What types of human activities contribute to soil degradation? ?

Question

how can their impacts minimized?

Answer 1

Plants both require and secrete certain chemicals .

Mono culture or single specie agriculture ,exhaust the soil because too much of the same chemicals are extracted ,and contaminate the soil because too much of the same is put in.

Plowing bares the ground and kills all micro-organic activity which builds the soil  and it kills the worms.

Bare ground is open to the drying out of the Sun and then wind and water erosion,

Rain impact  raises the salt to the surface and compacts the ground

Heavy machinery also compacts the ground.

People remove trees which holds the soil, and so promote erosion

The thru fall of trees enriches the water that gets through,with the trees gone the water going into the ground is poorer. and subsequently soil quality suffers.

Chemical interference with fertilizers,herbicides  and pesticides kills ,damages or diverts organic actions which

was building soil.

This leads to a chemical addiction for the farming.because the natural processes get destroyed.in the process.

the growing has to depend on the chemicals more and more

The ground quality disappears.

This kind of agriculture requires much more water for irrigation and this  process leeches the ground of more nutrients.

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Permaculture ,and no till farming

are  alternative methods

that mulches the ground promoting worm development

retaining soil temperature ,does not damage organic processes,

guards against rain impact ,wind and water erosion,

And keeps the soil humid ,and aerated because of the development of worm cultures

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Crop rotation and bio diversity also keep the soil more balanced.

And plant for mulch and  chemical out put

such as nitrogen fixing plants and trees .like Acacia,legumes and hemp

Answer 2

Peeing under a tree is very bad. It can be minimized by using the bathroom.

Answer 3

Planting crops on the same patch of land over and over year after year.

To combat this, rotate crops or better yet plant legumes (beans). (Legumes will add nitrogen to the soil; nitrogen deficiency is the problem in soil degradation).

Answer 4

Over cultivating the land.  You know, people still laugh at Christians and Jews.  God was the first one who said to let the land lay fallow every 3 years (i think) so that the soil will replenish itself.  That to not plant anything on it or allow animals to graze on it.  Its a good idea to plant Hair vetch in the fall on your fields.  Thats a type of grass that is high in nitrogen that will help build the soil back up and it has a strong root system that will hold the soil in place.