CHAPTER 3

AGRICULTURE AND THE ENVIRONMENT

3.1 Soil composition

• Mineral particles: a combination of rock fragments and other inorganic substances.
o They are formed due to the parent rock's physical, chemical and biological weathering
• Organic content: mixture of living plants, animals, microorganisms and their dead remains.
• Air: held within the pore spaces (between the mineral particles and organic content).
o Air enters the soil by diffusion.
• Water: held within the pore spaces (water that is available for plant growth).
o Water enters the soil when there’s precipitation or when the soil is irrigated.
• The proportion of these components depends on:
o Type of soil;
o Way it has been managed;
o Local climatic conditions;
o Size of the mineral particles.
• Soil can be classified into three groups:
TYPE SIZE TEXTURE
SAND 2.0-0.02 mm • Gritty.
SILT 0.02-0.002 mm • Silky or soapy.
CLAY <0.002 mm <0.002 mm • Sticky when wet;

3.2 Soils for plant growth

• Soil is the cheapest and most abundant medium in which water, mineral nutrients,
anchorage and oxygen can be supplied to a plant.
• Plants require a supply of nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and a range of other elements to
construct proteins and carry out life processes.
ELEMENT SUPPLIED AS ELEMENT SUPPLIED AS
NITROGEN Nitrate ions (NO3-)
PHOSPHORUS Phosphate ions (PO4-)
POTASSIUM Potassium ions (K+)

• Organic content: decomposers that produce humus (rich in nutrients):

o Earthworms: break down vegetation; mix the soil; aerate the soil; spread organic matter
through the soil.
o Fungi: feed directly on dead matter; digest hard woody items; aid plants to take up
nutrients through their roots.
o Bacteria: work on organic matter; convert waste products to simple chemicals; some
convert nitrogen to nitrates ‫ ؞‬important in nitrogen cycle.
• High levels of organic matter:
o Increase the water-holding capacity (like a sponge);
o Increase air spaces in the soil;
o Increase no. of decomposers, tunnels and burrows in the soil, providing additional drainage
and less compaction;
o Prevent the loss of mineral nutrients (humus holds on to mineral nutrients).
• Soil pH:
o Depends on the type of parent rock and pH of water that flows into the area;
o Affects the uptake of nutrients by plant roots;
o Affects the availability of nutrients;
o Farmers can try changing the pH of the soil either to acidify it (using fertilisers that have an
acidic effect) or make it alkaline (adding ground limestone).
SAND CLAY
• Larger air spaces; • Poor air spaces;
• Drains well; • Poor drainage;
• Poor retention of humus; • Retains humus;
• Easier to cultivate. • Hard to cultivate.
• Drainage: capacity of the soil to drain water must be medium (no water loss; no surplus
amount of water).
• Ease of cultivation: how easily the soil can be ploughed.

3.3 Agriculture types

SUBSISTENCE COMMERCIAL SUBSISTENCE COMMERCIAL
Cultivation of food to meet the needs of the • Cultivation of food with the main aim of
farmers and their families; selling them for cash;
• Surplus is bartered for • Some food may be used
other goods (or cash). by the farmers.
• Examples: wheat and rice. • Examples: tea, coffee, cocoa, sugarcane,
cotton, rice, wheat and corn.

ARABLE PASTORAL
• Production of plants for consumption by • Production of animals or animal-related
humans. products.
• Examples: rice, wheat, maize and • Examples: grass/grain (to feed the
soybeans. animals),
milk, wool eggs.

MIXED
• Farms that grow crops for food and rear animals.
3.4 Increasing agricultural yields
• Crop rotation: the principle of growing different types of plants in different plots each
year.
o Legumes: have nitrogen-fixing bacteria in their root nodules.
o Leafy crops: vegetables that are required for their leaves (require a lot of nitrogen left by
legumes).
o Root crops: have deep root systems.
o Fallow: the land is ploughed but left barren for a period to restore soil fertility and to avoid
surplus production.
o Advantages of crop rotation:
▪ Diseases in the soil affecting the plant are left behind;

▪ Pests need to find a new site ‫ ؞‬their population is reduced;

▪ The soil in the new plot is likely to have the essential nutrients;

