How can farmers conserve soil and water?

Question

How can farmers conserve soil and water?

Answer 1

Permaculture!

The cheapest best place to store water is in the soil. Farmers can design their land on Permaculture principles. Yeoman's Keyline plan has a scale of permanence, in this order: climate, land shape (which is created by the action of water) roads, trees and building soils. Keyline is about reshaping landscapes so that surplus run off water is stored in the soil in dams and used to irrigate the land it is stored on. This builds soil fertility and reduces future run off which leaches minerals from the soils.

When you reform the landscape you create dams, diversion channels and irrigation chanels. Key line is contour at the key point, this is the best place to store water. The geography of keyline is key. There is a main ridge, a primary valley, a primary ridge and a secondary valley. A keyline only exists in the primary valley. Contour mapping shows water levels. It is like forensic evidence which allows the land shape to show itself. If water has run on the contour before, it will again. The contour line itself joins points of equal height. For example the water line of a pond is a contour line.

Key line cultivation is where you plant the clover (nitrogen fixer) and grasses, these live and die to feed the soil. Only chisel ploughs are used to prepare for tree planting. The contours spread water flow from valleys to ridges if you plough downwards away from the valley.

Planting trees, is also essential to prevent water logging or over illumination of soils and soil salting in the long term. Particularly planting fruit trees in shelter belts prevents overuse of water. Leaf drop self mulches reducing the need for artificial watering and adds additional compost. Pitting, swales (absorption beds) and water spreading all assist in getting water to storage for long term use. Swales are all built on contour lines and do not allow water flow. They just hold water. Shelter belts are planted using the principles of sectoring, this takes into account wind direction and sunlight. The wind tunneling effect is minimized by sectoring but the shelter belt does not cast shade because of it's deliberate orientation. The shelter belt improves the microclimate, reduces wind chill and reduces evaporation too.

Soil structure improvement (building soil) is done with mulching including green manures. This prevents further water logging in winter and overdrying of soil in summer, which reduces the need for land drainage and watering. It also reduces the need for fertilizer inputs. Water harvesting is also a priority as this can be used for farm irrigation particularly under deep mulch which further reduces evaporation.

Answer 2

The Soil one has is only a meager beginning ,

We should build soil,with compost .manure .organic wastes and preserve the processes  set into motion with

Soil management,

A tree builds its own soil with the organic wastes it discards enriched by the excrements of its visitors and agents

The farmer improves on that

To conserve WATER,Soil humidity,and SOIL

In the House use all the usual conservation methods known ,like dry toilets,utilizing filtered Grey  and black water.bending the ball valve down in the toilets etc.

Water harvesting ;,using ditches,canals ,dams and catchment areas.

Extensive earth works to shape the land to be receptive to water absorption.

Make terraces when farming on slopes

use living and any other type of barriers on steep slopes to collect and contain any organic material that is about and mobile

To minimize water use ,by using drip irrigation ,irrigate at night,and do not OVER irrigate.

Conserve  soil humidity with MULCHING ,

.this also protects from the impact of rain ,helps develop worm culture (which aerate the soil and produce compost)

keeps the ground temperature even,stops the Sun from drying out the soil,and ends up as compost,

as well as prevents or limits the weeds from coming up

Plant big leafed plant around the plots to use for mulch

Conserve soil by using compost,,Utilize all manure from the farm,

Plant DIVERSE,in guilds and companion planting to spread the chemical requirements and releases to preserve soil balance,

Encourage worm cultures with green mulch and vegetable wastes as well as manure(irrigate for that as well)

Have some tall scattered shading trees at intervals to break the suns rays.

Plant trees for wind breaks to minimize field evaporation and drying out.

Use organic pest control to prevent poisons from contaminating the soil and ground waters.

Only use small tractors for initial shaping and earth works

then preferably no till methods

Or use deep chisel plows sparingly to minimize disturbing the

top soil further so that organic structures remain intact and continue working ,building soil.

Do not use heavy machinery which compacts the soil and will raise salt content to the surface do not have too many  Cows

which will do the same

Very nice text Bella. and Bohemian you both get my vote

Answer 3

As far as I'm concerned "real" farmers do not conserve soil...they help BUILD the soil.

