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Environmental Effects Environmental Effects of Agricultureof Agriculture
(Non-point Source (Non-point Source Pollution)Pollution)
Introduction
• Agriculture generally behind the times (1990 –> USDA decided that water quality is a problem in the US - doh!)
• Can cause severe environmental impacts
• Agro-pollution hard to address – farming historically seen as stewardship of the land (actually stewardship of farmland)
Why agriculture?
• The Need to Feed
• Unpredictable services offered by unmanaged system (natural environment)
• Agriculture = managing environment
Pollution from Agriculture
• Agriculture often considered a life-style
AR is a large exporter of pollution – Gulf of Mexico
• Agriculture is hardest non-point source problem to solve
• Only significant progress pesticides (but not a big problem anyway)
The Process of Agriculture
A. Crop selection 1. based on high yield and market need (exception –
dairy farmer growing corn for cattle)
2. 350,000 spp. of terrestrial plants , < 2,000 ever cultivated or used for food
3. Wheat, corn, rice meets most of worlds caloric needs
4. US uses only about 25 crops -> low exploitation of plant resources
The Process of Agriculture (con’t)
B. Propagation1. Tillage – prepare soil
to receive crop
2. Nutrient management
The Process of Agriculture (Con’t)
C. Protection
Pest management
Note: pesticides
synthesized to kill, then
quickly breakdown into
“harmless” residues
III. Modern Production Agriculture
A. Use of energy in agriculture to increase yield
1. Agriculture is an extremely E. intensive (HO Table 18.2)
2. Ways to save E. in agriculture
a. Better herbicides (more specific)
b. Better irrigation (polypipe)
c. Alternative N2 inputs
d. Fuel (avg fruit travels 1,300 miles to market increase regional markets
Modern Production Agriculture (con’t)
B. Other factors affecting yield
1. Environmental conditions (HO) a. Spring - increasing temp, water needs
b. Summer – need 25% light for max. Ps
Note: often water stressed get decr. in mass because using stored E. to survive
c. Fall – plants start to die harvest just before
Modern Production Agriculture (con’t)
B. Other factors affecting yield (con’t)
2. Manipulation by farmer
a. tillage (plowing) manipulates soil, air, water
b. altered nutrient cycles
- bury dead organic matter
- “ weed seed bank deep so no germinate
- fertilization N, P, K
Modern Production Agriculture (con’t)
C. Chemical fertilization
1. Forms of chemical fertilizers
a. Nitrogen (N)NH4NO3 (ammonium nitrate) – cheap but explosive
NaNO3 (sodium nitrate) good but expensive
CO(NH2)2 (urea) expensive, effective but may scorch
NH3.H2O (anhydrous ammonia) cheaper, high loss by leaching
NH4.OH (aqueous ammonia) less cheap, less “ “ “
Modern Production Agriculture (con’t)
2. Phosphorous (P)
Phosphate rock – grind into powder, cheap but very water insoluble
CaH2PO4 (superphosphate) together make up
Ca(H2PO4 )2 ( “ ) 50% of all P used
H2P2O4 (phosphoric Usually extract from rock,
H3PO4 acid) treat with H2SO4 use
Modern Production Agriculture (con’t)
3. Potassium (K)KCl (potassium chloride) – most widely
used K fertilizerK2SO4 (pot. sulfate) – expensive, but S has
some fertilizer valueK2NO3 (pot. nitrate) – expen, mainly used
for vegetablesPotash (K-oxide) – v. good for certain crops
(potatoes)
Modern Production Agriculture (con’t)
2. Ratio and Use of Fertilizers
N : P : K
10 : 10 : 10 <-- % by weight
Above is very soluble to increase movement into plants but also increases runoff OH