▪ Crops ready to harvest at different times ‫ ؞‬less potential waste, less labour and machinery
needed.
• Fertilisers: contain minerals such as nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus. Add on to the
nutrients available in the soil.
TYPE ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
ORGANIC • Uses natural resources.; • Unpleasant to handle.;
• Supplies organic matter. • Harder to transport;
• Variable in composition.
INORGANIC • Meet a particular need; • Cost of manufacture;
• Easier to store. • Transportation costs.
QUICK • Deficiency problems are • Easily leach out in heavy rain.
ACTING dealt with swiftly.
SLOW • No need to reapply. • Little immediate impact.
ACTING

• Irrigation: supplying water to the crops.

o Large percentage of a plant is made up of water;
o Essential for cell activity;
o Used in photosynthesis;
o Mineral nutrient uptake requires water in the soil;
o The water must be free from pollution and low in salt.
o Common water application methods:
OVERHEAD SPRINKLERS
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• Easy to setup; • Large droplets may cap the soil;
• Can cover a large area from one • Small droplets may be blown away by wind;
sprinkler;
• No need to attach pipes to each plant. • Water lands on leaves and soil, which
evaporates quickly.
CLAY POT IRRIGATION SYSTEM
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• Simple technology; • Only suitable for permanent plants;
• Easy to check the amount of water; • Large labour cost.
• High efficiency.

TRICKLE DRIP SYSTEM

ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• Water placed directly at the base of • Expensive to install;
the plant; complex to maintain.
• Automated and • Grit can block tubes;
controlled via computer;
• Water is used very • Inflexible; cannot be
efficiently. moved easily.

FLOOD IRRIGATION
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• Inexpensive; • Inefficient use of water;
• Can cover large areas • Damages soil structure.
quickly.

• Pest: an animal that attacks or feeds upon a crop plant.

• Pesticide: used to control pests.
• Weed control: weed-killing chemicals are known as herbicides.
o They must be controlled because they:
▪ Compete with crops for light, water and nutrients;

▪ Reduce the quality of a seed or grain crop;

▪ Might be poisonous;

▪ Make cultivation difficult;

▪ Can block drainage systems with excessive growth;

▪ Can be a source of pests and diseases;

▪ Can look untidy (impact on tourism areas).

o Advantages of herbicides:
▪ Easier to manage;

▪ Alternatives may be less effective;

▪ Cheaper;

▪ Results are more predictable;

▪ Less labour needed;

▪ Effect is more rapid.
o Alternatives to herbicides are cultural controls:
▪ Hand weeding and hoeing;

▪ Weed barriers;

▪ Flame guns.
• A crop disease is caused by fungi, bacteria or viruses (pathogens).
o The most common are fungal diseases and are controlled by fungicides.
• Insect control: insect-controlling chemicals are called insecticides.
Alternative to insecticides:
BIOLOGICAL CONTROL: FIND NATURAL PREDATORS
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• No chemical residues; • Not as instant as chemical control;
• No impact of sprays; • Pests may breed faster than the predator;
• No need of reapplication; • Predator may feed on an unintended plant.
• The predators will die naturally when the
pests are controlled.
Mechanisation:
o Larger area can be cultivated;
o Reduces labour cost;
o Ploughing can be done even when soil is heavy
o Additional attachments can be done to apply fertilisers and pesticides.
• Selective breeding:
o Choose parents that exhibit the desired characteristics of the species;
o Raise the offspring from these parents;
o Select the best offspring that shows the desired characteristics;
o Repeat the process.
o Examples: beef cattle, dairy cattle, wheat and rice.
o Drawbacks: slow process; less success rate.
• Genetically Modified Organisms (GMO): the DNA of one organism is inserted into
another
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• Disease and pest resistance may increase; • Unknown impact of the new
• Nutritional value may increase; characteristics on human health;
• Crops can be grown in inhospitable areas; • Products are not natural;
• Herbicide resistance may increase; • Genes might get into wild plants if they
• Crops with longer storage lives. interbreed with GMOs ‫ ؞‬reducing
biodiversity;
• Reduction in the gene pool.
• Controlled environments:
o Greenhouse: used to manage the environment for plant growth.
GROWTH FACTOR HOW TO INCREASE HOW TO DECREASE
 TEMPERATURE Operate heating system Open roof ventilators.
(e.g. insulation).
LIGHT Supplementary lighting. Shading material in the roof.
HUMIDITY Misting units. Open roof ventilators.
DAY LENGTH Supplementary lighting. Shading material and curtains.
WATER Sprinkler or irrigation Drainage material underneath.

o Hydroponics: growing plants without soil, with the nutrients the plant needs to be
dissolved in water.
ADVANTAGES DISADVANTAGES
• No need for soil; • Expensive to set up;
• Can be used anywhere; • Suitable for small production areas;
• Easy to harvest; • Technical knowledge required;
• Exact nutrients needed are provided; • Disease, if present, may spread rapidly;
• Water is recycled; • Plants can die quickly if conditions are not
• Pollutants are not released into the maintained.
environment.

