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I understand why permaculture is good but what makes monoculture bad and more susceptible to disease and pesticides?
Monoculture is more susceptible to disease due to the ease with which most disease can spread in a closed area. When the virus/bacteria evolves in normal conditions, it is used to finding small areas of natural growing plants that it can infect. When a lot of the same plants are grown near each other, the virus has no resistance from the plants due to time and space, and it can infect the corn quickly. Same concept applies to the pests that destroy crops. Pesticides can be used and standardized in monoculture, allowing for a degree of pest and disease control. Monoculture means that the if one variety of crop gets a virus that it can not defend itself against, it can easily and quickly spread to all the other crops of that variety. This is enhanced by the increase in farming intensity in space and season. In the world we now use only five main types of wheat as opposed to over twenty that used to exist. Due to monoculture if one strain gets a disease the potential is that we loose one fifth of the worlds supply of wheat. As we become reliant on certain fertlizers and pesticides Super bugs and viruses are becoming an issue. Monoculture enhances this risk because they are constantly used and bugs and viruses become resistant to them. This is also an issue with GE crops.
Monoculture increases the evapotranspiration and reaps the nutrients from the soil and does not replace them. Fertilizers are now required to fullfil the gap in nutrients that are no longer present.
Through rotational cropping and interplanting ie rice and beans (beans can grow up the rice also), soil nutrient can be increased and pest and diseases can be repelled potentially without a total reliance on pesticides.
What else can I help you with?
Why do some people want farmers to use lower amounts of pesticides?
They believe it will better protect the environmentThey don't understand the process EPA uses to approve pesticides, so they fear the pesticidesThey don't really know what pesticides areThey are more willing to believe what some celebrity says than real scientistsThey don't understand that pesticides are what makes our food supply so bountiful
What happens in populations when pesticides are introduced?
Pesticides kill insects and therefore reduce the insect population numbers. However they also damage the environment and upset the balance of nature when used indiscriminately. Also remember that these products are poisons and may also harm people.
How do pesticides affect farm workers?
Pesticides can harm farm workers in many different ways if the workers themselves do not take proper precautions. Pesticide applicators also need to take precautions to ensure they do not inadvertently harm other workers. Workers need to understand what pesticides can do to them and what protection equipment and methods are available to them. The US Environmental Protection Agency has established a set of rules to help protect all farm workers. See the related link below for more information.
Can we all be like Macbeth from the play of the same name by Shakespeare?
The question is not specific, but if I understand it correctly, the answer is yes. As humans, we are all susceptible to weakness, false ambition, and self-delusion, but some more than others.
Is it hard to grow organically?
Answer 1Growing organically on a commercial scale means a loss of 25% of your crop on average, shorter shelf life, and limited choise of pesticides or fungicides to use. They usually cost more too. Growing organically also requires more labor per acre, mostly 'cos there are no organic weed killers and weeding must be done by hand. (Sure you have some homebrew stuff for the garden but it isn't comercially viable.) Answer 2Organic food means you have not used synthetic (or chemically manufactured) fertilizer or pesticide. The most successful organic farmers use a method called Permaculture where they carefully construct a sustainable ecosystem of plants and animals. In this way food contains fewer pesticides, requires far less machinery, therefore costs less, does not require irrigation, and is sustainable in the long run. Yields are often lower but over long periods of time a given hectare will produce more than current industrial methods, largely because industrial methods require water for irrigation from fossil aquafirs, fertilizer from natural gas (which is a fossil fuel where demand has nearly exceeded supply), and seriously damages the environment leading to less fertile ground and ultimately infertile ground. It is likely that in the future small permaculture farms will produce most of the food for people, but not enough to support 7 billion.Answer 3Growing food organically is easy for home gardeners, but more challenging on a commercial scale. See discussion section for a clarification on Answer 2. Answer 4The only reason it would be more challenging for a large corporation is because they lack the ability to suitably motivate their own people, and, they do not understand permaculture, ecosystems, the environment, or even organic agriculture. Also, it should be added that they do not understand the existing and future problems, and have no interest in anything more than a 3-5 year projected plan. The ROI period is beyond the vision of any corporation. This merely means that in the future farming will likely not be done by corporations (probably a good thing, considering the price of food that corporate farms produce versus small volume organic farms). It should not be forgotten that the food industry is the most profitable industry on the planet. Lastly, I think you will find that the discussion on the topic in the forums here is less than useful. You would do better to read about Permaculture from a text compiled by educated professionals. There are several good ones available. Try wikipedia and Amazon for additional information.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of monocultures?