I'm a small farmer, on a permaculture farm, dead in the heart of potato country in Idaho.  The main crops around me are potatoes, wheat, barley, sugar beets, and alfalfa hay.

My neighbors are all giant farmers, running thousands of acres of land.  Most of them messure their farm by the mile, not the acre.

They have huge modern farms, with all the expensive do-dads that go along with them (like $300,000 combines).

We have a small farm.  We raise meat goats, meat rabbits, alfalfa, and rapeseed (canola).

Our crops and pastureland is fertilized by the manure from the livestock, and their wasted hay and bedding.  Zero chemicals on our farm.

When I first moved here three short years ago, the soil was grey.  It had been used to grow pasture, and from time to time to grow alfalfa hay crops.  It had been fertilized chemically.

I was appauled at the dusty dry stuff that passed as soil on our farm.  We don't have that anymore except in very small patches.  

With tons of ultra rich manure being put back on the soil every spring  you can nearly hear the land burp with the pleasure of it.

Every year, our soil increases, because we have the animals producing manure, and because we are not raising crops that are trasported off the farm and sold elsewhere.  The alfalfa, and the rapeseed stays here, in the form of manure.

The Amish will not sell their hay, because they believe that is selling off their land a tiny bit at a time.  They are correct.  If your farm is not in balance, with the hay being fed to livestock, which turns it into rich manure, your land looses.....everything.

A farmer cannot expect to keep taking crop after crop off their field, without returing some of that biomass.

When you "grow your soil" you also greatly improve the water retention abilities of the soil.  This means you need less water to grow the crops, AND you produce more in the way of your crop!!  It's a win-win situation.

Intensive grazing of pastures is a remarkable and "hidden" secret most people do not understand either.  That means having small pastures, and running a large number of animals in for a short period of time.  Why does this work?  Well because it mimics nature.  Think of the buffalo.  Large herds grazed intensively for a short period of time, and then moved on.  They left behind their rich manure, which helped the soil to improve, and fertilized the plants.  Constant movement of the herds also ment they didn't build up worm loads, or other diseases.

There's one other really BIG "secret" about intensive grazing that almost nobody knows.

Lets say the grass is 12 inches tall.   The root system underground is also at least 12 inches down.  The livestock comes along and grazes it off to 2 inches high, meaning they ate 10 inches of the top of the grass.  The grass immediatly drops the corresponding amount of root.  In this case it would be 10 inches of root.  The grass then begins the process of regrowing both stem, and new roots.  So why is that so magical?  The 10 inches of roots didn't evaporate....they are now in the ground rotting, and providing nutrients where they are most needed....right where the new roots are growing.  

With intensive grazing, you can actually produce tons more biomas from the same amount of land as can a farmer who does not intensively graze.  Best of all, you are building up your soil by doing so.

Of course windbreaks, such as trees and bushes can help prevent soil erosion, as can planting cover crops during the off times, when your main crop is not growing.

Mustard happens to be a really good cover crop.  It grows fast, can be turned under for a wonderful green manure, and best off all, most insects and nasty critter do not like it.  It prevents insect build ups for your main crop.....and you did it by building up your soil!

The very best way for farmers to conserve soil and water is to work WITH nature, not against nature.

~Garnet

Homesteading/Farming over 20 years

Answer 4

No till farming, hydroponics, tier farming, terrace farming, pier farming.

Answer 5

Farmers can conserve soil and prevent (or minimize) the pollution of water through a number of measures. I'll get to water conservation a little later. Measures to combat soil erosion specifically include: Zero-till farming, shelterbelts (also referred to as wind-breaks), green cover crops such as alfalfa or other legumes, terraces, riparian buffers, strip-cropping and tile-drainage (among others). If you type any of these into a search engine or in wikipedia, you'll find lots of information.

Try the following sites:

http://www.agr.gc.ca/pfra/land/intro_e.h...

http://www.gnb.ca/0173/30/0173300002-e.a...

http://www.agr.gc.ca/pfra/soil/swork1.ht...

http://www.ars.usda.gov/main/site_main.h...

http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/icm/2001/...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-till_far...