3.5 Impact of agriculture

• Overuse of herbicides and insecticides:
o Regular use of one insecticide can cause resistance within the pest population.
Solution: use a range of different pesticides.
o Unintended environmental damage: beneficial insects like bees are also affected and food
web is disturbed.
o Spray drift: herbicides stay longer in the soil and may affect the next crop.
▪ Heavy rainfall can cause leaching of the chemicals into nearby lakes.
• Overuse of fertilisers:
o Addition of extra mineral nutrients is waste of money and resources if the soil has reached
its maximum level;
o Heavy rain can dissolve the nutrients and cause leaching;
o Excess water containing dissolved fertilisers drain into nearby lakes and rivers, leading to
eutrophication;
o Nitrates from fertilisers if consumed can cause diseases such as blue-baby syndrome;
o Large quantities can affect the pH of the soil and in turn, the availability of minerals;
o Too much of trace elements can be toxic to the plant.
o Too much fertiliser dehydrates the plant (scorching);
o Imbalance of nutrient makes the plant produce lots of foliage, but no flower.
o Solution: strict limits on where, when and how the fertilisers must be applied; can replace
with organic fertilisers.
• Mismanagement of irrigation causing salinization and waterlogging:
o Damage to soil structure ‫ ؞‬soil is compacted;
o Death of plant roots as waterlogged soils prevent plant roots from getting enough oxygen;
o Loss of nutrients as they are dissolved and washed away with water;
o High levels of run off ‫ ؞‬soil erosion.
o Soil capping: surface of the soil becomes hard.
o Salinisation: salt content of the soil can increase.
▪ Irrigation water soaks into the soil to a great depth;

▪ Salts dissolve in the water at a great depth;

▪ Water evaporates from the field;

▪ Water and salts are drawn up to the surface;

▪ Salt remains at the surface and kills plant roots.

o Prevents soil cultivation as it’s difficult to cultivate soil with a high-water content.
• Overproduction and waste:
o Waste from overproduction: the unsold proportion of the crop.
o Waste of storage space: may take longer to sell a crop; some crops need special
conditions.
o Waste of transportation: to sell a crop, a farmer may need to travel longer distances.
o Waste of quality products: low quality means less demand.
o Waste of labour: not an efficient use of time and labor if too much is produced.
Exhaustion of mineral ion content:
o The farmers use the soil over and over again with little to no rest, leaving the soil depleted
of nutrients and minerals.
o Solution: crop rotation, mixed cropping and leaving the land fallow.
• Soil erosion:
o Overcultivation: soils that are cultivated regularly lose soil structure and are more
vulnerable to erosion as they break down to smaller particles.
• Cash crops replacing food crops:
o Most commercial farmers prefer to grow crops that generate more cash. This causes a
decline in the staple food available.

3.6 Causes and impacts of soil erosion

• Causes of soil erosion:
o Removal of natural vegetation: no more roots to bind the soil together or slow down the
torrents of water, so flash flooding and rainwater run-off pick the soil and carry it away.
o Overcultivation: ploughing breaks the soil into smaller and lighter particles. These are
more easily carried away by wind.
o Overgrazing: livestock reduces the vegetation to nearly ground level, sometimes leaving
no roots to hold the soil.
▪ Animals trample down the plants and their hoofs compact the ground.
o Wind erosion: deforestation (due to need for space, excessive grazing, increase in
development of arable crops) increases the chance of soil getting eroded by wind.
o Water erosion: heavy rainfall carries the particles away.
▪ Excess run-off water that can’t be absorbed by soil transports the soil from that area;

▪ Soil compaction reduces infiltration;

▪ Gully erosion (volume of water erodes local soil further) forms deeper and deeper crevices.
• Impacts of soil erosion:
o Topsoil is removed: the most productive layer is absent (subsoil lacks nutrients and air
spaces).
o Organisms living in the topsoil lose their habitat: impact on the entire ecosystem.
o Silting up of water courses: flooding occurs as water bodies can’t hold excess water
(space taken up by silt).
o Silt deposits can form lagoons: providing breeding grounds for mosquitoes.
▪ Silt affects the quality and availability of water for drinking.
o Aquatic organisms are buried under the silty layer: preventing light from reaching the
underwater plants (low oxygen levels in ecosystem ‫ ؞‬no photosynthesis).
o Desertification: the process by which fertile land becomes desert.
▪ Severe droughts lead to migration of the whole community.

