Why does a farmer need science

Cotton farming usually offers less income and requires less capital. A typical upland cotton farm for family operation has, as a minimum, from 80 to acres. Of these 15 to 20 are in cotton; 20 to 25 in corn to feed mules, cows, hogs, and chickens ; 8 to 10 in soybeans, cowpeas, or lespedeza for hay; and the rest in pasture and woodland. Since the price of cotton, unless pegged, moves up and down rapidly, it is desirable to grow other cash crops, such as peanuts, for additional income, besides producing on the farm as much as possible of the feed for animals and food for the family.

Wheat farming takes a good deal of land. Many of the wheat farms of Kansas, the Dakotas, and eastern Montana run to acres or more. Diversified farming usually involves a mixture of cash crops and livestock.

Its chief advantages are: 1 the risk is reduced by not banking mainly on one money crop and 2 it spreads the working time of the family. There are many possible combinations in this type of farming, such as growing cotton, peanuts, tobacco, and other crops in the South or dairying, hog raising, and poultry farming in the North.

The main consideration is to plant crops which the operator can take care of and sell. The required investment in diversified farming varies with the region and the size of the business. Part-time farming. Many men who are not interested in full-time farming may wish to engage in subsistence or part-time farming.

Of the 6 million farmers in the United States in , about , were part-timers, spending a hundred days or more a year in other occupations. Such farmers may have only a garden or they may cultivate several acres, keep a few hogs, a cow or two, and several score chickens. GI Roundtable Series. Corey Prize Raymond J.

Cunningham Prize John H. Klein Prize Waldo G. Marraro Prize George L. Mosse Prize John E. Palmegiano Prize James A. Schmitt Grant J. Beveridge Award Recipients Albert J. Corey Prize Recipients Raymond J. Cunningham Prize Recipients John H. Did you know that most of the papaya we consume in Canada is imported from Hawaii? But between and the papaya ringspot virus caused production of this exotic fruit to drop by 50 per cent.

Back to Top. Provide a stable supply of affordable foods When pests go unchecked, they can destroy whole crops and make farming extremely difficult. Improve food quality and nutrition Plant science can help combat health problems for people all over the world.

All growers control pests Whether growing foods organically or by other methods, all growers must battle pests to grow crops sustainably, protect their crops from damage and ensure they get the best-quality and highest yields possible. Measuring indicators analytically is not the purpose of this study.

Poor land has white and light coloured soil, but also red soil and soil with red-yellow tones, commonly associated with problems with texture and dryness, such as in the case of white sand and red clay. Colours are used almost as symbols of soil quality, incorporating all of the other characteristics of soil, particularly in the opposition between dark and light coloured soils. Soil colour is also one of the first characteristics an agricultural scientist would look for. Darkness is related to organic matter in soil, whose presence is related to the expression of beneficial soil processes.

Decrease in soil organic material is reflected in the colours of the type of soil minerals present. Quartz and kaolinite are white; hematite is red; gibbsite is yellow; iron oxides in reduction environment are grey when situated in a gley horizon.

Source: Bicalho, Hoefle The proper management of soil fertility within an ecological framework is thought to involve numerous variables, one of the most important for tropical and subtropical soils is the presence of organic material, which comprises a set of pools with multiple functions in the expression of chemical, physical and biological soil processes.

Due to this, organic material is an indicator frequently used by soil scientists for evaluating soil quality and sustainability. Natural variation in soil type, climate, mineralization rates and farming systems all affect levels of fertility, which involve nutrient and water depletion or accumulation, and ultimately cropping system productivity.

Organic material in soil includes microorganisms, animals and plant residues in different stages of decomposition that are intimately related to the minerals present in the soil.

The stock of organic material depends on the intensity of processes involving plant residual input to soil and decomposition.

A number of biological, chemical and physical factors also protect organic material from the attack of microorganisms Feller et al.

Most farmers do not know why soils have different colours and say that they are naturally the way they are, but some farmers say that dark soils are caused by the presence of organic material and nutrients.

If pressed for details why the land is good or bad, farmers also associate the presence of organic material and earthworms. Therefore, good land has lots of worms present in dark soil, particularly a type identified as big limp worms. Farmers also note that certain little bugs are often found in humid soil and that the bugs fertilise the soil.

Worms are absent in poor soils. The latter are located in hot land where there are numerous ant nests, particularly in red clay soils.

From this we see that the presence of mesofauna is considered to be a sign of good land and fertile soil in local knowledge, and the presence of mesofauna dependents on soil types which retain moisture. Farmers use their experience and power of observation using all of their senses to characterise soil quality.