Maintaining and conserving water for agricultural use is in part dependent on not polluting those water sources, at least in the long term. For sites on water quality, check out the following:

http://www.agr.gc.ca/pfra/water/practice...

http://www.epa.gov/watertrain/agmodule/

http://www.fao.org/docrep/W2598E/w2598e0...

A key part of water conservation is to grow crops that are locally-appropriate, and that don't require large amounts of water through irrigation. Many biotech companies are developing drought tolerant crops in preparation for the future, when water scarcity will be a real issue. http://www.enn.com/agriculture/article/2...

Drip irrigation is one of the most efficient forms of irrigation. It saves a significant amount of water when compared to traditional irrigation systems.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drip_irriga...

Many conservation practices will address both soil and water conservation issues. A move to a whole farm or watershed approach is generally advisable, whereby a suite of conservation practices will be applied from shelterbelts, riparian buffers, cover crops, applying maximum grazing densities, nutrient management etc. This approach is referred to as conservation agriculture (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conservatio...

Anyway, here's some more links, most have links to other sites of interest. Good luck!

Source(s):

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_conser...

http://www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/nri/c...

http://www.fao.org/docrep/T0321E/t0321e-...

http://www.ers.usda.gov/publications/are...

http://www.iaea.org/programmes/nafa/d1/c...

Answer 6

the soil question is easy...... follow the bibles teachings which states let the land rest on the seventh year.....if we where to of done that a long time ago we would not need  super fertelizers. for the water question. water water every where but not a drop to drink............think about it.

Answer 7

We have to do more than conserve, we must compost to replace what plants are using. but we have to make this real with fines. soil and water do not come back.

Today here is what we know:  many of mankind’s advancements cause earth surface to warm, destroy the ozone layer, kill off endanger species, heat cities, and in some way cause more destruction.  Blacktop (roads and parking lots), buildings, air pollution (causes lung and other diseases), deforestation, duststorms (which increase hurricanes and cyclones and cause lung diseases), fires (cause pollution, mud slides, and deforestation), refrigerants (like CFC's), solvents (including benzene destroy the ozone layer raising skin cancer rates) and plastics; cars, airplanes, ships and most electricity production (causes pollution including raised CO2 levels) are human problems we need to fix to keep life on earth sustainable! The federal government needs to adopt a pollution surcharge to balance the field and advance new technologies. We must pay the real price of oil (petrochemicals) including global warming, cleanup and for health effects. But with that we must understand we have never seen what is now happening before. CO2 has never lead to temperature change, but temperature change has led to increases in CO2. The models have to be made as we go along with little evidence! The result is:  change is on the way, we just do not know what changes. But again adding a small amount of CO2 to the atmosphere enlarges the earths sun collection causing warming; increase water in the atmosphere and they form clouds cooling earth but causing flooding. Even natural events are warming earth and causing destruction. The sun has an increased magnetic field causing increases in earthquakes (more destruction), volcanoes (wow, great destruction), and sun spots. Lighting produces ozone near the surface (raising air pollution levels). But humans have destroyed half of the wetlands, cut down nearly half of the rain forest, and advance on the earths grasslands while advancing desertification which increases duststorms. The USA Mayor's have taken a stand and I believe are on the right track, we can have control and can have economic growth. With the peak of oil in the 1970’s, the peak of ocean fishing in the 1980’s, humans must stop procrastinating and make real changes to keep earth sustainable including in the energy debate, finance and regulation. The sun is available to produce energy, bring light to buildings and makes most of human’s fresh water. Composting is the answer to desertification. New dams are the answer to fresh water storage, energy and cooling earth by evaporation, we need many small ones all over (California needs 100 by 2012 and has not even started).

President Bush has made a choice of energy (ethanol) over food and feeding the starving people around the world; this is a choice China has rejected.

That is why I founded CoolingEarth.org, a geoengineering web sight where you can learn more about earth, the atmosphere, and how to sustain life on earth’s surface.