▪ Risk of famine and malnutrition, leading to lesser food source.

3.7 Managing soil erosion

• Terracing: prevents the erosion of soil by rainwater on steep slopes.
o In a natural slope: water runs down, increasing in speed and volume, carrying soil in the
run-off.
o In a terraced slope: water is held in the flat terraced
areas, causing less risk of run-off and more chance of
infiltration.
o Often used for cultivation of rice.
• Contour ploughing: ploughing of land along the
contour in a parallel way.
o Ridges and troughs (furrows) run along the
contour.
o Each furrow holds water and prevents large
torrents of water running down the slope, preventing the formation of gullies and run-off of
topsoil.
o Useful for all gradients of slopes.
• Bunds: artificial banks at the edges of growing
spaces to hold back water.
o Useful for crops that require moist soils e.g.,
rice.
o The water is retained on the terrace.
o Increases the quantity and fertility of the soil.
• Windbreaks: a permeable barrier
used to reduce the impact of wind on an
area.
o Without windbreaks, the soil is
eroded away.
o Solid structures, like walls, force the
wind into smaller spaces, increasing
wind speed and causing eddy currents.
o Permeable structures, like vegetation, allow some wind to pass through, decreasing its
speed and thus, the amount of wind erosion.
o Advantages: additional habitats for beneficial insects; roots of the windbreak prevent
erosion due to run-off.
• Maintaining vegetation cover:
o Sowing legumes immediately after a crop has been harvested prevents soil erosion.
o It also provides more nitrogen to the soil, increasing its fertility, for the next major crop.
o When cultivating, the legumes can be simply ploughed.
• ‘No dig’ method:
o Existing vegetation is left until the new crop is grown.
o Rather than cultivating the soil, herbicides are applied to kill the weeds.
o Roots of the existing vegetation bind the soil until the major plant is established.
o Risks: herbicide residues build up. If the control of the cover vegetation is ineffective, it
may compete with the main crop as a weed.
• Addition of organic matter to improve soil structure:
o Provides additional air gaps in the soil ‫ ؞‬improves soil structure;
o Increases decomposers in the soil as they feed on the matter;
o Adds nutrients to the soil after decomposition.
o Acts like a sponge, holding the extra water, preventing dehydration of the soil;
o Reduces soil erosion as the organic matter acts like a base to smaller particles.
• Planting trees:
o Row of trees acts as windbreak;
o Tree canopy can provide shade for smaller plants that don’t thrive for sunlight;
o Provide a natural habitat for animals, that feed on pests;
o Tree leaves fall to the ground and add on to the organic matter.
• Mixed cropping: growing more than one type plant in the same area.
o Resources in the soil, like nutrients, are used more efficiently.
• Intercropping: rows of a different crop are grown between the rows of the main crop. This
maximises the use of space and other resources.

• Crop rotation: (refer to section 3.4 Increasing agricultural yields; Crop Rotation).

3.8 Sustainable agriculture

• Aims of sustainable agriculture:
o Meeting the needs of the population for agricultural products;
o Making efficient use of non-renewable resources;
o Supporting the natural ecosystem by following natural processes with farming techniques;
o Sustaining the economic independence of farmers.
• Organic fertilisers:
o Are slow acting ‫ ؞‬reduces the risk of eutrophication;
o Are a waste product ‫ ؞‬using them saves on disposal costs;
o Are already present on many farms ‫ ؞‬minimal transport costs;
o Do not require energy for their manufacture;
o Also improve soil structure.
Managed grazing:
o Prevention of overgrazing;
o Ensure sufficient grazing;
o Maintaining appropriate soil fertility by animal waste;
o Maintaining good drainage prevents compaction of the soil.
• Crop rotation: (refer to section 3.4 Increasing agricultural yields; Crop rotation).
• Use of pest-resistant varieties of crops: reduces pesticide use.
• Use of drought-resistant varieties of crops: reduces water usage for irrigation.
• Use of herbicide-resistant varieties of crops: reduces herbicide use.
• Trickle drip irrigation: (Refer to section 3.4 Increasing agricultural yields; Irrigation).
• Rainwater harvesting: the collection of rainwater, for example from the roofs of buildings,
and its storage in a tank or reservoir for later use.