The advantage of a monoculture is that it allows huge amounts of food to be produced for our ever increasing population, and to be provided at affordable prices. This modern farming technique has also allowed farmers to greatly increase their profits, a far cry from the subsidence farming of the past. Farmers are now able to use the same plot of land but produce almost 100% more produce. Additionally, crops grown as a monoculture experience little competition for nutrients, sunlight and space from other species. A monoculture, also allows standardisation of planting, maintaining and harvesting of crops, which reduces waste and loss due to inefficiency. There are advantages and disadvantages to both monoculture and polyculture farming systems. Monoculture is mainly used in industrialized agriculture with many inputs of fossil fuels and chemicals to produce large amounts of a single crop. Polyculture is often locally based, and may be found more in a subsistence agricultural practice that uses human and animal energy to produce smaller amounts of many different crops. Industrialized farms produce much of the food of international commerce; however, they are also more vulnerable to disease and pest problems. Monoculture reduces ecosystem diversity, and so more soil and pest problems result, which in turn causes farmers to apply more chemical fertilizers and pesticides to their land. These practices ultimately pollute the land, the water, and the food they are producing. Subsistence farmers may produce lower yields of each individual crop, but in the long run they are much less vulnerable to disasters. Since subsistence farming is more diversified and on a smaller scale, the authors argue that it is less vulnerable to natural disasters. Therefore, subsistence farming is more sustainable on the land, in the social system, and economically. Diversity is the key to polyculture. Diversity provides pest management, nutrient cycling, a greater variety of resource use, yield increases, production of diverse foods, and a decrease in the risk of loss due to diseases. The problem with polyculture is that it leads to difficulty with the mechanization of planting, weed control, and harvesting. Additionally, farmers really need to understand how their crops function ecologically in order for it to be successful, monoculture allows for large machines to aid in the mechanization of planting, weed control, and harvesting, and less knowledge about the actual plants is needed for it to work. There are many different types of polyculture such as intercropping, which is growing more than one crop in the same field; agroforestry, which incorporates crops in with the forest; relay cropping, which is planting a crop among the already existing crop; and rotation; which is the practice of changing crops that are planted in the field from planting to planting. There are also cover crops, which are plants that are not harvested but are planted to help the soil instead of leaving the soil barren; and shifting cultivation or slash-and-burn agriculture, which is burning the existing plants and leaving the ash on the land to help fertilize the soil. Polyculture is sustainable because it recycles and reuses all of its resources in order to be as efficient as possible with its resources. Monoculture practices can incorporate multiple cropping systems by using rotations, borders, and cover crops. If multiple cropping is practiced correctly it will actually lead to higher yields than monoculture because of more complete use of resources. Monoculture can provide huge yields. Polyculture can also produce high yields and improve nutrient cycling, provide better pest management and resource use, and avoid vulnerability to widespread catastrophes of crop losses.
What is the future tense of understand?
I, YOU, HE, SHE, IT, WE, YOU, THEY : WILL UNDERSTAND.
What do you understand by 1 amu or 1 you?
I understand absolutely nothing.I understand absolutely nothing.I understand absolutely nothing.I understand absolutely nothing.
What is 3 examples of toxicology studies?
Study of the effects of pesticides on honeybee populations to assess their impact on the environment. Assessment of the toxicity of household cleaning products on human skin cells to determine any potential health risks. Investigation of the effects of heavy metal exposure on fish populations in polluted water bodies to understand their impact on aquatic ecosystems.
How do you say you understand?
Understand in general: Panemat Understand for human: Panemaish
How did you understand the NCO leadership?
You just need to understand.. If you have no acclectable mind to understand! Poof! Then u can't understand!
How do you say understand in portuguese?
to understand= entender I understand - Eu entendo Do you understand? Entendes? (Portugal) Você entende? (Brazil)
