environmental issues.Also, organic farming is sustainable at the local level, it is not be sustainable at
a global scales. Organic farming produces less food per unit of land and water than conventional
agriculture. While providing sufficient food locally, if scaled up to the levels needed to supply food
globally, the lower yields would lead to greater pressure to convert land to agricultural use and
produce more animals for manure to fertilize crops, both of which would be challenges to
sustainability.

Buffer zones(related to stability and unit 2)

Are areas of land containing native vegetation that are adjacent to or surround agricultural land.
These areas support biodiversity that is absent from the arable land (which usually contain
monocultures): these natural habitats support insect predators that limit crop pests, reducing
pesticide use, and preserve species lost from the farmed area thereby supporting local food chains.
Buffer zones also help to limit the run-off of fertilizers and pesticides into surrounding rivers and
lakes, and control air and soil quality. Plants in the buffer zones trap sediment, and their roots hold
soil particles together which reduce the effects of wind erosion. This tool may be related to the
conservation and protection of species in order to have a Good functioning of the ecosystem, with
the resilience of animals, supporting equilibrium leading to stability.

5.3 Soil degradation and conservation

 Soil ecosystems change through succession. Fertile soil contains a community of organisms
that work to maintain functioning nutrient cycles and are resistant to soil erosión

Soil ecosystem
 The time required for soil formation varies from type of soil . Coarse sandstones develop
soils more quickly than granites or basalts.
 Phases of erosion and deposition keep some soils always in a state of change.

IN RELATION WITH CHAPTER 1 BOOK

Organic matter is a basic component of soil although the influences of biotic factors range
from microscopic organisms or bacteria to humans. Direct influence: ex=interception of
precipitation by vegetation and the reduction of precipitation via evapotranspiration. Others
are direct: release of humic acids by decaying vegetation or the return of nutrients to the
soil via litter decay (humification). Animals too have an effect on soils, like earthworms that
have a fundamental role in the food chain at the momento of the decompositiion of death
animals and how that biomass is transformed and integrated again as organic matter to
continue the normal cycle od ecosystems. alone represent from 50–70 per cent of the total
weight of animals in arable soils. Fertile soils contain a community of organisms that work
to maintain functioning nutrient cycles and are resistant to soil erosion.
Other animal activity is considerable:
● bacteria fix atmospheric nitrogen converting into a usable form for plant roots
● mycorrhizal fungi on tree roots take up soil nutrients and pass them directly to the tree
● decomposers break down litter releasing nutrients into the soil
● soil organisms help to mix the soil improving its structure

Reduced soil fertility

Deforestation
refers to the removal of some or all of a cover of trees. The greater the proportion of trees
removed, the less interception that occurs, the more soil compaction by raindrop impact,
and the more soil erosion that results .The potential for soil erosion increases with rainfall,
and so the removal of tropical rainforests is particularly serious

Intensive grazing
Intensive grazing has two main impacts on vegetation cover.
1)The greater the intensity of grazing, the more vegetation cover is removed.
2)Large herds may destroy vegetation cover by trampling. This reduces interception,
increases raindrop impact, and increases soil erosion.
3) Grazers, especially large ones, may compact the soil, making it impermeable and thereby
increasing the potential for soil erosion. In severe cases, such as around bore-holes in semi-
arid regions, this may lead to desertification

Urbanization
Urbanization requires the removal of vegetation for construction, and there is often heavy
machinery compacting the soil surface. This makes the soil impermeable and water is unable
to infiltrate into the soil; instead it flows over the soil removing valuable, fertile topsoil.

Soil conservation methods

 Mechanical methods to reduce water Flow: Include bunding, terracing, and contour
ploughing. The key is to prevent or slow down the movement of rainwater down slopes.
Contour ploughing takes advantage of the ridges formed at rig.
 Cropping and soil husbandry methods against water and wind damage:
Preventing erosion by cropping techniques largely focuses on:
- maintaining a crop cover for as long as possible
- keeping in place the stubble and root structure of the crop after harvesting
- planting a grass crop. A grass crop maintains the action of the roots in binding the soil, and
minimizes the action of wind and rain on the soil surface.

Increased organic content allows the soil to hold more water, thus reducing mass movement
and erosion, and stabilizing the soil structure. Soil organic matter is a vital component of
productive and stable soils. It is an important source of plant nutrients, improves water
retention and soil structure, and is important in terms of the soil’s buffering capacity against
many of the threats.

Conclusion: An integrated approach to soil conservation is required in which non-

technological factors such as population pressure, social structures, economy and ecological
factors can determine the most appropriate technical solutions.