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By affecting the soil in different ways, crops in a rotation help to stabilise changes in the properties. Another consideration is that many agricultural pests are species-specific and so having a given species present in a field only some of the time helps to prevent populations of pests from growing.
Rising temperatures and changing weather patterns often result in lower crop yields due to water scarcity caused by drought, heat waves and flooding. [5] These effects of climate change can also increase the risk of several regions suffering simultaneous crop failures. Currently this risk is regarded as rare but if these simultaneous crop ...
[58] [59] There is growing evidence that tillage erosion is a major soil erosion process in agricultural lands, surpassing water and wind erosion in many fields all around the world, especially on sloping and hilly lands [60] [61] [62] A signature spatial pattern of soil erosion shown in many water erosion handbooks and pamphlets, the eroded ...
While individual products are usually measured by weight, which is known as crop yield, varying products make measuring overall agricultural output difficult. Therefore, agricultural productivity is usually measured as the market value of the final output. This productivity can be compared to many different types of inputs such as labour or land.
Each food crop comes with its own set of pests that attack that particular crop. By planting a different crop each time, the farmer is able to starve out those pests. Often a set of three or four crops are planted on a rotating basis, ensuring that by the time the first crop is replanted, the pests that attack it are substantially reduced.
The type and amount of vegetation depend on climate, topography, soil characteristics and biological factors, mediated or not by human activities. [104] [105] Soil factors such as density, depth, chemistry, pH, temperature and moisture greatly affect the type of plants that can grow in a given location. Dead plants and fallen leaves and stems ...
In temperate regions, global warming will affect overwintering, and warmer temperatures will extend the summer season, allowing for more growth and reproduction. [16] A 2013 study estimated that on average, crop pests and pathogens have moved to higher latitudes at a rate of about 2.7 km/year since 1960. [17]
An increase in soil strength can be measured with a penetrometer, which is basically a device for measuring the resistance of a soil. Another important indicator of soil compaction is the vegetation itself. By means of patterns of crop growth, pale leaf colours and root growth, it is possible to draw conclusions to the extent of compaction. [41]