Hi all,
In a previous post I’ve talked about the 4 essential points to make use of lots of fertile grounds around the world. In this post I will talk about the second point in this list:
- To consider agriculture within a framework of environmental and resources conservation.
The first question we can ask ourselves; what can we preserve in agriculture? Like I’ve said in previous posts, fertile soil is one of the things we can definitely try to maintain in a sustainable way. A second thing we can try to do is reducing the agricultural energy consumption which is around 2% (Center For Climate and Energy Solutions, 2015).
We could ask ourselves whether or not it’s necessary to preserve these soils. Studies show that we lose about 0.1% of fertile soil a year due to erosion. This is not so much compared to the growth in production processes efficiency due to knowledge of agricultural processes which is 1-2% every year. However, if we keep wasting the fertile soils all over the world, what will future generations be left with? Can they keep up with the food demand rises we have now? Next to this, river quality and chances of flooding rise due to erosion as well (Chi & Diemer, 2002).
In my opinion, we should give future generations the same possibilities as the ones we have now. There are existing soil prevention management systems that prevent the soil from eroding. The most easy way is terracing, but other ways exist (Morgan, 2005) and could come into practice whenever we’re ready to implement them. In this way we could accomplish to keep all the resources we have today and pass them to future generations. Since agriculture itself isn’t THAT harmful (only 2%), no drastic changes are needed I think. But whenever someone is buying a new installation, energy should be one of things to keep in mind. In the south, ram pumps or solar pumps could be used to make it possible for everyone to have good agriculture.
Do you have any suggestions which other resources or environments we could conserve? Do you think the technologies can solve these problems or would you use other techniques? What would you pass to future generations?.
Greetings,
Lauren
Bibliografy
Center For Climate and Energy Solutions. (2015, March 3). Agricultural Emissions in the United States. Opgehaald van c2es: http://www.c2es.org/technology/overview/agriculture
Chi, P. M., & Diemer, P. (2002). Hydraulic Ram Handbook. Opgehaald van Borda: http://www.borda-net.org/fileadmin/borda-net/Knowledge/Implementation%20Manuals/064%2520BORDA_HydRam-Handbook.pdf
Morgan, R. (2005). Soil Erosion And Corosion. Malden, USA: Blackwell Science Ltd.
Humasol hydraulic ram pump thesis 
Hi Lauren,
I think these are (for now) smaller problems of which we don’t know the impact yet… But it doesn’t mean we shouldn’t think of them now… These erosion problems can be solved with technologies which cost money. So we need a lot of organisations like humasol to help the farmers implementing these technologies.
On the other hand, how will we be cultivating in the future? Will we need all these fertile soils? Maybe we come up with some crazy technologies… but does this mean we don’t have to look at the future regarding the prevention of these soils? I don’t know, it’s a difficult discussion! I we play it safe and try to keep these soils as much fertile as possible what will the impacts be on the production? Seen the rising demand…
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I agree with Maxim, there are lots of unknowns to give a relevant answer to these questions. Is preserving enough? Since the population is growing each year we would probably need more soil then we are using right now. And then there is the topic of “Will technology save us?”, as an engineering student I believe we will find our way and technology will be certainly have a big part in it although it wouldn’t be the first time we enter the dark ages ..
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Thanks for the reply, Maxim and Sven. In my opinion we should try to preserve as much as possible. Of course we can hope smart engineers keep coming up with good ideas but it’s not bad to think about preserving what we have so we keep a stable amount of resources intact.
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Dear Lauren,
I’m sorry to be so harsh on this subject, but I don’t think it is a priority. I don’t think our society will successfully live to see the day that a substantial amount of soil is eroded. I believe that, with this erosion rate, other problems will prevent high production agriculture much earlier! Fossil fuels will run out, and nowadays, these are important in agriculture. Also because we will burn all fossil fuels, climate change will have a huge effect on the agriculture. Storms and drought will destroy the crops long before we run out of fertile land. Especially with the mono-culture coming from GMO’s, disasters are more likely to happen.
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Hi Tim,
Thanks for this interesting comment. I understand that there are maybe more pressing urges nowadays. In my opinion trying to reach one goal doesn’t mean we can’t reach for another as well. However, these soils are unused and have therefore all the possibilities. If we start to use them now on a sustainable way, it can maybe be used as an example for the rest of the world. But as I said, we can’t do this without tackling the other problems as well.
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I completely agree. In my previous comment, I was thinking too much in the view of “choose your battles”. One person cannot fix everything. But actually, you are right and we should at the same time also take care of fertile soils and from the beginning show what sustainable use of resources means.
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