Good land has black humid soil rich in organic material, including plant residue, such as leaves, straw, roots and decomposing pods and fauna present such as the insects and worms cited above. From this we see that farmers have a clear notion of nutrient recycling used by agronomists to explain soil quality. The transformation of organic material and fresh biomass by worms, insects and micro fauna directly contributes to nutrient recycling from organic material in this biomass as well as from the liberation of nutrients from the soil minerals.

Through this transformation process organic material is fragmented into components which are grouped by particle size. Larger particles can serve as a short term labile nutrient reserve or can be stocked as a medium term reserve if organic material is protected inside soil aggregates.

Earthworms transform organic material, help plants cycle nutrients, improve soil aggregation and porosity so that crops have access to adequate moisture. Higher biodiversity in soil acts as a biological control which maintains soil health and nutrient cycling. Low biodiversity of organisms in soil indicates the presence of constraints for plant development and health.

Tree species and remaining natural vegetation cover also contribute to soil biodiversity as well as to the development of deep root systems and soil porosity, adequate water infiltration and availability. Biomass production and organic material input are related to adequate soil fertility and biodiversity. The type and diversity of vegetation present and the aspect of plants may indicate soil and health constraints, such as low soil fertility, soil acidity and water availability restrictions.

Unprotected soil surface without the protection of vegetation and mulch is subject to high sunstroke, soil erosion, compaction and dryness. Farmers also consider the type of wild vegetation present before opening a field to be a good indicator of soil quality.

Land with robust forest cover is appropriate for cropping and land with grass and thorn scrubs is not, reflecting the role of vegetation as an indicator of soil fertility.

They measure carbon accumulation and the presence of nitrogen and other plant nutrient cycling and then scale up to soil aggregation, moisture availability and organism activity soil life.

Farmers see these processes in terms of the final visible organic materials present in the soil. Straw, leaves and wild seed pods rot and fertilise the soil. These are absent in poor soils, which are not benefited by this process while soil science explains this in terms of depletion of chemical, physical and biological processes that support plant productivity. Soil structure and texture are important for water dynamics in the soil and ca n r echarge local and regional water resources.

The interaction of mineral particles and organic material promotes the formation and stabilization of soil aggregates as well as promotes the action of plant roots and soil organisms. The size and type of aggregates present are the building blocks of the soil porosity network that influences the expression of soil processes, such as water infiltration, storage and availability, gas exchange and aeration, root development, organism activity, among others.

For scientists high clay content indicates excessive moisture, root damage and anaerobic processes while farmers identify the same problems in heavy clay and red clay with soap stone present in bottomlands. Soil with too much sand is also considered to be poor by farmers because it does not retain moisture.

They point out local examples, such as sandy patches on slopes, white grit on hill tops and river sand in bottomlands. For agricultural scientists texture is related to soil mineralogy which indicates soil acidity and nutrient availability capacity and necessary soil management corrective action, while local farmers just leave problematic areas in undemanding native pasture for animals to graze on.

Farmers associate colour to variation in soil texture according to the presence of more clay in better soil and more sand in poor soil but without referring to a matrix of mineral composition. In addition to colour, farmers observe that when soils are shallow and slate is present on the upper most part of slopes only grass grows there.

These areas are not cropped and are only used to pasture animals that transport bananas down slopes. Good soils are humid and dry soils are poor. Researchers perceive this relationship in terms of adequate moisture that permits good plant development and crop production while inadequate moisture damages plant nutrition and biochemical processes.

This can be seen in farmer attitudes toward many bottom lands which they consider to be too moist and damp to be suitable for crops. As most farmers have little bottomland they do not give the matter much thought.

This utilitarian attitude is even stronger in how farmers rank indicators of soil quality. Indicators are important if they embrace a significant part of the landscape, such as the slope terrain type which is their principal area of production.

This view expresses an integrated evaluation of soil quality with the interplay of criteria such as colour, humidity, organic material and texture. For farmers soil quality has a strong relation with the notion of natural stocks of soil as discussed above. Researchers also explain crop production using integrated explanations such as high productivity reflecting the optimal conditions of chemical, physical and biological properties of soil for the development of specific crops.

Low productivity is explained in terms of inadequate soil conditions for crop growth in terms of moisture, nutrients available, acidity, soil aeration, root depth, soil health, etc. All of these deal with soil stocks in the provision of environmental services for human use or for agriculture.

Soil ecological functions identified are regulating hydrological and biogeochemical cycles that maintain ideal conditions of soil structure. Soil fertility is considered to be the natural base of agriculture which provides stability and support for plant growth. Physical barriers to decomposition cause the occlusion of organic compounds by minerals present in clay and by the exclusion from specific soil pores of organisms that provoke decomposition.

In addition, labile organic compositions, such as polysaccharides and proteins, which are subject to rapid decomposition, are protected when found inside soil aggregates which permits greater perenization of these substances in the soil. Consequently, the high production of biomass in forests permits greater entry of organic material in the soil than in cultivated soil.

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