AGRICULTURE AND THE

ENVIRONMENT
Made by Haram Rizwan
Grade 11
WHAT IS SOIL?
• Soil is loose material that lies on top
of the land. It is very important to
humans. Most soils have three layers
(horizons).
• The topsoil, also known as A
horizon, gains new material from the
decomposition of trees and plants.
• The subsoil, also known as B
horizon, is where material
accumulates from horizons above
and below.
• The weathered bedrock ( C horizon)
contains loose pieces of rock broken
off rocks in the parent bedrock.
 Soil Composition

Mineral matter (sand, silt

and clay)

5%
Water
25%
45%

Air
25%

Organic matter ( living

plants and animals and their
dead remains and waste.
 MINERAL PARTICLE FORMATION
 They are produced from rocks through the processes of
weathering and natural erosion.

Sand
• Mainly quartz
• Diameter: 0.05mm- 2mm

Silt
• Mainly quartz
• Diameter: 0.002mm- 0.05mm

Clay
• Iron oxides and silicates
• Diameter: <0.002mm
 SOILS FOR PLANT GROWTH
Plants need certain conditions to grow well in the soil. These are:
Plants need minerals for healthy Plants also need a suitable soil pH
growth which are absorbed through the level. The ideal range for a soil for
roots as mineral ions. farming is between 5.5 and 8 on the
 Nitrogen- needed to make amino pH scale.
acids. Without it plants suffer from
stunted growth.
 Phosphorus-needed for respiration
and growth. Otherwise plants suffer
poor root growth and discoloured
leaves.
 Potassium- needed for respiration
and photosynthesis. Without it there
is poor flower and fruit growth.
 There are three
types of soil.
SOIL TYPES • Sandy soil
• Clayey soil
• Loamy soil
The best one for
farming is
loamy soil as it
rich in minerals,
easy to work
and has a pH
level between
5.5 and 8.
 DIFFERENT TYPES OF AGRICULTURE
 Arable farming- only crops are grown
on a farm.
 Pastoral farming- farming aimed at
producing livestock.
 Mixed farming- involves both the
growing of crops and the raising of
livestock
 Commercial farming- growing of crops
and/or the rearing of animals for raw
materials, food, or export, particularly for
profitable reasons.
 Subsistence farming-
when farmers grow food crops to meet
the their and their family’s needs.
 Shifting cultivation- form of subsistence
farming in which a small plot of forest is
cleared and crops are planted. Few years
later, when the plot loses its fertility, it’s
abandoned and a new plot is cleared.
AGRICULTURAL TECHNIQUES TO INCREASE
YIELDS

 Irrigation: provision of a supply of water from rivers,

lakes, reservoirs and underground sources to a farmland.
These are the three most common types of irrigation
systems on large farms.

Sprinkler Trickle drip

Canal irrigation
irrigation irrigation
 Use of chemical pesticides and inorganic fertilisers:
farming a crop takes away some of the nutrient content.
For yields to be maintained, the farmer needs to make up
the loss. One way of doing this is by using inorganic
fertilisers. Pesticides can be used to destroy harmful
pests and weeds that would compete with the crop for
sunlight, water and nutrients can be killed by spraying
with herbicides. Fungi can be controlled by fungicides.
 Mechanization: improving farm labour productivity through
the use of agricultural machinery. Powered machinery has
replaced many farm jobs formerly carried out by manual
labour or by working animals.
 Selective breeding: also known as artificial selection, is a
process used by humans to develop new organisms with
desirable characteristics. Breeders select two parents that have
beneficial traits to reproduce, yielding offspring with those
desired traits.
 Genetically modified organisms: genetic engineering is the
process of altering the genetic composition of an organism by
modifying its own genes or by introducing genes from a
different species.
 Controlled environments: such as greenhouses make it
possible to grow certain types of crops year round.
Greenhouses can provide additional warmth for high value
crops. Hydroponics is a form of glasshouse production that
uses no soil, but instead grows plants in a solution of water
and nutrients.
ADVERSE EFFECTS OF MODERN AGRICULTURAL
PRACTICES.
 Overuse of chemical pesticides and fertilisers
 Excess concentrations of nitrates in ground and river water used for
drinking.
 Dangers to human health due to the presence of toxic chemicals.
 Eutrophication due to enriched nutrient content in rivers and lakes.
 Eutrophication is a process in which a water ecosystem increases in
productivity, leading to the formation of algal blooms.
 Overuse and mismanagement of irrigation water.
 When large quantities of water are spread over the soil
surface, salinization occurs.
 Salts are drawn up to the top of the soil as the moisture is
evaporated.
 Further evaporation leaves the salts behind in the topsoil.
 A hard crust of soil is deposited on the surface.
 Salt concentrates around plant roots.
 Most plants and crops can’t tolerate high salt levels, they
wither and die.
 Overcultivation and overgrazing of farm land.
 Exhaustion of mineral ion content.
 Soil erosion
 Desertification: process in which deserts spread and
engulf areas that formerly had a surface vegetation cover
and farming settlements.
SOIL EROSION :CAUSES AND IMPACTS
 Soil erosion is the loss of topsoil by water and wind. It’s
a natural process that occurs slowly, but is speeded by
human activities.
 Rates of soil erosion are highest in:

 Areas with dry climates where there is little surface

vegetation to protect the soil against wind
OR
 On steep slopes in wet climates, where the gradient
increases the speed of surface water flows.
 CAUSES OF SOIL EROSION
 Overcultivation: leads to the exhaustion of mineral ion
content. This leads to lower yields and destroys the soil
structure. Poorer crops mean less vegetation cover to protect
the soil.
 Overgrazing: when too many cattle and other livestock graze
beyond the carrying capacity of the soil, patches of bare soil
appear which increase in size as animals pull out grasses by
the roots to the point where nothing is left to hold the soil
particles together.
 Deforestation.

 Monoculture.
IMPACTS OF SOIL EROSION
 Crop yields go down and pasture lands become lands
become less productive.
 Farmers’ incomes go down while the cost of farming
goes up.
 When starvation looms, the only hope for people may
rest with migration.
 Most of the eroded topsoil ends up in rivers, increasing
the amount of sediment filling the channel bed. Rivers
more readily overflow their banks, so floods become
more frequent.
 Rivers drop their load, which silts up HEP dams and
damages fish breeding areas.
 SOIL EROSION :MANAGEMENT
STRATEGIES
Mechanical methods:
 Terracing

 Bunds

 Contour ploughing

 Planting trees in lines either as windbreaks for the farms

or as shelter belts between the fields.
 Changes in farming practices:
 Mixed cropping

 Crop rotation: maintenance of soil fertility

DESERTIFICATION
 A process in which deserts spread and engulf areas that
formerly had a surface vegetation cover and farming
settlements.
Cause

Overcultivation • Use higher yielding/drought resistant seeds.

• Crop rotation

Overgrazing • Reduce numbers by using higher yielding

breeds.
• Rotate grazing land

Deforestation • Tree-planting schemes.

• Alternatives to fuel wood. (eg. Biogas
plants)
Population pressure • Policies to reduce birth rates
• Alternative employment
 Pest and
drought
resistant crop
varieties

Managed
Rainwater
livestock
harvesting
grazing

Sustainable
agriculture

Trickle drip
Crop rotation
irrigation

Adding
organic
fertilisers
(animal
manure)